From AI robotics to 3D simulation: Singapore deep tech firms tap US market for expansion

TEXAS, CALIFORNIA – Once every three months, Mr Daryl Lim flies nearly 24 hours from Singapore to his first overseas office in Austin, Texas, where he builds artificial intelligence robotics solutions for manufacturers across the aerospace, oil and gas, and marine sectors.

The co-founder of Singapore-based company Augmentus, which counts ST Engineering among its customers, set up an office there in 2024 to meet increasing demand from US customers.

Austin is the right city for him to scale physical robotics given its tech ecosystem, Mr Lim told The Straits Times in April from his office there.

Austin’s vibrant start-up culture and quality of life make it easier for him to attract engineering talent. It also helps that Austin has no state income tax, he said.

Singapore companies like Augmentus are increasingly looking to Austin and other US cities as key markets for expansion.

More than 250 Singapore companies now have a presence in 45 US states. Close to 60 of them are operating in Texas across sectors including advanced manufacturing, logistics, energy and technology.

Collectively, their investments in the US market have grown from $62.7 billion in 2023 to $66 billion in 2024, according to Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), which recently opened an overseas centre in Austin following three other outposts in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“Setting up an entity in the US was challenging, but EnterpriseSG helped us with the legal aspect,” said Mr Lim, adding that he plans to grow his US team across sales and engineering.

Deep tech companies from Singapore are also setting up a presence in other major innovation hubs such as Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.

One of them is Singapore medtech company Aevice Health, which saw an opportunity to serve the US market with its AI-powered respiratory monitoring solutions.

Co-founder Adrian Ang chose to expand into the United States over other markets like Australia, Britain and China, which he also visited on trips organised by EnterpriseSG.

Besides its huge population, the US offers another advantage: once a medical device receives clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it can be marketed nationwide, Mr Ang told ST via a Zoom interview.

He believes his company’s FDA-cleared AeviceMD solution – a patient management platform powered by wearable stethoscopes for remote respiratory monitoring – will draw interest in the US, as hospitals there are incentivised to adopt new technology that improves patient services while bringing down costs.

In fact, AeviceMD will soon be deployed at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, a non-profit academic healthcare institution in Los Angeles, in its paediatrics department.

Through this partnership, Aevice Health will gain both funding and direct access to Cedars-Sinai’s clinical network and research infrastructure, allowing the team to observe real-world clinical settings and use that data to refine and advance their products.

For Mr Charles Wong, co-founder of Singapore-founded 3D simulation start-up Bifrost AI, it makes sense to set up an office in San Francisco to gain easier access to other robotics and simulation companies, as well as venture capital firms in nearby Silicon Valley.

US venture capital firms also tend to have larger risk appetite and are more willing to take bigger bets, said Mr Wong.

His company works with several maritime providers to generate realistic scenarios without real-world risk. It also taps robotics, where advanced AI algorithms are integrated into physical hardware – robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles – to allow them to perceive, reason and act in the real world.

Mr Wong said the number of robotics companies in the San Francisco Bay Area is “skyrocketing”.

For wireless laser communications company Transcelestial, which primarily operated out of the San Francisco Bay Area, early traction came from the US government and telco clients.

The first contracts it signed there were also larger – by a huge margin – compared with those in Asia, said co-founder Rohit Jha.

Speaking to ST in Los Angeles, the North America general manager of dConstruct Robotics, Mr Peter Oh, noted that Singapore’s small market presents a technical challenge, especially for a start-up with limited resources.

“Because it’s so small, you have to think, design and build for multiple use cases, multiple industries, without investing in and building different products for different industries,” he said.

Having found success in Singapore with its robot management platform d.ASH, dConstruct Robotics is taking its scanning technology to the US.

dConstruct Robotics co-founder Chinn Lim said the company worked with the city of Los Angeles to deploy its scanning technology for a range of event and production needs. It is now expanding its technology into the media and entertainment sector in the US.

While there are more opportunities in the US, Singapore companies also face tougher competition and higher hiring costs there, EnterpriseSG director for Americas Lim Seow Hui said.

“Singapore companies are generally still not as well known here in the US,” she said.

EnterpriseSG is therefore working to raise the visibility of Singapore companies in the US, she said, adding that the agency also helps home-grown companies understand the operating context amid geopolitical tensions.