April Tech Round-Up: Out of the Shadows – the Surveillance Software Industry's Moment in the Sun is Rising
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As global tensions rise, a new wave of intelligence platforms is emerging — AI-driven, forensic-grade, and mission-critical. From Palantir to Fivecast, they’re reshaping cyber, compliance, and counter-terrorism. Investors are taking note.
This month we were all set to dive into the rise of surveillance tech. Then the Trump Administration dropped its tariff bomb, throwing global trade into turmoil, and shaking global markets.
So, we’re covering both. Enjoy, from the team at North Ridge Partners.
Original Thinking From North Ridge Partners
With geopolitical tensions rising and regulation tightening, a new breed of digital bloodhounds is emerging — and they’re chasing threats, not clicks. Forget dashboards. These platforms hunt. From Palantir to Fivecast, intelligence and investigative analytics platforms are fusing AI, open-source data and forensic-grade tools to decode chaos in real time. Mission-critical and market-hungry, they’re reshaping cyber, compliance, and counter-terrorism — and investors are taking note. Read our analysis on it here.
We all knew the ride would be wild if Donald Trump got re-elected but this - the breakdown of global trade and generational relationships - is altogether something else. Read our thoughts on the likely impact of Tariffgeddon on the region’s tech sector here.
Big Tech
From Unit 8200 to $32 billion: Google buys Wiz for $32bn.
From a garage in Albuquerque to the world’s second most profitable tech company: Microsoft turns 50.
Unsurprising bedfellows: X and xAI to merge.
Can Tesla be saved? Tesla’s dark days continue. Australian Q1 sales are but the latest harbinger.
$40bn capital raise values OpenAI at $300bn.
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Asia Pacific Tech News
South Korea aspires to become a global top five space leader.
DBS plans to replace 4,000 jobs with AI over the next three years.
Malaysia plans to pump $27bn into local startups and VCs.
In a sign of the times, TSMC to invest $100bn in US manufacturing.
History repeats itself as Masa Son borrows $16bn to invest in AI.
Stuff We Found Interesting
AI will be writing 100% of all code within 12 months, says Anthropic CEO.
Kung fu robots are here.
AI voices are coming for you.
Wondering how pervasive deepfakes are? Check out this incident database.
Tech Investment Banking Across Asia Pacific
North Ridge Partners advises tech companies across the Asia Pacific on strategy, capital raising and M&A. We’re experienced dealmakers who have built and sold many tech companies. In partnership with GP Bullhound, we have 200 bankers in 17 global offices.
Contact us here.
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