The Essentials
The ten tech trends for 2019
IT consultancy Gartner highlighted the top ten tech trends for 2019, include:
– Autonomous things: robots, drones and autonomous vehicles,
– Augmented analytics: augmented intelligence that use machine learning to transform the development, consumption and sharing of analytics content,
– AI-driven development: provides the developer with an ecosystem of AI algorithms and models, as well as development tools tailored to integrating AI capabilities and models into a solution
– Digital twins: the digital representation of a real-world entity or system,
– Empowered edge: more capable endpoint devices used by people or embedded in the world around us driven by IoT, 5G maturity, etc,
– Immersive experience: VR, AR, MX mixed for the next level of exp.,
– Blockchain: of course,
– Smart spaces: a physical or digital environment in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems, or English, smart city and smart co-working hubs,
 – Digital ethics and privacy: a growing concern,
 – Quantum computing: a type of nonclassical computing that operates on the quantum state of subatomic particles, you might get hold of it anytime soon, but you’ll feel the impact.
SEA and Beyond
New Fundings
Get, a Singapore social ticketing startup recently rebranded from Qnect, raises US$ 2.5 million led by Vertex Ventures with participation from Temasek, Click Ventures.
New Funds
Gobi Partners announces a new US$10m early-stage fund called Agung Fund in Indonesia, more here.
Core Capital, a Filipino VC firm, together with Gobi Partners, announced Gobi-Core Philippine (PH) Fund, a US$10 million fund to support local early-stage startups, more here.
Kejora Ventures, an Indonesian VC firm, is seeking US$100 million for a growth fund investing in Series B and C rounds for local startups, more here.
Bain Capital, a global PE firm, expects to close its US$3.5 billion Asia-centric fund by year-end, with a focus in five core industries: financial & business services, consumer, industrials, healthcare and technology, more here.
Market Moves
Foodpanda, a global food delivery platform, acquires Mumbai-based Holachef to enter the cloud kitchen business, more here.
China Decipherer
New Fundings
WATRIX.AI, a gait recognition AI startup, raises US$14.5 million in pre-A round, more here.
Yunshemei (云摄美), a short video services platform, raises millions of USD pre-A led by Metagalaxy Capital Investment, more here (link in Chinese).
Chehaoduo (车好多), a second-hand auto marketplace, raises US$162 million Series C+, from DST, CKE, more here (link in Chinese).
Kafang Tech, a fintech algorithm startup, raises undisclosed amount pre-A from FutureCap, more here (link in Chinese).
Edianzu (易点租), an enterprise information technology (IT) and office desktop leasing start-up, raises US$60 million Series D at a roughly $500 million valuation from Source Code Capital, more here.
Market Moves
Google’s CEO confirms it’s returning to China with a censored search engine, watch out Baidu, more here.
Xiaomi rumoured to be shifting Beijing staff towards second-tier cities, more here.
Diagram
People
Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen dead on Monday at 65. The investor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who helped create the era of personal computing that has shaped and is transforming every aspect of our modern life, died in Seattle from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to his family’s statement.
Opinion
India’s data localisation plans could hurt its own startups the most, more here.
Policies
Malaysia could be the second country in Southeast Asia, after Singapore, to introduce digital tax as the country has commenced tabling the 2019 Budget, more here.
IPO
Chinese private aesthetic medical firm Yestar delays HK IPO due to current market turmoil, Tencent’s music streaming arm also postponed its IPO for the same reason, more here.
Before you go
A dark day for journalist and journalism. Saudi Arabia is preparing to admit dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed as a result of an interrogation that went wrong, more here.
