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“Overseas Channel” has been launched on 36氪 app! We will provide you with good overseas content in a centralized manner (this year we will focus on Southeast Asia in particular). Come, follow the short animation, pin the overseas channel in three steps, and get to the key news directly with one click.
major companies
Alibaba Cloud will continue to invest in Malaysia
Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of a second availability zone (Availability Zone B) in Malaysia on July 30 to expand and enhance its cloud capacity to meet the growing number of local customers. need. The new regions complement Availability Zone A, which was launched last year to improve cloud security and ensure business continuity with cloud infrastructure.
Alibaba Cloud is committed to providing flexible and secure cloud products and services to Malaysian customers. Promote knowledge sharing with local businesses and talents on how to use Alibaba Cloud technology to achieve highly secure and flexible cloud infrastructure. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to create a smart city powered by artificial intelligence and big data.
JD.com ’s first overseas unmanned supermarket has settled in Jakarta
JD.com has launched its first unmanned delivery store in Indonesia . The 270-square-meter store is located in a major shopping mall in Jakarta. It is the first and largest unmanned supermarket launched by JD.com overseas.
Southeast Asia has become a battleground for Chinese Internet giants. JD.com led investments in Thai fashion brand Pomelo and invested in Indonesian travel unicorn Go-Jek.
Singapore's United Overseas Bank launches digital car loan service
United Overseas Bank (UOB) announced on July 30 that it will cooperate with seven car dealers and second-hand trading platform Carousell, including Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Audi . More than 11 car brands offer digital car loan platforms. The platform will be available at dealers and Carousell. It is reported that the platform will reduce the car loan processing time from three working days to 15 minutes.
With UOB’s digital solution, car dealers only need to enter the customer’s name, mobile number and NRIC number, and the buyer can log in using their SingPass to confirm the loan details.
Grab passengers are suspected of being charged twice. The company launched an investigation
According to media reports on August 1, some Grab passengers in Singapore , Malaysia and Philippines recently received rides that they had paid for in the past (July 19). Receipt. They reported the situation to the company and were worried about whether they would be charged repeatedly and whether their credit card-related information would be compromised. The company said it was "experiencing some issues" and said passengers would not be charged twice. Grab has started investigating the matter.
Grab raised another US$1 billion after raising US$1 billion from Toyota
KrASIA News, Grab announced a round of financing of approximately US$2 billion, providing additional firepower to address new challenges facing the region. The round includes a previously announced $1 billion investment from Toyota, and the latest capital injection will value the Singapore-based company at $11 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Investors include OppenheimerFunds, Ping An Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. A large portion of this round of financing will be used to invest in Indonesia.
Indonesian startup partners with Go-Pay to provide cashless payment services to stores
Indonesian travel giant Go-Jek has signed up startup Warung Pintar to become the first cashless payment partner for its "Warung Digitization" project.
Warung means shop in Indonesian, which can be a small convenience store, coffee shop or roadside kiosk. Warung Pintar is a company incubated internally by East Ventures and was established in November last year. The startup said that as of this month, it operates more than 300 "smart kiosks" in the Jakarta area, managed by 500 micro-entrepreneurs. From August 1, these “smart kiosks” will begin offering Go-Pay’s QR code-based cashless payment service.
Go-Viet officially started operation on August 1st. Vietnam became Go-Jek’s first overseas country.
Go-Viet (Vietnamese version of Go-Jek) officially started operating on Google Play and App Store on August 1st.This is Go-Jek’s first time operating outside of Indonesia and will provide Go-Bike (travel) and Go-Send (express delivery) services in 12 areas in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to Vietnam, Go-Jek also plans to launch operations in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.
Singapore e-commerce Lazada waives merchant handling fees
Starting from August 1, Lazada will cancel the 1%-7% handling fee charged to merchants for each transaction. The move is intended to improve the profitability of small businesses. Once the zero commission fee system comes into effect, sellers will lower their prices. Lazada’s competitors in Singapore are:
Shopee: Starting from August, merchants will be charged a 1% handling fee for each successful transaction.
Qoo10: A fee of 7%-12% will be charged depending on the situation.
Carousell: No handling fee.
