Groundup.AI - Asia's Most Valuable Early Stage Venture?

Series Bee #3. Subscribe for more.

May 01, 2025

Welcome to Series Bee, where we review early-stage, seed-stage or even pre-seed startups like VCs should (but their biases would never let them) - with zero fluff, no corporate lingo, and total honesty.
This week’s startup? Groundup.AI, led by Leon Lim (CEO) and Alex Wong (COO). Trust me when I say this to you, but this one right here - just might actually be Asia’s most valuable startup (at least as of April 2025).

What is Groundup.AI?

If you think AI startups are all about chatbots and screaming at ChatGPT to do your job better, Groundup.AI will surprise you. This Singapore-based company isn’t building another productivity toy - it’s building the industrial backbone of predictive intelligence.

Founded by Leon Lim (CEO) and Alex Wong (COO), Groundup.AI is on a mission to make machine downtime a thing of the past. Their AI-driven CMMS (Computerised Maintenance Management System) is helping heavy industries predict and prevent breakdowns using a combination of sensor data, machine learning, and software automation.

Think of it as the quiet force behind operational uptime - a Fitbit for factory floors that doesn’t just track, but tells you when a heart attack’s coming.

What Problem Are They Trying to Solve?

The problem is simple: industrial machines break down, and it costs companies millions.

Factory downtime, unscheduled maintenance, and unexpected equipment failures disrupt production schedules, waste man-hours, and destroy profit margins. Traditional approaches rely on routine maintenance or, worse, reacting after the damage is done. This model is outdated, inefficient, and increasingly unacceptable in a digitsing world.

Leon Lim nailed it when he said in a recent interview: “Our goal is to build a centralised platform that provides customers a bird’s eye view of their operations.” That’s the pain point. Maintenance needs to be smarter, data-driven, and proactive.

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What Is Their Solution?

The core of Groundup.AI’s solution lies in combining AI algorithms with physical IoT sensors that monitor real-time machine health - temperature, vibration, sound, and feed that data into a CMMS platform. That CMMS then issues alerts, recommends actions, and lets teams schedule and track maintenance activities all in one place.

They claim the system is smart enough to detect anomalies, anticipate breakdowns, and reduce unnecessary preventive maintenance.

The hardware is in-house. The AI is proprietary. And the whole stack is built for dirty, noisy, real-world settings - from shipyards to production floors.

How Do They Make Money?

Groundup.AI runs a SaaS model for their software, likely based on a per-user or per-asset subscription tier. Clients pay monthly or annually to access the platform. On top of that, there are likely hardware sales or leasing for the IoT sensors, which are custom to their platform.

This combo of software + hardware makes them harder to rip and replace. And because maintenance systems are sticky (nobody likes switching platforms once the workflows are embedded), this business has strong LTV potential - but might also be a potential barrier in terms of sales.

What are the Founders Like?

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the founding team, but I was able to infer some things just off of a couple of interviews and their LinkedIn presence.

Leon Lim, the founder and CEO, is a serial entrepreneur who previously built and exited EventPuff. He combines a deep understanding of enterprise pain points with a clear vision for operational transformation. Lim is a big believer in iterative product development and customer-centric design.

Alex Wong, the co-founder and COO, brings operational scale and structure to the table. They’ve been at it for awhile; he also built and exited EventPuff. Together, they form a team that understands both the ambition and the discipline required to scale an industrial AI company.

From what I can tell, these aren’t hype-hungry Silicon Valley evangelists - they’re heads-down builders who talk more about uptime, and less about unicorns.

What Does the Execution Look Like?

This is where Groundup.AI gets interesting. They aren’t blitzscaling with splashy marketing or trying to go viral. Instead, they’ve been quietly securing enterprise deployments across Southeast Asia, including in manufacturing and maritime operations.

They’ve already raised ~$6.05 million across two rounds - a Seed round in 2023 led by Wavemaker Partners, and a $4.25M Series A in 2025 led by Tin Men Capital. With backing from SEEDS Capital and HIVEN, they’re clearly resonating with investors who understand deep tech (especially in the SG context).

The business appears to be compounding sensibly: steady traction, government support, and a growing suite of clients. No hype cycles. No buzzwords overload.

Just cold, hard execution. I love that.

What Does the Marketing Look Like?

Understated. Their LinkedIn and website messaging is focused on industrial reliability and safety, not AI grandstanding. There are some well-designed demos and animated explainers, but nothing overly polished or gimmicky. That’s a good thing.

They know their audience: ops managers and engineers who care more about ROI and uptime than trendy UI. The content strategy is rooted in function, not fluff.

While I understand all of that and appreciate them focussing more on the tech that builds the real core of the venture, I do have one tiny request.

This picture on your CMMS solution page on your website is straight from the depths of dall.e version 1😂, let’s change that and we’re all good -

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Swipe Right or Left on Groundup.AI?

Swipe right. Easily.

Groundup.AI might not make headlines frequently, but it’s doing something rare: building quietly in one of the hardest, least sexy verticals in tech - and winning.

If you want to back the future of industrial resilience, uptime, and operational AI, this might be one of the best bets in Asia right now.

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