by Alexis Tuble, Correspondent
On October 15, 2025, Fairmont Makati was transformed into one of the country’s most anticipated startup venues — IGNITE 2025: Gateway ASEAN. The annual gathering connects founders, investors, and innovators from across the region, and this year, all eyes were on Diwa AI, one of the startups taking the stage at the WILDFIRE x Startup World Cup Pitch Competition.
As ASEAN’s largest innovation and investment conference, IGNITE 2025 celebrates the power of collaboration and technology to drive economic growth. The event brings together more than a thousand participants, 400 companies, and 50 industry leaders — all eager to discover what’s next in the region’s thriving startup scene.
Among this dynamic lineup of innovators, Diwa AI stood out for its mission to transform how people conduct research through artificial intelligence.
Introducing Diwa AI — Where data meets intelligence
Born from the vision of making research smarter and more human, Diwa AI blends advanced AI technology with the science of insight generation. The platform doesn’t just collect data — it understands it. By combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the tool empowers researchers to uncover not only what people think, but why they think it.
Unlike traditional research tools that rely on separate platforms for surveys and interviews, Diwa AI brings everything together in one system. Users can easily design a research project by setting objectives, selecting question types, and enabling the AI to generate follow-up or “probe” questions automatically.
Once respondents interact with the AI interviewer, the system processes each response in real time and formulates new, context-specific questions — just like how a skilled human moderator would.
“When a respondent answers, ‘I think it’s good,’ the AI immediately asks, ‘What else in the video made you feel it was good?’” the Diwa AI team explained. “This natural flow allows researchers to gather deeper insights effortlessly. The AI then analyzes all responses, categorizes them by frequency, identifies themes, and visualizes findings in clear, customizable dashboards.”
These dashboards display everything a researcher needs — sentiment distribution, coded responses, verbatim quotes, and frequency charts.
The system doesn’t stop at showing data; it interprets emotions, context, and behavioral patterns, giving clients a comprehensive understanding of their audience.
Diwa AI: Redefining market research in the age of AI
At its core, Diwa AI aims to solve one of the biggest challenges in the research industry — the divide between qualitative depth and quantitative scale. Most platforms focus on numbers, leaving out the human element. It bridges that gap through its AI-driven “lab” that can perform both interviews and surveys while automatically analyzing results.
In traditional setups, researchers often rely on tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms for data collection, and then use separate software for analysis. The tool eliminates that fragmentation. Its in-house AI system performs the entire process — from data gathering to coding and visualization — in a single ecosystem.
Beyond technology, Diwa AI also partners with market research firms to reach targeted respondents. Whether a company needs 100 participants within a specific demographic or wants to gauge public sentiment on a new campaign, Diwa AI offers both the platform and services to execute research end-to-end.
This ability to unify processes and deliver actionable insights quickly has made Diwa AI a game-changer for businesses, brands, and institutions that rely on data-driven decisions.
DIWA AI taking the stage at IGNITE 2025
As Diwa AI steps into the pitch competition powered by the Startup World Cup, the startup brings more than just an AI product as it brings a vision of the future of research. The event provides a powerful platform for the company to present how its proprietary AI system can elevate how organizations collect and interpret information, not only in the Philippines but across ASEAN.
By showcasing its innovation in front of experienced investors and thought leaders, Diwa AI hopes to expand its network, attract partners, and accelerate its growth in regional and global markets. The company’s participation also marks a pivotal moment for Philippine tech, proof that local innovation can compete on the world stage.
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, Diwa AI is positioning itself as a bridge between technology and understanding. Its mission goes beyond automating research, it’s about enabling smarter conversations, faster insights, and more meaningful decisions.
