This year’s tech entrepreneurs are tailoring software and hardware to deliver more efficient and affordable solutions for consumers and enterprises alike.

In 2018, Jihyun Kim was studying software engineering as a freshman at Kyung Hee University in Suwon, just south of Seoul, when the launch of a faster and more accurate computer vision algorithm grabbed her attention. A year later, she took a break from studies to launch Korea Deep Learning, an enterprise AI startup focusing on computer vision, enlisting her younger brother, Donghyun, then a high school student, to help her.

Kim is one of the entrepreneurs on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia: Consumer & Enterprise Technology list developing tools and solutions for both enterprises and consumers alike.

Since its launch, the Seoul-based firm has evolved into developing AI agents to analyze business documents like invoices and contracts, and automate repetitive tasks such as evaluating loan applications, which it says helps slash monthly document-processing time by up to 96%. It boasts a client roster of over 80 government organizations and companies, including Hyundai Capital, Hyundai’s financing arm, and LG CNS, the IT affiliate of LG Group.

In March, Korea Deep Learning’s proprietary AI model got the highest score in the OCRBench v2 multimodal benchmark for text-centric tasks in English—an open-source measure for evaluating Large Multimodal Models that can understand text, images and sounds—outperforming giants such as Nvidia and Google. “While the big AI companies were developing general models that can do everything, we focused on building one that is specifically good at reading documents, which is what many businesses need,” says Kim, who runs the firm as CEO with her brother as chief strategy officer. In December, the AI entrepreneur, who has yet to return to university, raised $8 million in a Series A funding round from Korean VC firms.

While the big AI companies were developing general models that can do everything, we focused on building one that is specifically good at reading documents, which is what many businesses need.

In the legal sector, Laurence Qi, founding engineer of Sydney-based legal tech Mary Technology, is developing a similar tech-driven solution to streamline data and documentation for attorneys. Using an AI-powered platform, the startup helps lawyers turn thousands of disorganized pages of evidence and facts into a structured, source-linked record they can trust, enabling them to develop a strategy and prepare to win a case more efficiently. In March, Mary Technology raised A$7 million ($4.9 million) in a funding round led by OIF Ventures to expand its business in the U.S. market.

In Japan, Yuki Noro founded Akari in 2021. The company develops cloud-based AI software to help construction companies increase their efficiency and reduce labor input. It handles everything from construction management and structural calculations to processing invoices and answering building code questions. In January, the Tokyo-based company raised ¥5 billion ($31 million) from Mitsubishi Electric at a ¥100 billion valuation. The company's over 1,000 customers include construction giants like Taisei Corporation and Iida Group Holdings.

Aditya Agrawal and Dharmgya Sharma are cofounders of Frinks AI, an Indian startup building advanced AI systems for automated quality inspection in manufacturing. It develops computer vision solutions that help automotive, medical device and consumer goods factories detect defects, improve yields and reduce manual interventions. Last year, it raised $5.4 million in a pre-Series A round led by Prime Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $6.25 million. The capital is being used to expand globally and deepen the company's AI research.

Language Learning Reimagined

Catering to the increasing demand for language skills, emerging technologies like AI and the metaverse are making personalized language learning more accessible and affordable than ever.

Founded in 2017 by Tatsuto Nohara, Tokyo-based Fondi is developing a metaverse for people to practice English conversation with others learning the language around the world. Using virtual spaces such as parks, bars and dormitories, students can simulate a study abroad experience with the app, which has 2.5 million users worldwide. To date, it has raised ¥770 million ($4.8 million) in funds, including from ANRI, CyberAgent Capital and Canal Ventures.

Also from India, Akshat Baranwal, Akshay Akash, Anesh Srivastav and Ankit Kumar Pandey cofounded Stimuler in 2022. The startup helps users learn English through a voice-first AI tutor app. The quartet, who built the first prototype from their dorm at Indian Institute of Technology in Varanasi to help students tackle job interviews, raised a $3.75 million pre-Series A round led by Lightspeed and SWC Global in April 2025.

Next-Level Gaming

This year’s list also features entrepreneurs enhancing the gaming experience through innovative hardware and software solutions.

China’s Rong Sijia founded Action&Link in 2023 with the goal of delivering a more interactive and immersive gaming experience. The startup's small USB dongle, paired with its smartphone app, turns a player's body into a controller for PC and Nintendo Switch games. Users plug in the device and place their phone on a stand. The app's on-device AI tracks and converts body movements into game inputs, so a wave of the arm makes an on-screen character swing a weapon.

Eitaro Hiraishi is a cofounder of Tokyo-based gaming company Sally. The company operates UZU, a gaming platform that hosts a myriad of interactive multi-player murder mystery games known as Madamis in Japanese. Players can join the games via a voice call through the UZU app, which acts as the game master, encouraging players to work together to solve problems through conversations and progress through the plot.

Another listee innovating in the gaming space is Martina Qin, cofounder of Qloud Games, who is developing Loftia, a social-simulation video game inspired by Animal Crossing. While the Nintendo megahit limits concurrent players to 12, Loftia is designed to host about hundreds of gamers simultaneously to farm, fish, craft and decorate homes in a natural setting. The game will launch on Steam in the fourth quarter and on Nintendo Switch next year. In 2024 Qin, a former Westpac product manager, joined a gaming accelerator run by Andreessen Horowitz, which invested in a pre-seed round and a $5 million seed round led by U.S. gaming venture capital firms Bitkraft Ventures and GFR Fund in August 2025.

Read our complete Consumer & Enterprise Technology list here – and be sure to check out our full Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2026 coverage here.

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