We Replaced the
S$50K Back Office
With AI
We Did It by Hand.
Then We Built the Machine.
Since 2019, Vanice Advisory has served as corporate secretary, accountant, and HR partner to 100+ SMEs across Southeast Asia. We learned every pain point firsthand. In 2024, we turned that expertise into AskVAVA — an AI platform that automates what used to take our team days, delivered through WhatsApp at a fraction of the cost.
The S$50K Problem
That 70 Million SMEs Face
Running a small business in Southeast Asia means juggling corporate secretary, accountant, payroll officer, and HR manager — roles that cost S$4,000–6,000/yr each to outsource. Most SMEs can’t afford any of them, yet they face the same regulatory obligations as enterprises. The result? Missed deadlines, surprise fines, and businesses that stay small because the back office costs more than the business earns.
One Missed Filing Can Kill a Business
A single late ACRA return or CPF submission triggers penalties, director liability, and potential company strike-off. Most SME owners don’t even know the deadline passed.
Compliance Costs More Than the Business Earns
Corporate secretary: S$1,200/yr. Accountant: S$2,400/yr. Payroll: S$300/mo. For a 5-person F&B shop, that’s more than a month’s profit — just to stay legal.
Every New Country = 10x the Complexity
Expand from Singapore to Malaysia? New filing system, new tax rules, new payroll calculations. No single tool connects them. Founders resort to spreadsheets and hope.
Nobody Is Solving This for the 90%
Enterprise tools are too expensive. Traditional firms are too slow. Freelancers are unreliable. The vast majority of SEA SMEs have zero digital compliance infrastructure.
Why Now
Four converging forces make this the right moment to solve SME compliance at scale.
AI Costs Collapsed
Large language models are now powerful enough and cheap enough to deliver expert-level compliance guidance at a fraction of the cost of hiring professionals.
WhatsApp-First Adoption
SEA businesses already live on WhatsApp. Meeting SMEs where they are — not forcing them into another app — unlocks adoption that desktop-first tools can't match.
Regulatory Tightening
Governments across ASEAN are digitising filings and increasing enforcement. Non-compliance penalties are rising, making automation a necessity, not a luxury.
Cross-Border Wave
Post-pandemic, more SMEs are expanding regionally than ever. Multi-country compliance complexity creates urgent demand for a unified platform.
Three Pillars,
One Platform
From AI-powered automation to hands-on advisory — a full-stack solution for SME operations.
AskVAVA
Flagship SaaSA 24/7 AI assistant accessible via WhatsApp and web that proactively monitors compliance deadlines, runs payroll across multiple countries, and handles HR, invoicing, and claims — all without per-user fees.
📄 CPF_Mar2026.csv attached.
Upload to CPF portal or I can walk you through it. 9:42 AM
Two interfaces, one brain. WhatsApp for instant action. Web dashboard for the full picture. No per-user fees. Staff access via magic links — no passwords, no app downloads.
VA Vault
Every great business starts with the right structure. ACRA compliance, corporate secretarial, bookkeeping, tax preparation, and governance — all integrated with AskVAVA’s AI for proactive deadline management.
VA Connect
50+ DealsM&A advisory, government grants, banking advisory, investment immigration, and cross-border market entry across 10+ markets. S$30M+ funding facilitated. 95% client retention.
AskVAVA Is the Brain.
Everything Else Orbits It.
Every query, every document, every payslip makes the AI smarter — a compounding data advantage no competitor can replicate.
A 24/7 AI assistant that answers compliance questions, runs payroll, manages HR, and automates filings — all through WhatsApp and web. Every interaction trains the model on SEA business patterns. Near-zero marginal cost per query. The more clients use it, the smarter it gets for everyone.
AskVAVA platform — Claims, Smart Rostering, FAQ & Document Search, Compliance, and 24/7 AI Automation
Corporate compliance, ACRA filings, accounting, and document management. Once a client's corporate records live here, switching costs become very high.
M&A advisory, government grants, banking advisory, and strategic growth planning. Deep relationship layer that turns clients into long-term partners.
↻ The Flywheel: More clients → more data → smarter AI → better answers → more clients. Each product reinforces the others. The ecosystem is self-sustaining and gets stronger with scale.
Millions of SMEs
Across ASEAN
Southeast Asia's SME sector is massive, fast-growing, and chronically underserved by compliance technology.
Singapore
LiveMalaysia
LivePhilippines
Target 2026Vietnam
LiveIndonesia
Target 2026Thailand
Target 2027Growing Fast,
Building Deep
Real businesses, real compliance — not vanity metrics.
What Our Clients Say
VAVA automatically reminded us about our AGM deadline 60 days before. We uploaded our BizFile and it calculated all our compliance dates instantly. No more missed filings!
Our staff used to call me for every payslip and leave balance question. Now they just ask VAVA on WhatsApp. I get my weekends back.
Running payroll across 3 countries was a nightmare. VAVA handles CPF, SSS, and Vietnam social insurance — all the statutory calculations automatically. Game changer.