Singapore's all-in-one travel card Ez-Link waives recharge fees
E-Link, a subsidiary of the Land Transport Authority, announced on August 1 that it will no longer charge recharge fees to "Ez-Reload" users. Ez-Reload is an automatic recharge service that is voluntarily applied for by users and bound to Visa or Mastercard. In the past ten years or so, users have to pay an additional 25 cents in fees for each automatic renewal.
In addition, when people use cash to make purchases at Cheers convenience stores in the future, they can also choose to use the change returned by the clerk to add value to the Ez-Link card, saving them the trouble of carrying change and reducing the cash that the clerk needs to handle.
Singapore consumers can deposit change into Ez-Link at Cheers.
Starting from August 6, Singapore residents can deposit change into Ez-Link for free when making purchases at selected Cheers stores. Ez-Link is the most widely used contactless transportation card in Singapore.
This service is launched by Ez-Link, Wirecard and Cheers store. The scheme was first announced in early February this year as part of a partnership between EZ-Link and NTUC (National Trade Union Congress of Singapore). The move is aimed at encouraging cashless transactions and reducing the use of coins across the country.
Google launches job search function in Singapore
Google launches new "find a job" function in Singapore. This search feature covers thousands of job listings within more than 1,500 job search websites such as MyCareersFuture.sg, FastJobs, JobsCentral, LinkedIn, etc.
Job seekers can now search for part-time jobs through this feature and quickly view all information about the job, such as position, location, full-time or part-time, etc. The feature is available on both mobile and web versions and comes with many tools. There are filters for numerous job types, job locations, posting dates, and more.
early project
Ryde gets approval for flexible pricing policy
Grab rival Ryde has received approval from the Land Transport Authority to give taxi drivers on its platform flexible pricing. (When you book a taxi with Ryde, you will not be charged by the meter, but will be adjusted accordingly based on demand.) Before full launch in September, Ryde is preparing to obtain another license from the Public Transport Council. This new feature can add 7,000 taxi drivers to the existing fleet of 20,000 drivers.
oBike is accused of remitting 10 million yuan in user deposits to Hong Kong before it ceased operations.
oBike Singapore is accused of remitting user deposits worth about 10 million yuan to oBike's account in Hong Kong. The liquidator will issue a demand letter asking the other party to repay the funds. According to a notice issued by the liquidator last month, oBike owed approximately $8.9 million in deposits to 220,000 users. This means that there are still many users who have not filed a claim.
oBike announced the end of local operations on June 25. As of August 1, the amount of claims filed by users was about 350,000 yuan, and the amount of claims filed by town councils, logistics operators and other stakeholders exceeded 730,000 yuan.
The average number of mobile payments per capita in Thailand has reached 50 times per year, and is expected to soon reach 150 times per year.
The Bank of Thailand predicts that the per capita number of mobile payments per year in Thailand will soon reach 150 times, exceeding the expected rate. This is largely due to the promotion of electronic data capture (EDC) terminals and the popularity of PromptPay, QR codes and mobile banking.
PromptPay is an electronic payment plan launched by the Thai government, which can help users achieve fast transactions between different bank accounts. PromptPay currently has 42.6 million registered users, with a cumulative transaction volume of 1.6 trillion baht (approximately US$47.9 billion), and the number of merchants registered for QR code payment has reached 2 million.The central bank said it will further use mobile payments to promote mobile electronic payment transactions.
Wifi Advertising startup Social Light raises US$470,000
Philippine WiFi advertising startup Social Light Inc announced on July 30 that it raised US$470,000 in pre-Series A financing led by Cerebro Labs. The funds will be used to support the company's expansion plans in its core market of the Philippines, as well as other markets.
Internet connections in the Philippines are expensive and spotty, and while there are several companies in the country offering free WiFi service, Wifi service is spotty. In addition, it is a costly investment with no return rate, so it is difficult to develop and maintain. Social Light mainly promotes its Wifi platform Vayafi. While providing free Wifi to users, advertisers can purchase advertising space on the platform to push ads to Wifi users. Social Light plans to deploy approximately 1,000 wifi access points across the Philippines, targeting businesses of all sizes, from malls to corner stores or cafes.
