SEA
A map to the tech unicorns in Southeast Asia. Who are some of the unicorn-to-be(s) in Southeast Asia? When should you invest in them? ‘’As an example, we have seen Grab’s performance skyrocket just after paying a hefty price to buy out Uber. ‘’, Pelago and Nikaia wrote. (KrASIA)
Antworks, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence company, has secured $15 million in a Series A funding round from SBI Investment, and launched a joint venture with the Japanese venture capital firm, according to an official release. It claims to provide for over 450 customers, with a presence in four continents. (Deal Street Asia)
Grab slams rival’s fake booking allegations as ‘malicious’ and ‘untrue’. The company has denied its competitor’s claim that it was responsible for a slew of supposed ”phantom bookings’‘. Eddie Ybanez, the CEO of Philippine taxi-hailing service Micab, alleged last week that his company’s drivers had been hit with ”several thousand” fake bookings. (Tech In Asia)
China
Medical tech venture Medlinker closes RMB 1b Series D round. Backers of this fundraising include the likes of CIC Zhongcai, Sequoia Capital, and China Renaissance, with the latter being the exclusive financial advisor. The firm also maintains a strategic partnership with China Electronics Corporation (CEC), aimed at new projects that enhance the connectivity between patients with doctors and insurers. (KrASIA)
Xiaomi’s risky play with P2P lenders: another reason to be bearish. This came in the wake to the already rocky lead up to the company’s IPO earlier this month. The phone maker also recently lost its top position in India to competitors Samsung and OnePlus. (KrASIA)
Fighting fakes unavoidable in developing China’s online retail market. These comments were made in the wake of the country’s lawmakers looking to make online retail operators directly liable for the sale of fake goods on the platform. (SCMP)
How a Chinese tech company conquered markets overseas. Clean Master, an app that removes junk files from phones, was the secret to Fu Sheng’s overseas success. Utility apps that makes phones run faster, avoid viruses, and reduce clutter – has been neglected by US and European developers, allowing Clean Master to race to become the sixth-most downloaded app on Google’s store the following year after its inception. (Financial Times)
Ofo bicycles in Beijing unavailable within Didi app. Amid rumours of a possible acquisition, the former’s bicycles are no longer accessible on Didi’s app. Both companies have repeatedly denied the planned acquisition. (Technode)
Rest of Asia
Samsung Electronics profit growth slows despite stellar chip sales. Operating profit for the world’s biggest chipmaker and smartphone maker rose 5.7 per cent to 14.9 trillion won ($13.3 billion). The South Korean tech giant expects the demand for memory chips to remain strong in the second half thanks to the growth in server data centers. (Reuters)
Million dollar fund created to build a new media ecosystem in Asia – through Spice News and Civil Media. Splice founder Alan Soon, a former Yahoo! managing editor, said the move was masterminded to combat the anemic growth of media startups in the region. (Mumbrella Asia)
World
Tesla is now delivering Model 3s straight from the factory. Elon Musk delivered one Sunday. The company has solved its production problem, moving on to a delivery one. The firm lacks a dealership network, relying on a combination of its own stores. (Quartz)
Tech Bloodletting nears $300 billion since Facebook reported. The rush to get out of US tech stocks entered its third day on Monday. All of the FAANGS retreated. The selloff has widened losses in the S&P 500 Information Technology Index to $6.3 trillion. (Bloomberg)
Uber closes self-driving truck program. The company said it will all its energies on passenger car automation for the foreseeable future. This came in the wake of a steady stream of high level departures. (The Information)
Why this e-commerce site pivoted and started accepting crypto payments. This platform that is a combination of Pinterest & Amazon has started to accept Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash as payments. (Tech In Asia)
Esports are booming and some investors are growing more bullish. According to a market research firm, the video game industry could be worth as much as $138 billion by the end of the year. More video game content, products, and gaming events are just some ways for investors to dip into action. (CNBC)
