SEA
Grab has secured US$370 million in debt financing from 16 participants according to HSBC Singapore, as the ride-hailing company seeks to grow its vehicle fleet. This comes as part of its US$700 million debt financing announced by the company in last October. (Deal Street Asia)
Alibaba has set up its office in Kuala Lumpur as the Chinese e-commerce giant seeks to push for strategic cooperation with Malaysia, establishing its first eWTP hub outside of China. (Deal Street Asia)
Razer leads a US$3.3 million investment in Esports Mogul, an Australian company that operates an e-sports platform which will integrate Razer’s payment system. (TechCrunch)
Vietnam’s Vinataxi and ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi announced a merger plan in a bid to compete with Grab. ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi is a joint venture of Saigon General Service Corporation (Savico) and Singapore’s ComfortDelGro. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore-based healthcare startup GetDoc, seeking to expand into the Thai market, received an undisclosed amount from Thailand securities and investment bank AEC Securities Public Co Ltd (AECS). This follows after both concluded a joint venture agreement earlier this month. (Deal Street Asia)
Sea announced it has completed its convertible notes offerings at US$575 million. (Deal Street Asia)
China
Xiaomi delayed its plan to list on Mainland China’s stock exchange. The smartphone manufacturer stated on Weibo that it will issue CDRs after its HK IPO. (Technode)
China’s largest ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing has been retaining drivers’ income on its platform for as long as possible, probably in a bid to alleviate its financial stress. According to Didi Chuxing’s policy, drivers’ payment can be retained on the platform for as long as 8 days. (KrASIA)
China’s second largest e-commerce giant, JD.com has announced Tuesday morning a whopping RMB159.2 billion (approximately USD$25 billion) worth of orders to close its annual mid-year ‘618’ online shopping festival, JD’s counterpart to Alibaba’s year-end ‘Singles Day’ shopping festival. This shopping festival runs for the first 18 days of the month of June. The cumulative value of delivered orders this year witnessed a 37% increase from last year’s festive sales. (KrASIA)
Google announced Monday that it will invest $550 million into China’s second largest e-commerce giant, JD.com. According to the deal, Google will be receiving more than 27 million newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares issued at $20.29 per share, accounting for less than 1% stake in the company. (KrASIA)
Huawei rejects Australia’s security concerns, saying the comments about its policies and products were “ill informed and not based on facts”. The Australian government is expected to ban the Chinese telecoms company from bidding in a 5G mobile auction. (SCMP)
Rest of Asia
Viva Republica’s Toss, the largest payment app in South Korea, has received a fresh US$40 million investment from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Sequoia China. Toss focuses on consumer experience, unlike its main competitor Kakao that focuses on B2B. Its registered user base has doubled over the past year to reach eight million consumers, processing $1.4 billion in transaction volume per month. (Techcrunch)
Payment app Paytm buys Flipkart-backed technology startup Cube26 for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition’s aim is to improve user experience over its mobile platform. Backed by Tiger Global Management, Cube26 develops customised Android OS for original equipment manufacturers. (Livemint)
Japan’s biggest flea market app Mercari raised US$1.2 billion in its IPO which is the country’s biggest one since July 2016 when Line went public. The downloads of its app hit 71 million in the five years since its debut. (Bloomberg)
BigBasket is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Kwik24, a vending machine startup. The E-grocer had kicked off a pilot with the startup to deploy vending machines in Bengaluru. (Deal Street Asia)
World
Microsoft has acquired education startup FlipGrid which operates an app that allows students to record and share short video clips to discuss specific topics. (CNBC)
U.S. online survey company SurveyMonkey, through its parent SVMK, confidentially registered for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission, with JPMorgan Chase to help lead preparations for the IPO. (CNBC)
Gadgets
LG launched its LG X5 (2018) in South Korea. The device has a 4500mAh battery that supports fast charging technology. (Gadgets360)
