Editor’s note:
Baidu and Meituan-Dianping reportedly would start a pilot in China’s Xiong’an New Area, a state-level established in April 2017 that functions mainly as a development hub for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic triangle.
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: Singapore’s largest taxi operator ComfortDelGro is dialing up its efforts in the UK, adding 1,100 taxis to its existing fleet of 1,900 taxis in London by acquiring Dial-a-Cab, a London taxi operator, according to a press release by ComfortDelGro on Thursday. (KrASIA)
Singapore: DC Frontiers, a fintech start-up specializing in corporate intelligence technology, is joining forces with Chongqing’s SocialCredits to develop a business information portal. (ST)
Singapore: Singapore-based logistics startup Park N Parcel today announced that it has raised a S$850,000 (US$648,000) seed funding round led by Southeast Asia-focussed venture capital firm TRi5 Ventures and a group of undisclosed angel investors in March 2018. (e27)
Singapore: GIC Pte, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is spending about $850 million for a 7.1 percent stake in the listing by Vingroup JSC, Vietnam’s biggest developer, of its luxury residential arm, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. Vinhomes JSC’s planned $2 billion initial sale would be the country’s biggest ever. (Deal Street Asia)
Indonesia: Indonesian jewelry e-commerce site ORORI and HR management platform Gadjian, which are backed by 500 Startups and Golden Gate Ventures respectively, have revealed that they are raising a fresh funding round expected to be closed this year. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Vietnam’s largest lender by market value, Vietcombank (VCB), has earned approximately VND172 billion ($7.56 million) by offloading its entire stake in Ho Chi Minh City-based Orient Commercial Bank (OCB). (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Vietnam-focused private equity firm Mekong Capital expects its $112.5-million Mekong Enterprise Fund III (MEF III) to be fully deployed in the first half of 2019, when it also plans to raise a new vehicle, a top executive with Mekong Capital told DEALSTREETASIA in a recent interaction. (Deal Street Asia)
Malaysia: Convenience Shopping Sdn Bhd, a fully owned subsidiary of 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad (SEMH), has agreed to acquire a 60 per cent stake in Café Decoral Sdn Bhd, a ready-to-eat food supplier, for RM600,000. (Deal Street Asia)
Malaysia: CVC Capital Partners is close to an agreement to buy Malaysian snack food maker Munchy Group, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The deal could value Munchy at RM1.1bil (US$283mil), the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. (Deal Street Asia)
Malaysia: Malaysia’s sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd has promoted Amran Hafiz Affifudin and Bryan Lim to Executive Director, Investments. (Deal Street Asia)
The Philippines: Credit Suisse Group AG said on Thursday it has received regulatory approval to launch its wealth management business in the Philippines, allowing the Swiss bank to tap the growing onshore wealth in the Southeast Asian country. (Deal Street Asia)
China:
Xiaomi just made its third attempt at blockchain by launching a so-called WIFI Chain app to let users connect their Wifi router to the app for rewards. At this point, the rewards will be Xiaomi’s virtual currency which could be converted to either F code for early access to Xiaomi new product releases or Xiaomi’s CryptoKitties knockoff CryptoBunnies. (KrASIA)
Baidu told local news portal Sina.com that it has tied up with Meituan-Dianping to apply its self-driving technologies to Meituan’s food delivery business. The two reportedly would start a pilot in China’s Xiong’an New Area, a state-level established in April 2017 that functions mainly as a development hub for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic triangle. (KrASIA)
Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings is reportedly looking to invest around $100 million in online fantasy sports platform Dream11, according to a report in The Economic Times quoting sources. (Deal Street Asia)
Tencent Holdings has launched its own online document product focused on multi-person collaboration similar to Google Docs, the latest move by the Chinese Internet giant in the office application segment. (China Money Network)
Huawei’s 5G base station can now be sold within the EU region. According to a Xinhua News report, Huawei has passed the EU certification authority TÜV SÜD’s verification requirements and become the first company to obtain the CE type-examination certificate (TEC) for 5G products—which means it is approved for commercial use in the EU. (Technode)
Alibaba’s logistics unit Cainiao is speeding up the development of driverless delivery vehicles. On April 19, the company released photos from the road test of its self-developed driverless van. (Technode)
People in China will spend more time on their smartphones and other mobile devices than watching television for the first time this year, according to a study. (CNBC)
GSJ Ventures invested in Chinese live-streaming e-commerce platform TuDouNi’s angel round in last November. (36Kr)
World:
Amazon Inc said on Wednesday it now has more than 100 million Amazon Prime members globally. (Reuters)
Uber Technologies Inc has picked VMware Inc’s Zane Rowe as the top candidate for chief financial officer to lead preparations for the ride-hailing company’s initial public offering in 2019, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Nintendo starts selling on Friday an unusual collection of attachments for its hybrid Switch tablet-console: cardboard add-ons called Nintendo Labo. Priced at $70 and $80, the build-it-yourself cardboard kits, with accompanying software, will let users transform the Switch into a miniature piano, motorcycle handlebars, robot exoskeleton and other objects. (Bloomberg)
Gobi Partners, one of the leading venture capitalists founded in China with a strong presence in both China and Southeast Asia, is hosting an event in Kuala Lumpur on April 26 to build the bridges between Northeast and Southeast Asia startup scene.
The event, co-organized by Gobi, GS Shop, MAVCAP and GwG (Grow with GS), dubbed Crouching Panda, Hidden Tapir, will be held at Le Meridien Hotel in the capital city of Malaysia.