Founders in Asia are allocating more funds to AI tools, and the usage of some coding tools has increased by over fourfold
The latest group of entrepreneurs in the Asia – Pacific region are quickly turning to artificial intelligence. Founders are not only launching new AI startups but also spending more on AI tools.
According to an in – house study of over 37,000 regional SMEs by Aspire, a Singapore – based fintech firm, founders’ spending on AI tools increased by 20% last year.
“This indicates a reallocation of capital towards efficiency,” Andrea Baronchelli, Aspire’s co – founder and CEO, tells . The usage of Anthropic’s Claude model tripled; the usage of Cursor, an AI – coding tool, increased by 4.2 times. “This shows that startups are now using AI to code and develop their core products, not just for administrative tasks.”
Aspire’s study also shows a sharp increase in AI startups. According to Aspire’s data, 30% of new startups in Singapore are involved in AI. The figure is even higher in the Chinese city of Hong Kong: Two – thirds of new businesses onboarded in late 2025 are from the AI sector.
“There is a high level of institutional preparedness in both economies, and there is a new type of founder who is adapting to a climate of intense global competition and disruption,” he says. “It’s great to see so many APAC businesses embrace disruption instead of resisting it.”
Andrea Baronchelli began his career as an investment banker in London. But he soon became restless working in systems “where the rules were fixed, based on legacy, and largely unchallenged”.
In 2012, Baronchelli took his first step into entrepreneurship. He moved to Hong Kong in 2012 to join the founding team of Asian e – commerce unicorn Lazada. He served as the platform’s Vietnam CEO from 2014 to 2015, and then took on the role of chief marketing officer until 2018, when Lazada was acquired by China’s Alibaba Group.
In 2018, together with fellow entrepreneur Giovanni Casinelli, Baronchelli founded Aspire, an “all – in – one” B2B fintech app that helps small business owners automate various financial processes such as expense tracking and make cross – border payments to both employees and vendors. Today, based in Singapore, Aspire serves over 50,000 SMEs across 16 countries, including eSIM provider Airalo, e – commerce firm Carousell, and news website Tech in Asia.
The platform is also supported by top – tier global investors, including U.S. – based Y Combinator and PayPal, Chinese tech firm Tencent, and the Southeast Asian branch of VC firm Sequoia Capital.
“Fintech is quite attractive. A new industry is emerging right before our eyes, and it’s very exciting to be able to capture that growth,” Baronchelli remarks.
Although he declined to disclose the exact figures, Baronchelli says the platform has had an average annual growth of 50% — a figure he hopes to maintain.
The growing trust in fintech apps, including personal finance and investment apps like Syfe, StashAway and Endowus, has also promoted the growth of enterprise – focused apps like Aspire. “We definitely see trust being established in the industry,” says Baronchelli.
While its key markets are “tier one” cities in the Asia – Pacific region, Aspire announced its plan to expand westward last December after obtaining licenses to operate in the U.S., Australia and Europe. (It is also targeting emerging markets in Southeast Asia, including Manila, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh city.)
“We want to be right where new businesses are created,” Baronchelli says. “This represents the biggest opportunity for us — businesses that want to try new things and are early adopters of technology — we want to be close to them.”