AI Salon Singapore (27 August 2026)
THE AI BET: WHAT WINS NEXT?
AI is moving fast. But amid the noise, one question matters most: where will the next decade of AI value actually be created?
On 27 August, AI Salon Singapore brings together four exceptional investors and operators who have spent decades building, backing and scaling technology companies across the US, China, India and Southeast Asia.
Cyril Ebersweiler, General Partner at SOSV and founder of HAX, has made 250+ deep-tech investments and helped pioneer one of the world's most influential hardware and deep-tech ecosystems. Murli Ravi, Co-Founder of Tin Men Capital, brings nearly two decades of experience backing B2B technology companies across Asia. Joyce Ng, General Partner at iGlobe Partners, has invested through multiple generations of technology, with experience spanning companies such as Unity, NerdWallet and Matterport. Joining them is Anuj Maheshwari, SVP of Payments & GTM at Razorpay, the Y Combinator alumnus that grew into one of India's largest fintech platforms, serving millions of businesses.
Moderated by Durwin Ho, CEO of StartupX, expect a candid conversation that will raise eyebrows, draw some chuckles and bring some hot sauce to the table.
Four experienced minds. Different perspectives. No easy answers.
Come hear what they believe wins next.
AI Salon is the global community bringing together AI founders and builders, investors, operators and ecosystem partners to connect, learn and collaborate.
Decentralised and chapter-led, AI Salon has grown to 77 chapters across more than 40 countries.
After six editions in Singapore, AI Salon Singapore returns on 27 August for another evening of fun conversations, useful insights and meaningful connections across the AI ecosystem.
Over the past salons, we have brought together hundreds of founders, investors, engineers, operators and technology leaders who are actively building, funding and deploying AI across Singapore and Southeast Asia.
This next edition continues that momentum.
AI is moving quickly. New models, agents, products and companies are emerging every week. But beneath the noise, the questions that matter remain surprisingly practical:
Where are founders finding genuine commercial traction?
What kinds of AI companies are investors backing?
How are teams moving from experimentation to deployment?
Which opportunities are real, and which are mostly hype?
What does it take to build globally relevant AI companies from Singapore?
Join us for a curated evening featuring founders, investors and technology leaders sharing what they are seeing, building and learning at the frontier of AI.
More details on the speakers and programme will be announced soon.
What We Will Explore
How AI founders can find genuine commercial traction amid the hype
What investors look for when evaluating AI startups
How companies are moving from AI experimentation to deployment
The evolving opportunities around AI agents and automation
What differentiates defensible AI companies from thin product wrappers
Tactical lessons for founders building the next generation of AI startups
Singapore’s role as a hub for AI talent, capital and company building
Who Should Attend
AI founders and startup teams
Engineers, researchers and product builders
Venture capital investors and angel investors
Corporate innovation and technology leaders
Operators exploring practical AI adoption
Ecosystem partners supporting AI companies
Anyone actively building, investing in or working with AI
Agenda
5:30 pm – Doors Open
Registration, food and drinks
6:00 pm – Welcome Address
AI Salon Singapore community update
6:15 pm – Partners Sharing
6:45 pm – Panel Discussion
Founders, investors and technology leaders unpacking what is happening in AI today and where the market is heading next
7:15 pm – Fire Pitch
60s to share what they are building, what's interesting and what's cool
7:30 pm – Networking & Dinner!
8:30 pm – End
Programme and timings are subject to change.
Meet the Speakers
Cyril Ebersweiler, Founder & General Partner, SOSV & Hax
Cyril is an experienced deep-tech investor and company builder. He is a General Partner at SOSV and the founder and Managing Director of HAX, the world's first and most active pre-seed programme for startups working at the intersection of science and engineering. He has personally invested in more than 250 deep-tech companies worldwide. As of 2026, SOSV manages $1.5 billion in assets, anchored by its $306 million SOSV V fund, and makes around 60 new pre-seed investments and 150 follow-on investments each year.
Cyril began working with hardware founders in Shenzhen long before physical AI became an investment theme, supporting them through engineering, prototyping, manufacturing and global supply chains. HAX now operates across Newark, Shenzhen, Pune and Tokyo. He has worked closely with companies including Formlabs, a defining company in professional 3D printing, and Opentrons, the laboratory-robotics company born out of HAX, which reached a reported $1.8 billion valuation. He has also advised companies later acquired by Cisco and Avnet.
Murli Ravi, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Tin Men Capital
Murli is an experienced investor with more than 20 years of institutional investment experience across Southeast Asia. He is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tin Men Capital, a B2B-focused venture firm he started in 2018 with Jeremy Tan, investing in capital-efficient enterprise technology companies in sectors such as construction, travel, manufacturing, logistics and financial infrastructure. He has served on more than 25 venture-backed startup boards across the region.
Prior to Tin Men Capital, Murli was Head of South and Southeast Asian Investments at JAFCO Asia, Japan's largest independent venture capital firm, where he backed enterprise software, infrastructure and embedded technology companies. He also served on the investments team at Temasek Holdings. Murli is a CFA charterholder and holds degrees in engineering and finance from the National University of Singapore, as well as a graduate degree from the joint programme of Nanyang Technological University and Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business.
Joyce Ng, General Partner, iGlobe Partners
Joyce is an experienced venture investor with more than two decades of experience across early-stage venture capital, fund management and financial services. As General Partner at iGlobe Partners, she works across the investment lifecycle, from fundraising and investments to portfolio management and divestments, while supporting founders on fundraising, governance, key hires and business development.