Foreign investors account for half of Indonesia’s M&A deals
Foreign strategic acquirers dominate Indonesia’s corporate M&A sector, accounting for more than half of the total deal volume, according to a report by management consulting firm Bain Company. The value of M&A transactions in Indonesia reached US$9 billion in 2017, a decrease of approximately US$2 billion from 2016. But strikingly, foreign companies accounted for a much higher share of deals last year than in previous years. In fact, between 2012 and 2017, 50% of the total deal volume in Indonesia’s corporate M&A sector was completed by foreign strategic investors. However, most M&A activity occurs in the industrial products and services industry, accounting for 58% of the total transaction volume, although recently it can also be noted that the Internet/software industry transaction volume is growing.
HDT becomes Singapore’s seventh taxi operator
Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on July 31 that it has issued a comprehensive taxi service operator license to Singapore taxi company HDT. HDT already has 100 electric taxis in its fleet after two years of trials supported by the Singapore Transport Innovation and Development Programme.
LTA said in a statement that HDT has proven the company's business viability and ability to operate a comprehensive taxi service. HDT will be required to register its existing electric fleet as regular taxis by August 31 and gradually increase its fleet size to at least 800 electric taxis over the next four years.
Singapore-based crowdfunding platform FundedHere launches private stock exchange
Singapore-based crowdfunding platform FundedHere launches private stock exchange FundedX, allowing private investors and venture capital companies to trade stocks more freely.
FundedHere is a platform approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). They are also looking for smart contracts based on blockchain technology to make the transaction process more transparent, secure and efficient.
Hedera Hashgraph claims its technology is superior to blockchain and is about to open a Singapore office
Blockchain now faces a strong competitor: Hashgraph, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that claims to be faster and more efficient. The company behind it, Hedera Hashgraph, has raised $100 million to strengthen its Hashgraph public distributed ledger platform, develop services such as cryptocurrency, file storage services and smart contract platforms, and plans to launch the network within the next month. Edgar Seah, head of Asia Pacific for
Hedera, said the company has strong interest in Southeast Asia and will soon announce the establishment of its Singapore office.
Philippines will launch "Asia Crypto Valley" with the goal of raising US$100 million.
Philippines will soon launch the "Asia Crypto Valley" project, aiming to promote the development of northern Luzon. It is reported that private real estate developer Northern Star Gaming & Resorts Inc. (Northstar) and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), a government-owned and state-owned company, are raising funds to establish the "Asia Crypto Valley". The “Crypto Valley” will house world-class internet data centers, crypto mining companies, independent power production facilities, and state-of-the-art cybersecurity and risk assessment facilities. Northern Star claims the property will be launched in three phases and has committed up to $100 million in investment over the next 10 years.
Thai e-commerce company Sokochan will enter Malaysia
Thai e-commerce startup Sokochan will enter Malaysia in October after raising pre-Series A round of financing in July. Adrian Stewart, co-founder and chief strategy officer of
, said Sokochan will work with a transportation services company that has 300 vehicles and three warehouses in Malaysia. With local partners, Sokochan also hopes to expand to the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
The Philippines' 1.5 billion casino project has been halted
Philippine President Duterte will cancel Landing International Development Ltd's 1.5 billion casino project in the capital Manila . A presidential spokesman said the rent in the treaty signed between the government and the company in March was "unreasonable" and put the government at a disadvantage, leading to the cancellation of the project.
This is the second casino project that the Duterte administration has halted. In April, Macau's Galaxy Entertainment Group shelved plans to build a $500 million integrated casino resort on the resort island of Boracay. A month after regulatory approval, the government raised environmental concerns and halted the project.
Investment and Financing
Singapore financial technology startup C88 received US$28 million in Series C financing
Singapore-based fintech startup C88 Financial Technologies Group received US$28 million in Series C financing, led by global information service provider Experian. The latest round of financing will bring C88’s total funding to more than $45 million.
C88 integrates financial products from banks and insurance companies in Asia and provides them to small and medium-sized enterprise customers. Its platforms in Indonesia and the Philippines are CekAja.com and eCompareMo.com respectively. It is said that C88’s two platforms have provided services to more than 50 million consumers. The company will expand its business to Thailand.
Singapore's AntWorks raises US$15 million in Series A funding from SBI Investment
Singapore's artificial intelligence company AntWorks has secured US$15 million in Series A funding from SBI Investment and entered into a joint venture with the Japanese venture capital firm .
