Cognition fast-tracks Asia-Pacific expansion with new Singapore headquarters

[SINGAPORE] Cognition, best known for being the company behind pioneer artificial intelligence software development tool Devin, launched its regional headquarters in Singapore on Wednesday (Apr 29) amid surging enterprise demand across the region.

Launched in March 2024, Devin was recognised for being one of the first software development tools which utilised AI to handle complex engineering tasks such as coding, debugging and deployment.

The company will open its Central Business District office later this year, and will build a team over the next two years focused on engineering, operations, product, marketing and sales for customers across the Asia-Pacific region.

Cognition, however, declined to provide specific headcount it has for the Singapore office.

The expansion follows the company’s entry into Asia-Pacific through Japan earlier this month, with the Singapore office acting as a hub.

Richard Spence, vice-president and general manager of Asia-Pacific at Cognition, said that the company chose the Republic as its headquarters because of its support for the AI agenda countrywide.

Local enterprises have a “real appetite” to move beyond experimental pilots and solve engineering bottlenecks, he added.

Moreover, “Singapore has one of the most talented markets when it comes to engineering and specifically AI”, he noted.

The tech company is already deploying its platform locally with significant traction. At OCBC, the engineering team scaled its use of Cognition’s platform from 250 licences in November to 1,700 within six months.

Engineers in OCBC are using the platform to support its software developmental workflows.

Michael Chung, head of group wealth engineering at OCBC, noted that the lender has seen initial productivity gains of up to 30 per cent since its initial investment in Cognition’s platform.

More importantly, the first pass rate for OCBC’s system integration test increased from below 50 per cent to over 80 per cent, after implementing Cognition’s platform.

To further fuel its entry into Singapore, Cognition acquired Singapore-based AI startup Havana – a platform that uses agentic AI for student enrolment.

Team members from Havana are being integrated into Cognition’s regional operations such as engineering, go-to market and product development.

Following its entry into the Singapore market, Cognition has now set its sights to expand into other parts of Asia-Pacific, specifically India, South Korea and Australia.

The company aims to work with organisations from different sectors, such as the financial services, government agencies and startups.

“Hopefully we can scale quickly to the demand and excitement that we are seeing in the market,” said Spence.