Industries We Serve
F&B / Restaurants
Shift rostering, multi-outlet payroll
Retail
Inventory teams, part-time staff compliance
Healthcare / Clinics
Staff payroll, shift scheduling, compliance
Professional Services
Consulting, accounting, legal firms
Construction
Worker permits, safety compliance, MOM
Logistics
Fleet staff, cross-border operations
Land Cheap,
Expand Deep
Free tier acquires. SaaS retains. Advisory monetises. Every client relationship grows over time.
1. Land — AskVAVA SaaS
- Free tier — up to 5 employees, 200 AI queries. Zero friction entry.
- Growth (S$60/mo) — unlimited employees, 10K queries, analytics
- Pro (S$90/mo) — 50K queries, priority support
- All-In (S$129/mo) — full platform + all modules
- Add-on modules: +HR, +CFO, +Ops expand ARPU per client
- No per-user pricing — scales with the business, not the headcount
2. Expand — VA Vault + VA Connect
- VA Vault — recurring corp sec & accounting (from ~S$720/yr per entity)
- VA Connect — M&A advisory, grants, banking (project-based, higher ticket)
- SaaS clients naturally upgrade to compliance services as they grow
- Advisory clients discover the platform through onboarding
The ARPU story: A client starts on the free tier. As the team grows, they move to Growth (S$720/yr). They add VA Vault for compliance (S$720/yr). When they expand to Malaysia, they add a second country. When they're ready for M&A or grants, VA Connect steps in. Blended ARPU grows from S$0 to S$3,000–5,000+/yr — with advisory engagements adding significantly more.
From Advisory Firm
to Regional Platform
Founded
Vanice Advisory established in Singapore.
Business Advisory Pivot
Pivoted to business advisory services. AI-powered compliance automation development begins. eVAz.io advisory portal launched.
AskVAVA Launch
SaaS platform goes live. WhatsApp-first compliance assistant. Payroll support for SG & MY.
Scale
100+ businesses onboarded. 5,000+ staff managed. Expanded to Vietnam market.
New AI Modules
CMO, Legal, and Analyst AI modules. Target: Philippines & Indonesia expansion.
Regional Leader
Target: Full ASEAN-6 coverage. Enterprise tier launch.
The People Behind
the Platform
A hands-on founding team with deep domain expertise in corporate advisory, compliance, and technology across Southeast Asia.
Vanice Cai
Serial entrepreneur with 9+ years in B2B sales, corporate solutions, and cross-border business development. Former Senior Product Sales Manager at Microsoft Singapore (Distributor of the Year 2015, youngest Team Lead) and Top 3 Revenue Financial Executive at Maybank (surpassed targets by 300% in year one). Built Vanice Advisory from the ground up — turning firsthand experience serving 100+ SMEs into the AI-powered platform that is AskVAVA. Bilingual English/Mandarin.
Zave Huang
Serial tech entrepreneur and builder with 15+ years across fintech, payments, and digital platforms. Co-founded SmoovPay — Singapore’s first 3D Secured mobile payment gateway (StarHub partnership). Former CEO of PayBolt (Web3 crypto payments). Founder of Skubbs (digital transformation & AI solutions). Previously IT Service Manager at IBM Singapore covering governance, risk, and change management. Brings deep technical architecture and product-building experience to Vanice Advisory’s AI platform strategy. NUS graduate.
Why This.
Why Now.
The rare combination: deep domain expertise, proven product-market fit, AI-native economics, and a massive underserved market.
5 Years of Domain Data
Not a team that read about the problem — a team that lived it. 100+ clients, thousands of filings, every edge case documented. That’s the AI’s training ground.
WhatsApp = Distribution Moat
No app downloads, no onboarding friction. SEA businesses already live on WhatsApp. Meeting them there — not forcing a new tool — unlocks adoption others can’t match.
Advisory Funds Growth
VA Vault and VA Connect generate profitable revenue today. No need to burn cash acquiring users — the service business funds the platform build.
Near-Zero Marginal Cost
Every new query costs almost nothing to serve. Traditional firms add headcount to grow. We add GPU time. That’s the unit economics investors dream of.
ARPU Expands Over Time
Clients start free, upgrade to paid, add compliance services, expand to new countries, then engage advisory. Blended ARPU grows from S$0 to S$3K–5K+/yr.
Regulation = Tailwind
ASEAN governments are digitising filings and tightening enforcement every year. Non-compliance penalties are rising. The market comes to us.
Competitive Edge
Built for SEA, Not Retrofitted
Xero, QuickBooks, and Deel were designed for Western markets. Vanice is purpose-built for ASEAN regulations, languages, and WhatsApp-first workflows.
Technology-First at Scale
Traditional firms charge high fees for manual work. Vanice automates the routine and reserves human advisory for high-value decisions.
Full-Stack, Not Feature-Only
Point solutions solve one problem. Vanice combines compliance, payroll, HR, invoicing, and advisory into a single platform — creating deep lock-in.
SME-Priced, Enterprise-Grade
Enterprise-quality compliance automation starting from ~S$1.99/day. The Big 4 won't touch SMEs at this price point.
Let's Build the Future
of SME Infrastructure
We're speaking with strategic investors and partners who share our vision of making compliance effortless for every business in Southeast Asia.
114 Lavender Street, #10-72 CT Hub 2
Singapore 338729
This document is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy securities.