Editor’s note:
JD’s investment in Tiki is likely to hit the news with sensational headlines such as Chinese tech moguls are coming after the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia.
Last year, when Alibaba invested US$1 billion to speed its Asian drive, people were talking about the same thing.
Another Chinese tech mogul, Tencent, expand its footprint in SE Asian by becoming the largest shareholder of Shopee’s operator Sea.
It is natural to wonder: Is SE Asia increasingly becoming the new battleground of Chinese tech giants?
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:
Vietnam: China’s second-largest e-commerce firm JD on Tuesday announced that it has led a strategic investment in Tiki, Vietnam’s B2C e-commerce platform. (Deal Street Asia)
Malaysia: Zoom, an on-demand delivery specialist announced on January 15, 2018 that it has received RM4 million (US$1 million) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Gobi Partners. (KrASIA)
Singapore: Temasek Holdings and Kuehne Nagel International AG, a global logistics group, are planning to establish a 50:50 joint venture (JV) entity that will have the mandate to invest in early-stage logistics technology companies. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Kin-Wau Lau, the CEO of Internet venture builder Fatfish Internet Group, has overseen the growth of the firms’ international footprint. With a presence in Singapore, Australia and Sweden, the Internet venture builder predicts that ASEAN technology IPOs and ICOs will gain traction as regulators and investors deepen their understanding of the sector. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Morpheus Labs, a blockchain-platform-as-a-service startup, today said it has raised an undisclosed sum in funding from a Chinese angel investor at US$2 million valuation. (e27)
Singapore: City-state-based adtech startup DREA has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding, led by Investigate Network Capital and several other investors from the AngelCentral network. (e27)
China:
Tencent-backed Chinese startup Kuaishou is seeking to raise funds at about a $17 billion valuation as it expands its video-streaming service to Southeast Asia. The company is targeting around $1 billion of financing. (Bloomberg)
Hong Kong‘s benchmark stock index closed Jan 16 at a record for the first time in more than a decade as a world-beating rally showed little signs of waning. (Straits Times)
U.S. lawmakers are urging AT&T the No. 2 wireless carrier, to cut commercial ties to Chinese phone maker Huawei Technologies and oppose plans by telecom operator China Mobile Ltd to enter the U.S. market because of national security concerns, two congressional aides said. (Reuters)
Le Shi, China’s beleaguered video streaming website, will resume trading and will be rebranded as New Le Shi. (36Kr)
Alibaba is recruiting senior user analysist aged more than 60 to improve the user experience of its e-commerce website Taobao among the older generation. (Alibaba)
Live streaming platform YY rolled out an 11-hour live trivia game with the total prize of RMB 3.5 million (approx. US$465,660). (36Kr)
Download manager application Xunlei announced it will not allow transfers of its token Link Token among users on platforms other than Xunlei and its partners. (Onething Cloud)
According to Nikkei Asian Review, Google has relaunched its map service in China after an eight-year absence, while Google announced it hasn’t made any change to its map service in China. (QQ.com)
Alipay teamed up with Hangzhou city to roll out the first app-based digital proof of blood donation. (pic.gmw)
China’ long-term apartment rental service provider Ziroom has closed an RMB 4 billion (approx. US$620 million) Series AA round led by Warburg Pincus, Sequoia Capital, and Tencent. (36Kr)
VC firm ZhenFund led the funding round of LINO, a blockchain-powered video streaming startup. (36Kr)
OneConnect, the financial arm of China’s insurance company Ping An, has closed a Series A funding round. The company is valued at $8 billion. (Yicai)
Tianjishuju, a big data solution provider, has closed a Series Pre-A funding round worth RMB 15.2 million (approx. US$2.35 million) led by CBC Capital and joint by Sequoia Capital China. (36Kr)
Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced it will not allow companies to mislead investors with blockchain-related business concepts. (Sina)
Pan Gongsheng, VP at China’s central bank: the country should tighten its grip on the trading of cryptocurrencies and prohibit individuals and enterprises from providing token-trading-related services. (36Kr)
Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus was the second-best selling phone in China last year, behind the OPPO R9s, with iPhone 7 in fifth place, according to market data report. (Techmeme)
Alibaba Cloud announced it won’t provide services related to cryptocurrencies such as mining, replying to the speculation that the company rolled out a platform for cryptocurrency mining. (tech.Sina)
Toutiao is set to raise ad revenue for content makers by 3% to 50%. (Toutiao)
Zhang Yong, Alibaba CEO: New Retail relies on the merger between online and offline traffic. (IT Home)
JD opened a staff-less supermarket in Dalian city, allowing users to go cash-free with the payment option powered by facial recognition technologies. (JD)
Ofo has entered into 7 Indian cities until Jan 15 and is set to place in total 3000 bikes across India. (Xinhuanet)
World:
YouTube will impose stricter criteria for the types of videos that can earn money on the site and will introduce a new vetting process for the top-shelf videos it offers advertisers. (Bloomberg)
Encrypted messaging service Telegram is planning the largest ICO ever. The company is planning to raise US$600 million in a private sale of tokens to use in its Telegram Open Network blockchain and an additional US$600 million in a public sale of tokens. (Bloomberg)
While Bitcoin miners currently use about as much electricity as Ireland, they are “very unlikely” to reach the “ultra-high-end” threshold of 350 terawatt-hours a year — a level that would only amount to 1.4 percent of global demand. (Bloomberg)
Bitcoin has sputtered out the gate this year and fell as much as 20 percent to about $11,200 Tuesday, the lowest since December. But while regulatory concerns have turned most major crypto markets into a sea of red this month, smaller cryptos have rallied. (Bloomberg)
Google is launching a new online education program to certify people for work in information technology support, part of the internet giant’s philanthropic push around job training. (Bloomberg)
Qualcomm launched its public defense against the $105 billion hostile takeover attempt by Broadcom, asking shareholders to have confidence in management’s strategy and push aside the suitor. (Bloomberg)
IBM and A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S have started a company that will use new technologies such as blockchain to track cargo movements and automate paperwork for shipping across international borders. (Bloomberg)
Lyft today announced it’s expanding its Concierge program – the service that allows organizations to schedule rides for other people – to more business customers. (TechCrunch)
Kaspersky Lab says it’s found an Android spying app, likely by Italian vendors, that relies on five exploits to gain root access and can steal WhatsApp messages. (Techmeme)
Instacart said it agreed to acquire Toronto-based startup Unata, giving the grocery-delivery company new kinds of e-commerce tools and a path to expand in Canada. (Bloomberg)
Google plans to build three new undersea fiber optic cables and add five new cloud regions in Montreal, Netherlands, Los Angeles, Finland, and Hong Kong. (Techmeme)