Singapore-based dConstruct Technologies has closed a US$125 million Series A round, giving the city-state’s robotics sector one of its more visible funding wins at a time when deeptech companies across Southeast Asia face tougher scrutiny on commercial traction.
The National Robotics Programme of Singapore announced the financing on Thursday, positioning it as the standout outcome from the inaugural cohort of RoboNexus, its venture-building accelerator. The programme also highlighted two other graduates, LionsBot and Spinoff Robotics, as examples of Singapore robotics companies moving from research and pilot deployments into international markets.
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The funding round places dConstruct among a relatively small group of regional robotics companies able to raise large institutional cheques. The company did not disclose the investors in the round, the valuation, or the breakdown between primary and secondary capital.
That lack of detail matters. Robotics companies tend to be capital-intensive, with long development cycles, massive hardware costs, integration work, and slower enterprise procurement timelines. Still, the size of the round suggests that investors are willing to back robotics platforms that can show deployment potential beyond narrow proof-of-concept projects.
Building for messy, indoor environments
dConstruct’s core technology is d.ASH, a proprietary suite that integrates 3D scanning and perception technologies to enable autonomous robots to operate in complex, GPS-denied environments.
That focus is commercially significant. Many real-world robotics applications inside buildings, tunnels, transport hubs, industrial sites, and underground infrastructure cannot rely on GPS. Robots operating in these settings need localisation, mapping, obstacle avoidance, and data capture systems that can function in cluttered, changing environments.
The company is targeting use cases across the built environment, security, inspection, logistics, and entertainment. Its disclosed customers and partners include Boustead Projects, Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency, JRE Ventures of the East Japan Railway Company Group, SBS Transit, and SoftBank Robotics Singapore.
Chinn Lim, CEO of dConstruct Technologies, said RoboNexus had helped the company access industry partners and deployment opportunities, while the funding milestone reflected confidence in its plan to build “reality capture and robot automation solutions from Singapore to the world”.
The phrase is ambitious, but the underlying market is real. The International Federation of Robotics said global sales of professional service robots grew 30 per cent in 2023, with logistics, cleaning, inspection, and hospitality among key categories. Asia remains the centre of gravity for robotics adoption: the federation’s industrial robot data shows Asia accounted for about 70 per cent of new industrial robot installations globally.
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Singapore has an additional advantage. Its small labour pool, high labour costs, ageing workforce, and dense urban infrastructure make it a natural testbed for automation. The country also ranks among the world’s most robot-dense economies, with the International Federation of Robotics placing Singapore near the top globally for industrial robot density.
A new robotics base in Punggol
dConstruct is also establishing a 42,000-square-metre global headquarters at Punggol Digital District. The facility, named dC Plus, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
The site will include robotics testing environments for wheeled, quadruped, and humanoid platforms, as well as collaborative workspaces and community programmes. The location is notable: Punggol Digital District has been positioned by Singapore as a hub for digital economy firms, applied research, and industry-academia collaboration.
For dConstruct, the headquarters could help address one of the sector’s persistent bottlenecks: moving from controlled demonstrations to repeatable deployment in real-world settings. Robotics companies often struggle not because their systems fail in the lab, but because customers need machines that can operate safely and reliably across unpredictable sites.
That challenge is especially acute in Southeast Asia, where built environments vary widely across markets. A robot that performs well in Singapore’s regulated commercial facilities may face different conditions in Indonesia’s logistics sites, Thailand’s factories, Vietnam’s industrial parks, or the Philippines’ mixed-use developments.
RoboNexus’s broader cohort
The National Robotics Programme also pointed to LionsBot and Spinoff Robotics as evidence that the RoboNexus model can support companies beyond early research commercialisation.
LionsBot, a Singapore-based cleaning robotics company, is now present in more than 40 countries and has overseas subsidiaries in Dallas, Amsterdam, and Chennai. The company says it has deployed more than 6,000 robots globally. Its expansion has been supported by a collaboration with WISAG, a European facility management group, which contributed to the development of LionsBot’s R5 cleaning robot launched in April 2026.
Cleaning robots are among the more mature categories in professional service robotics, but competition is intense. LionsBot faces global and regional rivals including Gaussian Robotics, SoftBank Robotics, Pudu Robotics, and Singapore-based players such as Sesto Robotics and OTSAW in adjacent automation segments. The differentiator is less about whether a robot can clean a floor and more about fleet management, maintenance economics, procurement relationships, and customer support across markets.
Dylan Ng, CEO and co-founder of LionsBot, said the company intends to support newer RoboNexus cohorts by sharing lessons from R&D, product development, commercialisation, and international expansion. That is useful if it moves beyond founder storytelling and into practical guidance on manufacturing, compliance, servicing, and channel partnerships.
Spinoff Robotics, meanwhile, has taken a different route. The company was acquired by Nanoveu Limited, an Australian Securities Exchange-listed technology company, giving it access to public-market capital, commercial platforms, and international growth channels.
The company was established to commercialise tethered aerial robotics technology for cleaning and inspection of hard-to-reach infrastructure. Its applications include urban infrastructure, facilities management, and industrial inspection. The acquisition also allows Spinoff Robotics to expand its licensed Singapore University of Technology and Design platform into non-tethered drone applications.
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Tan Chee How, co-founder of Spinoff Robotics, said the National Robotics Programme helped the company move from research into commercialisation by opening access to industry partnerships and deployment opportunities.
Why this matters for Southeast Asia
For Southeast Asia, the story is not simply that a Singapore startup has raised a large round. The more important question is whether robotics companies in the region can build commercially durable businesses rather than remain grant-supported engineering projects.
Demand is not the problem. Southeast Asia’s factories, airports, ports, hospitals, malls, construction sites, and transport operators all face labour, safety, and productivity pressures. Governments across the region are also pushing automation through industrial upgrading programmes, including Singapore’s Advanced Manufacturing initiatives, Malaysia’s Industry4WRD policy, and Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor strategy.
The harder issue is deployment economics. Robotics companies must prove that their systems reduce labour dependency, improve safety, or generate operational savings large enough to justify upfront costs, integration work, and ongoing maintenance. Customers are no longer impressed by pilot projects alone.
dConstruct’s US$125 million Series A gives it the capital to build for that test. RoboNexus gives Singapore a stronger narrative around robotics venture-building. But the next stage will be less about national ambition and more about commercial evidence: repeat customers, overseas revenue, functioning fleets, and technology that survives outside carefully managed demo environments.
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