Malaysia launched on Thursday a national artificial intelligence office aimed at shaping policies and addressing regulatory issues, as it looks to establish itself as a regional hub for AI development.

The Southeast Asian country has secured billions of dollars in investment in the past year from global tech firms seeking to build critical infrastructure to cater to growing demand for their cloud and AI services.

“This is another historical moment in our digital transformation journey,” Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said at the launch of the new office.

The office is expected to serve as a centralised agency for AI, providing strategic planning, research and development as well as regulatory oversight, among others, according to details published on its website.

It will pursue seven deliverables in its first year, including developing a code of ethics, an AI regulatory framework and a five-year AI technology action plan until 2030.

The government on Thursday also announced strategic partnerships with six companies, including Amazon (AMZN.O), Google (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) which have all announced data centre, cloud and AI projects in Malaysia in the past year.

Digital ventures have helped propel Malaysia’s economy in 2024, with 71.1 billion ringgit ($16.06 billion) in approved investments in the information and communications sub-sector, the its investment authority said this week.

Gigs has raised $73 million in a series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital, the mobile services startup said on Thursday, marking one of the few investments this year not centered around artificial intelligence.

All existing investors including Google’s Gradient, prominent Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator and venture capital firm Speedinvest participated in the round, Gigs said.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

San Francisco, California-based Gigs helps clients including neobanks, or online financial institutions, launch mobile services such as subscription management and phone payment plans.

Gigs, with its core market in the U.S., will use the funding to expand its geographical footprint and invest in scaling its products and services, it said. Earlier in December, Gigs announced a partnership with Vodafone UK.

CONTEXT

Ribbit’s investment in Gigs marks a rare funding round in a year otherwise characterized by investors funneling billions of dollars into generative artificial intelligence startups such as ChatGPT-parent OpenAI.

KEY QUOTES

“Since our launch in 2020, Gigs has significantly increased its annual recurring revenue (ARR),” said Dennis Bauer, Gigs’ co-founder and president.

The company did not specify its ARR or the latest valuation at which it raised funds.

Vapi, a San Francisco-based startup that helps businesses deploy artificial intelligence-powered voice agents, said on Thursday it raised $20 million from investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Y Combinator, in an early-stage funding round.

The fundraise valued Vapi at $130 million, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Other investors in the round included Abstract Ventures, AI Grant, Saga Ventures, and Michael Ovitz, who co-founded the influential Creative Artists Agency.

Businesses looking for faster and cheaper resolution to customer queries are increasingly adopting AI voice agents, driving up interest in startups developing the technology.

“AI will fundamentally impact every vertical of the economy, with voice agents becoming a core interface for many of these applications,” said Mike Droesch, partner at Bessemer Venture, which has invested in companies such as Pinterest and Shopify.

Barclays estimated last month that the AI agent market could be as big as $110 billion by 2028, as firms ranging from tech giants Microsoft to startups such as OpenAI race to roll out the technology.

Vapi said the latest funds would be used to scale its engineering team and infrastructure to meet growing demand.

The company, founded in 2023, operates a platform designed for developers to b