The Tamesis
This year’s tech entrepreneurs are customizing software and hardware to provide more efficient and affordable solutions for consumers and businesses.
I2018, Kim Ji-hyun She was studying software engineering at Kyung Hee University in Suwon, south of Seoul, when the introduction of a faster, more accurate computer vision algorithm caught her attention. A year later, she took a break from school to found Korea Deep Learning, an enterprise artificial intelligence startup focused on computer vision, and invited her younger brother Donghyun, then a high school student, to help her.
Kim is one of the entrepreneurs Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia: Consumer and Enterprise Technology List Develop tools and solutions for businesses and consumers.
Since its founding, the Seoul-based company has grown to develop AI agents to analyze business documents such as invoices and contracts and automate repetitive tasks such as evaluating loan applications, which it says helps reduce monthly document processing time by up to 96%. It has a client roster of more than 80 government organizations and companies, including Hyundai Capital, Hyundai Motor’s financing arm, and LG CNS, the IT subsidiary of LG Group.
In March, South Korea Deep Learning’s proprietary AI model achieved top scores on the OCRBench v2 multimodal benchmark for English text-centric tasks, an open source metric for evaluating large multimodal models that can understand text, images and sounds, outperforming giants like Nvidia and Google. “While the big AI companies are developing general models that can do anything, we’re focused on building a model that’s particularly good at reading documents, which is what many businesses need,” said Kim, who serves as the company’s CEO and her brother serves as chief strategy officer. In December, the artificial intelligence entrepreneur, who has yet to return to college, raised $8 million in Series A funding from Korean venture capital firms.
While the big AI companies are developing general models that can do anything, we are focused on building a model that is particularly good at reading documents, which is what many businesses need.
In the legal field, Lawrence Qifounding engineer of Sydney legal technology company Mary Technology, Similar technology-driven solutions are being developed to streamline data and documentation for attorneys. The startup leverages an AI-powered platform to help attorneys transform thousands of pages of disjointed evidence and facts into a structured, source-linked record they can trust, allowing them to strategize and prepare to win their cases more effectively. In March, Mary Technology raised A$7 million ($4.9 million) in a funding round led by OIF Ventures to expand its presence in the US market.
In Japan, Noro Yuki established Akari In 2021, the company developed cloud-based artificial intelligence software to help construction companies improve 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 yen ($31 million) from Mitsubishi Electric, valuing it at 100 billion yen. The company’s more than 1,000 clients include construction giants such as Taisei Construction Co., Ltd. and Iida Group Holdings.
Noro Yuki, founder of Akari.
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Aditya Agrawal and Dharmakashamar Is a co-founder of Flinks Artificial Intelligenceis an Indian startup building advanced artificial intelligence systems for automated quality inspection in manufacturing processes. The company develops computer vision solutions that help automotive, medical device and consumer goods factories detect defects, increase production and reduce manual intervention. Last year, the company raised $5.4 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Prime Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $6.25 million. The funding will be used to expand globally and deepen the company’s AI research.
Reimagining language learning
To meet the growing demand for language skills, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Metaverse are making personalized language learning more accessible and affordable than ever before.
Founded in 2017 Nohara RyūjinHeadquartered in Tokyo Fondi A metaverse is being developed for people to practice English conversations with others learning the language around the world. Using virtual spaces such as parks, bars and dormitories, students can simulate the experience of studying abroad through the app, which has 2.5 million users worldwide. To date, it has raised 770 million yen ($4.8 million) in funding from investors including ANRI, CyberAgent Capital and Canal Ventures.
Ryuto Nohara, founder of Fondi.
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Also from India, Akshat Balanwal, Akshay Akash, Aneesh Srivastav and Ankit Kumar Pandey co-founded stimulator 2022. The startup helps users learn English through a voice-first AI tutoring app. The four built the first prototype in their dorm room at the Indian Institute of Technology Varanasi to help students cope with job interviews, and in April 2025 raised a $3.75 million Series A round led by Lightspeed and SWC Global.
higher level gaming
This year’s list also includes entrepreneurs who are enhancing the gaming experience through innovative hardware and software solutions.
Chinese Rong Sijia established Actions & Links In 2023, the goal is to deliver a more interactive and immersive gaming experience. The startup’s small USB adapter works with its smartphone app to turn players’ bodies into controllers for PC and Nintendo Switch games. The user plugs in the device and places the phone on the holder. The app’s on-device artificial intelligence tracks body movements and converts them into game input, so waving your arms makes the on-screen character wield a weapon.
Eitaro Hiraishi is the co-founder of Tokyo Game Company Sally. The company operates UZU, a gaming platform that houses a number of interactive multiplayer murder mystery games, known as “Madamis” in Japanese. Players can join the game through voice calls through the UZU app, which acts as a game master, encouraging players to work together to solve problems and advance the plot through dialogue.
Qin Na, co-founder of Qloud Games.
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Another person on the list who is innovating in the field of gaming is Qin Naco-founder Cloud gamingis developing Loftia, a social simulation video game inspired by Animal Crossing. While Nintendo’s hit game limits the number of simultaneous players to 12, Loftia is designed to accommodate around a few hundred players simultaneously farming, fishing, crafting and decorating homes in a natural environment. The game will be released on Steam in the fourth quarter and on Nintendo Switch next year. In 2024, Qin, a former Westpac product manager, joined the gaming accelerator run by Andreessen Horowitz, which invested in pre-seed financing, and in August 2025 invested in a $5 million seed round led by US gaming venture capital firm Bitkraft Ventures and GFR Fund.
Read our full Consumer & Enterprise Technology list here – And be sure to check out our full content Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 2026 Coverage here.
