Editor’s note:
This Monday, Uber sold its operations in SE Asia to local rival Grab, putting more pressure on Go-Jek.
But Nadiem Makarim doesn’t think so. According to an internal email seen by Reuters, the CEO of Go-Jek said the Uber-Grab deal is a “great opportunity” for Go-Jek as “fewer players means a smoother path to continued and deepened market leadership” .
Makarim said earlier that the company will set up operations in the Philippines in 2018.
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:
SE Asia: Indonesian ride-hailing and online payment company Go-Jek is set to announce its first expansion to another country in Southeast Asia in the “next few weeks”, according to an internal company email seen by Reuters. Go-Jek also plans to expand to three other Southeast Asian countries by the middle of this year, the email quoting Go-Jek Chief Executive Nadiem Makarim said. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: The Singaporean carpooling startup Ryde announced today it will be launching a private-hire service called RydeX, according to Channel News Asia. (e27)
Singapore: Noble Group Ltd said on Wednesday that creditors holding the majority of its senior debt now accept its $3.4 billion restructuring plan. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Singapore-headquartered online card payments startup CardUp on Wednesday announced that it has raised S$2.2 million ($1.7 million) in a seed funding round led by Sequoia India and early-stage fund Seedplus. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Sasseur Real Estate Investment Trust (Sasseur REIT), an outlet mall operator in China, has raised a total of S$396 million ($303 million) after successfully completing its initial public offering (IPO), which is the largest so far on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited this year. (Deal Street Asia)
Indonesia: Fashion e-commerce platform Sale Stock Indonesia claimed that it will soon reach break-even point (BEP) and be ready to make profit for the first time since the startup was founded in late 2014. (e27)
Thailand: Thai beverage and retail conglomerate TCC Group on Tuesday is acquiring a majority stake in Tarad.com, a leading domestic e-marketplace operator, to expand its reach in Thailand’s e-commerce market. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund 500 Startups recently closed its 20th deal from its $10-million Vietnam fund by backing a fintech blockchain startup. (Deal Street Asia)
China:
The U.S. initial public offering (IPO) for Chinese streaming platform iQiyi Inc priced at $18 per share on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said, in the middle of its target range. (Reuters)
Bilibili Inc., an iconic brand of online entertainment for young generations in China, announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 42,000,000 American depositary shares (“ADSs”) at a price to the public of US$11.50 per ADS for a total offering size of US$483 million. (CNBC)
In 2017, Didi Chuxing‘s GMV rose by 70% to reach as much as $27 billion. Its core businesses incurred a net loss of over $200 million. The ride-hailing company expects its net profit to hit $1 billion this year. (tech.sina)
NetEase‘s blockchain sharing platform Planet starts an action for NetEase products. Users need to use its crypto coin Black Diamond. (36Kr)
Didi regional director Sun Shu has thanked Meituan for the competition it has brought to the ride-hailing market in a message on his WeChat moments (in Chinese), but his message is a vehicle for pointing out safety concerns of Meituan Dache’s new operations. (Technode)
Financing from an obscure part of the debt market that Ant Financial has relied heavily on for its key consumer lending business is drying up. It’s sold only 22.8 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) of asset-backed securities tied to consumer lending in the first quarter, down 74 percent from the previous three months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and China Securitization Analytics. (Bloomberg)
Chinese pharmaceutical company Hua Medicine has raised $117.4 million from existing and new investors in a combined Series D and Series E financing round. The group of new investors, meanwhile, includes Singapore’s GIC and Ping An Ventures. (Deal Street Asia)
Hong Kong media firm Most Kwai Chung, which runs popular satirical magazine 100Most and a digital media site tapping into Hong Kong’s youth culture, saw its stock soar as much as tenfold on its trading debut after attracting the most public subscriptions for an IPO in Hong Kong history. (SCMP)
Chinese courier company SF Holding said it has won a licence to operate drones, opening up a potential new frontier for package delivery in the world’s second-largest economy. (SCMP)
Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, announced that it aims to build an IoT network with 10 billion connected devices within the next five years. The announcement was made at this year’s Cloud Computing Conference held in Shenzhen on 28 March 2018. (Technode)
Online shopping legal disputes rose 42% in 2017, according to data released by the Supreme People’s Court. Beijing residents were the most likely to take their case to court, Alibaba platforms were involved in 18% of cases and 18-29 year olds made up almost half of all plaintiffs. (Technode)
Private equity platform Cathay Capital Private Equity has launched a $239-million (RMB1.5 billion) fund to focus on investments in emerging technologies and new business models in the Chinese energy sector. (Deal Street Asia)
World:
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s plan to take over Silicon Valley and the global world of technology is starting to take form. The $100 billion Vision Fund will invest in another 30 companies over the next two years, adding to the 30 it has already invested in over the last year or so, said Rajeev Misra, the fund’s CEO. (CNBC)
Facebook Inc. is conducting a broad review of all its data practices and taking a much more conservative stance on some policies, moves that could limit advertisers’ ability to target users on the social network, according to people familiar with the matter.
Temasek-backed Payments gateway BillDesk has held talks to explore a sale, as its private equity (PE) investors are seeking an exit amid increasing interest in the payments market, three people familiar with the matter said. (Deal Street Asia)
U.S. technology giant Apple Inc and India’s telecoms regulator are at loggerheads over the development of a government anti-spam mobile application, with user privacy at the heart of a deepening rift between the two sides. (Reuters)
Kerala’s top IT park, Technopark, is among the facilities shortlisted in India for the setting up of an ambitious digital hub by the Japanese automotive major, Nissan Motor Corporation. (The Times of India)
Kakao will unveil its own open blockchain platform within the year but will not create its own virtual currency, the South Korean chat giant’s co-CEO has said. (zdnet)
Lior Ron, a central figure in Uber Technologies Inc.’s self-driving-truck project, left the company, said people familiar with the matter. (Bloomberg)