Editor’s note:
Ant Financial is reportedly in talks with investors to raise at least $8 billion. The company could value the company at $150 billion, making it the world’s largest unicorn.
Singapore’s Temasek seeks to lead the round while Warburg Pincus is also looking to play a key part in the round, sources told Reuters.
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 Exchange Ltd (SGX) on Wednesday said it would list Indian equity derivative products in June, a move which follows a decision by India’s three main bourses to stop licensing their indexes to overseas exchanges. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Protégé Ventures, a fund created and run by university students in Singapore, today announced its first investment in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Nurture.AI. (e27)
Indonesia: Indonesian asset management firm Kresna Graha Investama has announced an investment in Graha Kreasi Sejahtera (GKS), which owns a 15.5 per cent stake in Singapore-based fintech firm MatchMove Pay. (Deal Street Asia)
Indonesia: PT Bukalapak.com became a billion-dollar startup by focusing on the Indonesian farmers and small-time merchants that bigger rivals such as PT Tokopedia neglected. Now it wants to buy its way onto their turf. (Deal Street Asia)
Myanmar: The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private lending arm, has proposed to invest $6 million in a long-term financing facility for Sanctum Inle Resort, a five-star hotel project in Inle Lake, Shan State. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: GIC Pte is poised to become the lead cornerstone investor in Techcombank’s Vietnam initial public offering, which could raise about $900 million, people with knowledge of the matter said. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Vietnam’s real estate sector saw mergers and acquisitions (M&A) reach a total of $200 million in the first quarter this year, according to estimates by real estate and investment management firm JLL. (Deal Street Asia)
Malaysia: IHH Healthcare Bhd. has proposed a potential bid of as much as $1.3 billion for Fortis Healthcare Ltd. that tops an offer from a TPG-backed consortium, according to people with knowledge of the matter, opening a possible takeover battle for India’s second-largest hospital chain. (Deal Street Asia)
China:
U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC is in talks to invest in a fundraising round for China’s Ant Financial Services Group that is expected to be worth at least $8 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said. (Reuters)
WeWork China, the world’s largest co-working startup’s Chinese arm, merged with Naked Hub, one of its rivals in China, local news service Yicai reports on Thursday. The US company will pay around $400 million for the merger, a source told Bloomberg. (KrASIA)
The road to China’s autonomous-driving future is paved with solar panels, mapping sensors and electric-battery rechargers as the nation tests an “intelligent highway” that could speed the transformation of the global transportation industry. (Bloomberg)
Authorities ordered online app stores to take down four news apps by 3 p.m. Monday, including Jinri Toutiao, the flagship product of the unicorn startup ByteDance Inc., and Tiantian Kuaibao owned by Tencent Holdings, China’s most valuable tech giant. The apps disappeared in different Android stores by the deadline but were still available in Apple’s App Store until Tuesday. (Technode)
Chinese entertainment app Watermelon Video has barred new mobile video uploads, live streams, and live comments, saying it is cleaning up the platform to meet legal standards, local media is reporting. (Technode)
Tencent has suspended the ability to play short videos in its WeChat and QQ messaging apps, requiring users to copy the link and paste it in their browser to the view the videos, local media is reporting. (Technode)
Telecommunications operator China Unicom has begun closing down its 2G network and requested that services using the technology cease development, our sister site is reporting. (Technode)
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released national guidelines for smart internet-connected cars, giving local authorities a freer hand to arrange road tests for autonomous vehicles. (SCMP)
Venture capital investors who called on Jinri Toutiao’s chief executive Zhang Yiming last year wanted to know why so much of the news aggregator’s content focused on societal ills, celebrity gossip and off-colour jokes. (SCMP)
JD Logistics generated a revenue of RMB 18.3 billion (approx. $ 2.9 billion) in first three quarters in 2017, while the loss during the same period exceeded RMB 400 million (approx. $ 63.6 million). (36Kr)
JD.com is opening 1000 convenience stores every day until the end of 2018, according to the company’s founder LIU Qiangdong. (36Kr)
Meituan-Dianping reduced its subsidies to drivers and is tightening its regulations on drivers. (36Kr)
Alibaba reached a strategic partnership with CheZhiBao, a second-hand car marketplace. The two companies are planning to launch second-hand vehicle trading businesses in more than 200 Chinese cities in the following 3 months. (36Kr)
China’s largest news aggregator Toutiao has led a Series B round of financing in China’s answer to Google Docs, Shimo, in 2017. (pe.daily)
World:
Walmart Inc is likely to reach a deal to buy a majority stake in Indian e-commerce player Flipkart by the end of June in what could be the U.S. retail giant’s biggest acquisition of an online business, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. (Deal Street Asia)
Tesla Inc. again placed blame for a fatal crash involving a Model X last month on the driver as the man’s family hires a firm to explore legal options. (Bloomberg)
Bitcoin surged the most on an intraday basis since December after breaking through key technical levels. (Bloomberg)
Social media stocks are likely to see further sell-off with more data privacy issues likely to come to light, one investment manager told CNBC on Thursday. (CNBC)
Technology company Zuora on Wednesday priced its initial public offering at $14 per share, a day before the company expects its stock to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (CNBC)
During his testimony before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly suggested that Facebook users have complete control over the information they share with Facebook. But it’s much more complicated than what he implies. (CNBC)