Singtel Innov8, the wholly-owned corporate venture capital arm of the Singtel Group, announced the launch of a new US$250 million AI Growth Fund to invest in high-growth AI startups globally and accelerate applied AI adoption across the Group.

The fund strengthens Singtel’s AI strategy by deepening its role as an adopter, enabler and provider of AI, driving long-term growth across connectivity, digital services and digital infrastructure.

The AI Growth Fund will focus on growth-stage AI companies in areas critical to Singtel Group’s future, including customer engagement, network operations, cyber security, IT automation, horizontal enterprise AI platforms and vertical-specific AI solutions. Beyond capital, Innov8 facilitates active collaboration between portfolio companies and the Group’s operating units to test, integrate and scale solutions in real-world environments.

The new fund is in addition to Innov8’s existing US$250 million evergreen fund. This brings the total managed capital to US$500 million and reinforces Singtel’s sustained commitment to venture investment as a strategic growth lever. Since Singtel’s strategic reset in 2021, Innov8’s investments have generated an internal rate of return of 26%.

Enabling AI deployment across the Singtel ecosystem

Innov8’s AI Growth Fund is designed to create a pipeline of deployable AI innovation across Singtel Group’s operating companies:

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  Adopter: Singtel Singapore and Optus provide live operating environments to trial and scale AI across customer experience, network management and workflow automation.
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  Enabler: Digital InfraCo, including Nxera data centres and RE:AI cloud platform, provides the secure, high-performance infrastructure backbone for AI workloads.
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  Provider: NCS helps design, integrate and operationalise AI solutions for enterprises and governments at scale.

Innov8 also supports public sector innovation through AI-enabled communications, secure networks and advanced analytics to enhance operational resilience and public safety.

The fund complements Digital InfraCo’s recently announced Centre of Excellence for Applied AI with NVIDIA. While the centre provides enterprise-grade AI infrastructure and frameworks, Innov8 identifies and invests in promising AI startups across the stack – from infrastructure to applications – enabling enterprises and government agencies to achieve rapid and cost-effective AI deployment.

Singtel is building next-generation “AI Grid” infrastructure anchored in 5G-Advanced, edge and cloud capabilities that bring together AI compute, storage and ultra-low latency connectivity. Orchestrated through Singtel’s Paragon platform, this programmable infrastructure enables enterprises to deploy AI-driven applications seamlessly across network and cloud environments, with quality-assured connectivity tailored to AI workloads. Innov8’s AI Growth Fund will support these activities, helping to identify and invest in companies that leverage this unique capability to create differentiated solutions and drive real-world value for the Singtel Group and its customers.

Established in 2010, Innov8 is one of Southeast Asia’s earliest and most active corporate venture capital firms, with over 120 investments globally. It connects startups with cutting edge technologies from global innovation hubs with Singtel Group to drive long-term strategic value. Some of Innov8’s successful investments include Arista Networks, Carro, Endowus, Jasper, Ruckus Wireless, Shape Security and Shopback.