SINGAPORE – Artificial intelligence automation firm Workato has opened a new AI lab in Singapore, and plans to hire at least 65 people including AI engineers, developers and researchers over the next few years.
The Workato AI Lab will focus on working with the industry, public sector partners and academia to co-develop and pilot practical AI solutions. It is currently in talks with partners to explore collaborations in areas such as finance, IT and logistics for a start.
The AI lab in Singapore is the Silicon Valley-based start-up’s first such facility outside of the United States where it is headquartered. The company also has its second head office in Singapore and 15 offices worldwide.
The AI lab began its operations on Nov 1. It is currently co-located at the company’s office in Suntec City and the i3 Building at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The company decided to add another 65 headcount to its 170-strong workforce so that it can deliver on commitments it has agreed on with the Government, said Ms June Lee, Workato’s senior vice president and general manager of APAC.
These include “developing custom autonomous agents that address real enterprise use cases, strengthening governance frameworks to ensure AI is deployed safely and responsibly, and deepening our partnerships with institutes of higher learning to build a strong and future-ready tech talent pipeline”, she added.
Speaking to The Straits Times on Nov 7 at the official launch of the AI Lab at NUS, she said that the new hires will be a mix of experienced staff and fresh graduates.
The set-up of the AI lab is supported by a grant from Digital Industry Singapore (DISG), a government arm that sets out to foster the growth and development of innovative digital technology companies. Workato declined to share details about the grant.
Ms Lee said that Singapore’s talented workforce and ease of collaborations with multiple partners are also reasons behind the company’s decision to set up the AI lab here.
The lab’s focus will also be on streamlining and optimising backend workflows such that multiple agentic AI systems can work together. Agentic AI refers to AI systems designed to make decisions on their own, planning and executing tasks to meet predetermined goals.
Using the example of onboarding a new employee, Ms Lee explained that multiple processes – like registering the new employee with HR, enrolling them on the payroll system with the finance department, and issuing them their devices with the IT department – can all be automated by separate AI agents.
The goal is to ensure all the AI agents can work together smoothly. “We want to ensure a seamless experience, so all these things may not need to have any human intervention at all,” said Ms Lee.
Speaking at the launch of the AI lab, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said that AI agents can help reduce time for manual work, improving accuracy and bringing down cost.
Mrs Teo also commended Workato’s efforts to develop new test frameworks to evaluate agent performance in practical scenarios and ensure that the agents minimise the risk of going rogue.
She encouraged the company to work with GovTech, which introduced its own framework in 2025 to understand risks before delegating autonomy to AI systems.
Mrs Teo said she was also happy to know that Workato is partnering with institutes of higher learning to build an AI talent pipeline in Singapore.
“I hope that there will be opportunities to upskill the broader Singapore workforce. This could be done, for example, if you bundle training with deployment to enterprises. Or, if the opportunities present themselves, to offer insights through SkillsFuture-supported programmes,” said Mrs Teo.
Singapore is home to numerous AI labs, including university research centres like the NUS Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the NTU S-Labs for Advanced Intelligence. Corporates that have set up their own AI labs include Microsoft, Prudential and Kyndryl.
Workato’s AI Lab also joins a list of over AI 50 centres of excellence that have been set up in Singapore to spur AI innovation.
