Editor’s note:
According to local media Caixin, the Meituan-Mobike deal is brokered by Tencent founder Pony Ma. Ma’s social networking and gaming giant is a major shareholder in both Meituan-Dianping and Mobike.
KrASIA Daily is a five-minute read to brief you everything you need to know to start your day. We only choose the latest tech & startup news that is worth your time, with a focus on Southeast Asia and China.
Southeast Asia:
Singapore: Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek has identified Singapore as one of the Southeast Asian markets it plans to expand to this year, according to a report by The Straits Times on Monday. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Two Singaporean Airbnb hosts who pleaded guilty in court to unauthorised short-term letting were fined a total of S$60,000 each on Tuesday (Apr 3), in the first such cases under the country’s rules on short-term property letting introduced last year. (Channel News Asia)
Singapore: Temasek Holdings-backed Accuron MedTech has completed the divestment of its shares in molecular detection tests provider Veredus Laboratories to Japan-based diagnostics company SEKISUI MEDICAL, a subsidiary of SEKISUI CHEMICAL Co., Ltd. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Seven years after being taken private, regional healthcare group Qualitas Medical is planning a return to the Singapore Exchange (SGX), according to a preliminary prospectus it filed with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Qualitas, backed by Singapore-based private equity firm Southern Capital Group, spent three years on the SGX Catalist board but was taken private in 2011. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Sequoia India has led an $11-million Series B funding round in Singapore-headquartered tech startup Insider, according to an announcement on Tuesday. The round was joined by existing investors Wamda Capital and Dogan Group. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Silicon Valley VC firm 500 Startups’ Southeast Asia arm is set to hit the final close of its $50-million second vehicle this month, industry executives aware of the development told this portal. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Yoma Micro Power Pte Ltd, a Myanmar-focused micro-power plant operator, has announced the close of a $28 million investment from the International Finance Corporation, Norfund and Yoma Strategic Holdings. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Japanese general trading firm Itochu Corporation has become the second-largest shareholder of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) after picking up an additional 10 per cent stake for 5 billion yen ($46.9 million), the Nikkei Asian Review reported. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank expects its market capitalization to rise to least $1 billion in the fourth quarter after the scheduled listing this month, according to Chairman Do Minh Phu. (Deal Street Asia)
Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur-based digital firm Catcha Group has led a seed investment round into Asia-focused wedding marketplace Hitchbird that is aiming to deepen its foothold into a $200-billion regional wedding market. (Deal Street Asia)
China:
The world’s largest O2O e-commerce platform Meituan-Dianping acquired China’s top bike-sharing startup Mobike. (36Kr)
Neil Shen, the founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, ranks #1 on Forbes’ the Midas List 2018. (36Kr)
Baidu leads a Series C funding round in smart speaker manufacturer Zaijia. Foxconn participated the round. (36Kr)
Government in Shanghai fined Meituan-Dianping and Didi Chuxing RMB 100k (approx. $16k) each for operations that infringe laws and regulations in ride-hailing. (tech.sina)
China seeks to relist some of its overseas-listed companies in China through financial certificate CDR and Xiaomi founder LEI Jun said it’s a good and innovative idea, refusing to comment on the much anticipated Xiaomi IPO.(tech.163)
Amazon stopped providing its FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) service to Chinese third-party merchants. With FBA, Amazon pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for merchants. (ebrun)
Toutiao has almost 20k employees and half of them are sales personnel. (Yicai)
Qihoo 360 reports RMB 12.2 billion (approx. $ 1.9 billion) revenue in 2017, up 23.56%, while its revenue for shareholders hit RMB 3.8 billion (approx. $ 604 million), up 80.15%. (cnbeta)
Youon plans to launch its car-sharing pilot in Changzhou in April with a plan for wider launch. (36Kr)
Alibaba‘s sports unit Alisports closed an RMB 1.2 billion (approx. $ 191 million) Series A round led by Yunfeng Capital and announced to merge internet sports brand Ledongli. (36Kr)
Japan Inc. is on track to overtake China in overseas dealmaking for the first time in six years. A hunt for growth at Japanese firms is driving foreign purchases, at a time when China’s most prolific acquirers have been hobbled by regulatory probes and new outbound investment rules. (Bloomberg)
Private equity firm Chengwei Capital and Huami, the largest manufacturer of wearables in the world, have co-led the $50.6-million Series C funding round in SiFive, a Silicon Valley-based fabless semiconductor firm. (Deal Street Asia)
Sinovation Ventures, the Chinese venture capital firm founded by former Google Inc executive Kai-Fu Lee, is raising $500 million for its fourth fund to continue investing in Chinese and US technology startups. (Deal Street Asia)
World:
SoftBank Group is investing $400 million in India’s Paytm E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd. in a funding round that will value the online retailer at roughly $1.9 billion, a regulatory filing showed on Monday. (Reuters)
The New York Stock Exchange on Monday set the reference price for shares of music streaming service Spotify Technology at $132. (CNBC)
India’s leading ride-hailing company Ola on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Mumbai-based Ridlr, an end-to-end public transport ticketing and commuting app, for an undisclosed amount. (Deal Street Asia)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken charge of production of the company’s flagship electric sedan, pushing aside former Apple executive Doug Field, according to The Information. (CNBC)
Bitcoin fell from $13,412.44 to $6,928.85 in the three months ended March 31, marking a more than 48 percent decline, according to data from industry website CoinDesk, which tracks the price across a number of exchanges. (CNBC)
The recent decline in Nvidia shares is a great buying opportunity, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The firm reiterated its buy rating for the chipmaker and added the company to its US1 top ideas list. (CNBC)