AntWorks has developed ANTstein, an intelligent automation platform that provides solutions to more than 450 customers. The company claims to operate on 4 continents and said it will release its new robotic process automation (RPA) product SQUARE by the end of this year. The investment from SBI Investment, a subsidiary of Tokyo-listed SBI Holdings, will power the company's research and development of artificial intelligence and enterprise RPA and help it expand into new markets.
Singaporean HR startup Pulsifi received US$1.1 million in investment
Singaporean HR startup Pulsifi has raised US$1.1 million in financing, led by angel investors Chi Sieng Tiong, Chieh Suang Khor and Lon Wong. The company said it will use the latest funding to strengthen its artificial intelligence-based SaaS human resources platform.
Pulsifi was founded in 2016 and developed a people analytics platform. The platform uses predictive models and machine learning to automatically generate a holistic profile of each potential or current employee. This enables a company’s HR team to make more informed, data-driven decisions around hiring, teamwork and development.
Indonesian technology company Pomona raises Series A financing
Indonesian advertising technology startup Pomona announced that it raised an undisclosed amount of Series A financing in early 2018. The funds will be used to develop technology, attract talent and customers. Previously, the company received seed round financing in April 2017. Launched in 2016,
Pomona provides O2O marketing solutions, mainly through "gamification" to promote offline consumption and thereby increase transaction volume.
Indonesian startup Cashlez is expected to raise US$5 million in funding
According to people familiar with the matter, Indonesian mobile POS terminal developer Cashlez is negotiating with potential investors and is expected to raise a new round of financing of US$5 million. Cashlez was founded in 2015 and focuses on researching mobile payment technology. It received US$2 million in seed round funding led by Mandiri Capital Indonesia in July last year.
Philippine food tech startup BigDish raises $2.3 million in London listing
Manila-based online restaurant reservation service BigDish raised £1.8 million ($2.3 million) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on August 7. 49.4 million shares were issued at 4.5 pence each, valuing the company at $16.7 million.
BigDish will use proceeds from the listing to grow its brand, grow its business, develop its team and complete its acquisition of UK restaurant reservation company TablePouncer.
Indonesian retail technology company Warung Pintar received US$4 million in financing
Indonesian retail technology startup Warung Pintar received US$4 million in financing from Vertex Ventures, Pavilion Capital and LINE Ventures. The funding comes just six months after a $4 million seed round funded by SMDV, Digital Garage, East Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners, Triputra Group and other angel investors.
Warung Pintar said the new funding will be used to more quickly complete its mission to help improve the quality of Jakarta's warungs (traditional kiosks) and encourage micro-enterprises to incorporate new technologies.
Singaporean fintech startup Rate raises $15 million
Singaporean fintech startup Rate has raised $15 million through a token sale for its blockchain project Rate3. Rate will use the newly raised funds to accelerate product development and drive expansion into new markets. Rate3 is committed to building a global distributed ecosystem and aims to solve the pain points of cross-border payments through blockchain technology.
Jingwei China and Fenbushi Capital founder Shen Bo, as well as cryptocurrency investors Node Capital, Kenetic, FBG Capital, Signum Capital and other investment companies participated in this round of financing. It is worth mentioning that Matrix Partners China has invested in companies such as Didi Chuxing, Momo, eleme, ofo Xiaohuangche, etc.
cooperative organization
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Editor's Note
If you are working on an overseas project and want to be reported by 36kr, please contact me via email: [email protected], or add WeChat (jemshenghao) to chat in detail. Please be sure to attach a simple model introduction to the email.
Along with the trend of Chinese funds going global in the second half of 2015, going overseas has become a hot topic in the venture capital field since 2016. Some large companies in China have begun to make strategic layouts around the global market. We have reached exclusive cooperation with a number of venture capital platforms in the United States, India, Singapore and other countries. Through professional screening, editing, integration, and research, we provide the latest and most noteworthy global venture capital information that we believe is the latest.
We have launched "Overseas Daily", "Southeast Asia Venture Capital Weekly", "Indian Venture Capital Weekly", and "Silicon Valley Venture Capital Weekly". As a result, 36Kr, along with the first batch of entrepreneurs and investment institutions in China to go overseas, became China's first venture capital and business media to go overseas.
Next, 36Kr will launch a series of products focusing on “going overseas”. As the most influential business media in China, 36Kr should continue to provide such products, provide users with value judgments, and let some people see the future from a cutting-edge and professional perspective.
