Terence Lee

Singapore

🇸🇬 Terence with one "r". Chief Editor at @techinasia. Interests: tech, media and journalism, crypto, AI and automation. Owns some crypto.

Articles

ShopGuru combines inaudible sound and mobile tech to reward shoppers as they enter a store

Feb 12, 2025 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

It‚Äôs an app that knows exactly when you‚Äôve walked into a store, and rewards you simply for doing so. ShopGuru, a customer loyalty mobile app, has that omnipresent quality that‚Äôs straight out of science fiction, though the technology is surprisingly simple. The trick is in an inconspicuous device placed at the entrance of shopfronts which emits an inaudible sound.
Autonomous drones couldâve helped contain riots in Singapore and Thailand

Feb 3, 2025 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

In the past few weeks, the world had its eyes on Southeast Asia as Thailand and Singapore were engulfed in riots. In Thailand, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters demanded the resignation of the Thai Prime Minister. In Singapore, foreign workers flipped over vehicles in anger over an Indian National who was killed by a bus. The crowd swelled to 400 at one point. The mayhem wasnât restricted to the streets.
SingTel Innov8 and Optus launch new seed program for Australian startups

Jan 28, 2025 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

SingTel Innov8, the venture capital arm of SingTel, has joined forces with Australian telco Optus to start an Australian Seed Program to take young digital startups to the next stage and help them expand into Asia. This Optus-Innov8 Seed Program will provide Australian startups with seed funding, mentoring, networking and co-working spaces. It will invest up to A$250,000 per startup.
Veteran travel exec’s new startup sees new gold in airline cargo

Jan 26, 2025 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups. Property holds value, even below your feet. Yet, airlines are flying with the bellies of their planes 85% empty, resulting in untapped income. Jeff Pan, a veteran travel executive and startup founder, sees an opportunity here. His new Singapore-based startup, Belli, has developed software that modernize air cargo operations. Here’s more on their approach.
Sleek, pre-assembled 3D printer at USD 347? Here’s how Pirate3D is doing it

Jan 25, 2025 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

There hasn’t been a pre-launch product from a Singapore startup that has garnered this much press attention for a long while. Simply put, people are agog about the USD 347 price point for an Apple-esque 3D printer that will be pre-assembled and calibrated right out of the box. In fact, some have been downright skeptical, believing the photos to be renders rather than real images.
This startup gives AI agents access to frictionless finance

Jan 24, 2025 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups. AI is thinking, creating, and solving complex problems ‚ÄĒ but it‚Äôs not paying. Despite being the next frontier of AI, autonomous agents are held back by financial systems not designed for machines. Singapore-based Neural Payments, which is a startup backed by Antler, hopes to bridge that gap.
Qraved alumni’s new startup helps stores grow sales with WhatsApp

Dec 19, 2024 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups. A growing pool of tech entrepreneurs are giving things another go in Southeast Asia. One of them is Steven Kim, the CEO and co-founder of food discovery service Qraved. Together with a group of Qraved alumni, he has launched a new startup, Yobo, which helps Indonesia’s offline businesses grapple with inconsistent sales and declining customer retention.
Letter to readers: You’re not here for our journalism

Dec 19, 2024 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

Dear readers,Basketball legend Michael Jordan once said: “To win, you gotta lose.”These words might be cliche, but they feel poignant in these times. This is true for Southeast Asian tech, which felt the sting of yet another scandal – this time involving Indonesian unicorn eFishery. AD. Remove this ad space by registering for a free basic account. Enjoy an ad-free experience when you're logged in. I hope founders can reflect on the ecosystem’s mistakes and ride the next wave when it comes.
19 year old’s AI tool for Gen Zs gets 150k users, Antler backing

Dec 10, 2024 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups. Gen Z students are managing multiple tools and subscriptions just to streamline their studies. This digital overload isn’t helping—it’s leaving them drained, financially strained, and pressed for time. A year ago, bored Filipino student Neil Ruaro decided to do something about this.
Fast-growing startup unlocks careers for jobless Indonesian grads

Dec 2, 2024 | techinasia.com | Terence Lee

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups. Indonesian graduates are failing to find jobs that fit their educational qualifications. Despite the rapid growth of the digital economy, they struggle to transition from university to meaningful employment, with youth unemployment at 13.4%. That is something Indonesia’s Maxy Academy, an edtech company founded by a veteran education executive, hopes to change.