The city-state seems to be a fan of cryptocurrency. After opening the first cryptocurrency café last week, now riding bikes can be rewarded with cryptocurrencies as well.
Kr-ASIA 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: oBike is to launch its own cryptocurrency oCoins with Chinese blockchain company TRON in the first quarter of 2018. Users can earn oCoins while use Obikes and use oCoins for future rides. (e27)
Vietnam: The country has unveiled a 10,000-strong military cyber warfare unit to counter “wrong” views on the internet, media reported, as the country seeks to tame the internet. (Reuters)
Singapore: City-state-based on-demand staffing platform Ushift plans to raise $3-5 million by the first quarter of 2018, as the company seeks to expand to overseas markets and break even. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Data Depot, a customer-based analytics startup based in Estonia, seeks to expand its presence in Asia and bridge the gaps in digital know-your-customer processes and regtech. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Fatfish Internet Group, a Singapore-rooted venture builder, is acquiring a 60% stake in CryptoFoundry, a Singapore- based cryptocurrency services firm, for $260,834. (Deal Street Asia)
Indonesia: Japanese bank holding, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, seeks to raise its stake to a majority in Indonesian lender BTPN upon regulatory approval. (Deal Street Asia)
Malaysia: Dialog Axiata, Sri Lanka’s leading telecom service provider, has launched a $15 million fund for the island nations’ startups in advertising, e-commerce and entertainment. (e27)
China:
UrWork, the leading co-working space operator in China, has rebranded into Ucommune. The startup also raised $45 million in a Series C funding round led by Qianhai Wutong Mergers and Acquisition Funds and joined by CK Home–Key Investment Group and Context Lab. (e27)
China Unicom announced the users’ number of its internet package, Tencent Da Wang Card, has risen to 50 million users from 30 million in May. (Techweb)
Alibaba’s Tmall online supermarket rolled out a “delivery within an hour” service in five major cities in China, planning to expand to most first tier and second-tier cities. (Sina)
China’s railway ticket booking gateway 12306 launched applets, allowing users to access to real-time information. (36Kr)
All employees at LeEco do not believe in what Jia Yueting has said about the funding in Faraday Future, as he has lied too many times, according to a middle manager at LeEco. (stcn)
Cheetah Mobile’s subsidiary Cheetah convenience store has forayed into the self-service snack bar space, with elite employees from Meituan. (36Kr)
Faraday Future plans to achieve the mass production of model FF91 with the proceeds it claimed to have raised recently. (yicai)
Targeting Cloud infrastructure and corporation, Lenovo Cloud has seen a three times rise in revenue this year. (The Papaer)
One of South Korea’s largest company LG Display is to build a new OLED production facility in China, following a summit between Moon Jae-in and Xi Jinping. (wsj)
Alibaba reached a partnership with the government of Shandong province to raise the income of peasants by introducing sophisticated e-commerce system. (Sina)
Ant Financial teamed up with EMVCo, a consortium with control split among Visa, MasterCard, JCB, American Express, China UnionPay, and Discover, as part of its plan to beef up its global presence. (Caixin)
Alibaba rolled out jewelry shopping feature to bridge the gaps between manufacturers and consumers. (21jingji)
Power bank rental startup Xiaodian has closed a funding round and break even in most cities where the company operates. The startup has mopped up ¥450 million (¥68.7 million) investment from GSJ Venture, Tencent, Sequoia China among others. (BiaNews)
Applet startup Aldwx.com has raised a ¥30 million ($4.5 million) Series pre-A funding led by Amiba Capital and joined by Sinovation Ventures and Zero2IPO Group. (PEdaily)
Jinri Toutiao has become the biggest finder of missing people in China. (Tech Node)
World:
Uber has agreed to sell its auto-leasing subsidiary Xchange to startup car marketplace Fair.com. (wsj)
WhatsApp will plans to end support for Blackberry OS and Windows Phone on December 31, 2017. (Venture Beat)
Amazon plans to expanding advertising efforts in 2018 and reported having been experimenting with various ad products. (cnbc)
Startup India scheme has recognized 5898 startups to date and 75 among them have received funding worth in total $52 million.(Inc42)
Tokyo Olympics will introduce facial recognition system to verify IDs of athletes and working staff. (Techweb)
The price of Cryptocurrency Dogecoin keeps rising, with the total market capitalization exceeding $100 million. (Sina)
Blockchain startup INS received $43 million funding from Collinstar Capital and Blockchain Ventures, whild Unilever and Mars showed interests in the startup. (36Kr)