She has led investments across AI, fintech and technology, including AISphere, SWAT Mobility, Tonik Financial and MindFi, and currently serves on the boards of SWAT Mobility and SourceSage. Joyce has also supported iGlobe’s investments in companies including Unity Software, NerdWallet, Matterport and Hippo Holdings, which later became publicly listed companies. Before iGlobe, she spent eight years at Vertex Management working across European portfolio management and US fund-of-funds investments.
Anuj Maheshwari, SVP & Business Head, Razorpay
Anuj Maheshwari is Senior Vice President and Business Head at Razorpay, where he leads the growth of one of India’s largest payments businesses. With nearly two decades of experience across Razorpay, LinkedIn, IBM and high-growth startups, he has built and scaled revenue engines across India, APAC and global markets. At Razorpay, he leads go-to-market for domestic and cross-border payments, supporting more than a million businesses and thousands of companies expanding internationally.
Anuj is also focused on how AI is reshaping enterprise growth, building toward an AI-native revenue organization where agents and LLMs help teams research, sell, manage customers and make decisions. Previously, he spent nearly eight years at LinkedIn leading the Large Enterprise business across APAC. His work sits at the intersection of AI, payments, global commerce and the future of enterprise growth.
Durwin Ho, Managing Partner, StartupX
Durwin Ho is the Managing Partner of StartupX, an innovation consultancy and startup ecosystem builder based in Singapore. Over the past decade, he has worked with corporates, governments, investors and founders across Asia to design startup programmes, accelerators, hackathons and market access initiatives.
He also leads AI Salon Singapore, bringing together AI founders, builders, investors and operators for practical conversations on what is being built, funded and deployed in AI today.
Meet the Partners
AI Salon is the global community bringing together AI founders and builders, investors, and partners to connect and collaborate. We are starting new chapters in every city so join us to build the largest Global AI community.
StartupX is a global innovation partner for those building what’s next. We collaborate with corporates, governments, and startups to launch ventures, scale businesses, and drive bold transformation. Since 2018, we’ve supported startups from 110+ countries and partnered with some of the world’s most forward-thinking companies. Founded by entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders, we built StartupX to challenge the status quo of how innovation gets done in Asia.
The AIMX Network is a global community of users, AI leaders, practitioners and innovators seeking to answer the biggest question around AI today and the future: HOW.
The Network activates regional AI communities through curated events and activities around the world, to address real-world issues with emerging AI innovation while keeping the pulse on issues that impact AI for Industry.
OVHcloud is a global cloud provider and a leading European cloud company, serving 1.6 million customers across more than 140 countries. With over 450,000 servers operating across 43 data centres on four continents, OVHcloud provides scalable cloud infrastructure, including public and private cloud, dedicated servers, and solutions for AI and data-intensive workloads. The company is known for its focus on data sovereignty, security, performance, and cost transparency.
BLOCK71 is a global network of innovation hubs and startup communities, backed by the National University of Singapore (NUS Enterprise). Across 11 cities in 6 countries—Singapore, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Saigon, Nagoya, Tokyo, Suzhou, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Silicon Valley—BLOCK71 supports entrepreneurs with the space, resources, and connections they need to succeed. Learn more at block71.co.
The Singapore Global Network (SGN) is an initiative by the Economic Development Board (EDB) to create a community of overseas Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans interested in Singapore. Founded in June 2019, its goal is to leverage its community to create opportunities for its members and Singapore more broadly.
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP)
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, established in 2001, is a thriving I&T ecosystem grooming 14 unicorns, more than 17,000 research professionals, and over 2,400 technology companies focused on the development of healthtech, AI and robotics, fintech and smart city technologies, etc. HKSTP offers comprehensive support including R&D infrastructure, investment expertise, partnership networks, talent traction and more, in accelerating ideation and commercialising innovation. The journey builds around key locations across Hong Kong and branches towards the GBA and further, to continuously contribute to the development of I&T, making a pillar of growth for Hong Kong.
ShellKode is an Enterprise AI Outcome Engineering Company. We engineer and own the journey from enterprise data and AI to operational, economical, and accountable business outcomes. We work with regulated and operationally complex enterprises where AI must perform inside real business workflows, not stop at a pilot. Our domain owners translate business goals into end-to-end workflows, decision rights, controls, and measurable outcome definitions. Our AI Research Engineering teams evaluate frontier and open-source models, agent architectures, inference approaches, model performance, and AI economics.
Razorpay is one of India’s leading fintech platforms, helping businesses accept payments, manage banking, automate payouts and run financial operations through a single technology stack. Founded in 2014, it has grown into a major payments and financial infrastructure company serving startups, SMEs and large enterprises across India, with an expanding focus on cross-border commerce and global growth.
Connect with us:
Durwin Durwin Ho | LinkedIn
Raymond Raymond Doraisamy | LinkedIn
Joyce Joyce Tay | LinkedIn
"Supported by Singapore Global Network (SGN), a community of changemakers, professionals and friends globally. Born out of a desire to build meaningful relationships across borders, SGN exists to connect people to opportunities that Singapore and its network of members have to offer. Join SGN to become a member of our global community of professionals and friends with Singapore at its heart. Learn more at www.singaporeglobalnetwork.gov.sg."
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This community event is proudly brought to you by StartupX.