The Loop Asia

Mobile carriers compete fiercely on everything — except the APIs GSMA is now standardizing across 240+ networks worldwide, to solve fraud and authentication once instead of country by country.

Alex Szomora is Senior Go-To-Market Project Manager for GSMA's Open Gateway Initiative, working at the intersection of telco standardization, digital identity, and cybersecurity.

What we cover:

• Why GSMA calls Open Gateway its third major industry achievement, after GSM itself and international roaming

• How the Camara project (Linux Foundation) and TM Forum fit into the technical and business structure

• The most-adopted APIs so far — SIM swap detection, number verification, device location, quality-on-demand

• Why getting competing carriers to the same standardization table is the hardest part, not the technology

• Where new APIs are heading next — drones, aviation, and network-quality use cases

GSMA Open Gateway: www.gsma.com

The Loop Asia: www.theloop.asia

Most VCs chase "AI" as a category. Chris Birrell doesn't — he built his own eight-part framework for finding the API startups that actually survive a CIO's budget cut.

Chris Birrell is Managing Partner at Func Ventures, investing specifically in API-enabled startups after a career that spans C++ programming, three startup exits, and a stint as CIO at Blue Coat (acquired by Symantec for $4.5B).

What we cover:

• The SUPERIOR framework — Chris's eight-attribute model for evaluating API startups

• Why the API layer, not the UI layer, is where enterprise value actually gets captured

• How companies like Stripe and Twilio became invisible infrastructure that made Uber possible

• Why regional adaptation turns a local problem into a global advantage

• What actually protects an API startup from being commoditized or copied

Connect with Chris: func.vc

The Loop Asia: www.theloop.asia

India has quietly built one of the world's most advanced API-first banking ecosystems — UPI, account aggregation, WhatsApp banking — and Abhijit Dey has been building it from inside Axis Bank.

Abhijit Dey is VP of API Banking at Axis Bank, with almost a decade building API products across fintechs and banks in India.

What we cover:

• Why every major Indian bank is becoming "API-first," with no more direct database-to-database calls

• How WhatsApp became a real banking channel — payments, queries, and onboarding, all via API

• The India Digital Stack: Aadhaar, UPI, account aggregation, and the new ONDC layer

• What actually separates an API product manager from a traditional product manager

• Why "API sprawl" is the next real risk for digital banking

Connect with Abhijit: linkedin.com/pulse/roles-api-product-managers-beyond-conventional-management-abhijit-dey

The Loop Asia: www.theloop.asia

Large language models don't just answer questions — they're becoming the connective tissue between every API a business runs. Aki Ranin explains why that changes everything about how you build for AI.

Aki Ranin is an AI strategist working under the [r]ecursive banner — a two-time founder and published author who has focused exclusively on machine learning and AI since 2016.

What we cover:

• Why LLMs act as the "glue" connecting collections of intelligent APIs into one interactive system

• The real bottleneck for AI agents — it's not model quality, it's the integration layer underneath

• What API discoverability means in an agentic world

• Aki's path from robo-advisory platform Bambu to independent AI strategist

• Why building around today's model limitations is riskier than investing in durable infrastructure

Connect with Aki Ranin: linkedin.com/in/akiranin

The Loop Asia: www.theloop.asia