There is a familiar refrain doing the rounds in Dhaka’s startup circles. “The ecosystem is dead.” “The ship is sinking.” The mood is understandable, but it misdiagnoses the problem. Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem is not dying. It is just working from the wrong map.

Celestial AI, a Silicon Valley startup developing technology to speed up artificial intelligence (AI) systems, has recently raised an additional $250 million in venture capital, bringing the company’s total funding to $515 million.

Perplexity AI, a California-based search startup, is close to raising $500 million in new funding, which would value the company at around $9 billion. The latest funding round will be led by venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), which also has a seat in the startup.

Story Engine Inc., an AI startup co-founded by Bangladeshi Stanford graduate Sheikh Srijon, has received $750,000 in pre-seed funding from the reputed venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z). The startup, founded by Sheikh Srijon, Zhizhuo Zhou, and Wanrong He, aims to revolutionise the realm of webtoon and anime creation through generative AI technology.

Startup Bangladesh Limited, the government-backed venture capital firm, has recently invested BDT 1 crore in Alice Labs, an AI-based sales and support platform for online businesses.