SEA
Grab has removed oBike from its bike-sharing platform GrabCycle as the bike-sharing startup ceased operations in Singapore on Monday. (KrASIA)
Grab’s mobile wallet GrabPay officially launched in Malaysia on Tuesday. The ride-hailing company had previously reached a partnership with Maybank to promote GrabPay in the country. (Deal Street Asia)
Japanese recruitment networking company Wantedly mulls to expand into Malaysia and Vietnam after establishing its presence in Singapore. (SCMP)
Malaysia’s co-working space operator Common Ground which is backed by Catcha Group has closed a $20-million Series A round to fuel its expansion in the region. The startup seeks to triple its locations in the country and upgrade its facilities. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore’s fintech startup AsiaKredit has raised a financing round from SIG Asia Investments, adding its aggregate funding to $2.5 million. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore’s Golden Gate Ventures is raising $100 million for its third fund, according to an SEC filing. (Deal Street Asia)
China
China Renaissance, China’s boutique investment bank, filed Monday with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) for an upcoming IPO tipped to be as early as October this year. (KrASIA)
AlipayHK launched a blockchain-based remittance service on Monday, providing a cheaper and faster approach for money transfer to over 180k Filipinos in Hong Kong. Ant Financial claims its blockchain-enabled service is the first of its kind. (KrASIA)
Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group has invested $44.35 million in Tencent through shares and equity-linked notes, according to a statement by Lippo. (Reuters)
Evergrande Health Industry Group agrees to acquire Season Smart which owns a 45% stake in a joint venture with the struggling electric car maker Faraday Future. Troubled entrepreneur JIA Yueting will be Faraday Future’s global CEO. (SCMP)
Used car platform Cango plans to raise as much as $300 million in a US IPO. The company plans to use the proceeds to invest in R&D capabilities, sales and marketing activities, and expansion of services. (Deal Street Asia)
China has set up a $4.6 billion fund to invest in tech innovations worldwide, according to Xinhua. (Deal Street Asia)
Some of China’s richest people, Li Ka-shing, Jack Ma and Pony Ma have agreed to buy stakes in Xiaomi’s IPO, according to people familiar with the matter. (Deal Street Asia)
Baidu is evaluating the possibilities to relist in China by issuing CDRs, stated the company in a filing to the SEC. (Technode)
A group of US lawmakers who seeks to reinstate the US ban on ZTE asked the Commerce Department to provide guidance on how the ban affects American companies which use ZTE products. (SCMP)
Tencent is now a platinum member of the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization enabling innovation through open source. The tech giant plans to contribute projects TARS, Tseer and Angel to the foundation. (Technode)
Rest of Asia
Vision Fund has led an over $200 million round in India’s insurtech startup PolicyBazaar, with participation from existing investors including InfoEdge. (TechCrunch)
World
Amazon Alexa Fund, Salesforce Ventures, and Microsoft’s M12 have joined the $27 million Series C round in Tact.ai which provides an AI-powered sales experience platform. (TechCrunch)
Scooter-sharing startup Lime launched in Paris. The startup also operates in Berlin, Bremen, Frankfurt, and Zurich in Europe. (TechCrunch)
Gadgets
Xiaomi launched Redmi Note 5 Flame Red edition in China. The other options are Rose Gold, Gold, Black, and Magic Blue. (Gadgets360)
Good News Bad News
Vietnam has rejected Grab’s expansion plan, stating the ride-hailing company will only be permitted to operate its pilot programme within five localities. (Star Online)
