KrASIA Weekly: Innovative, new plans are necessary for global tech expansion

Hi there, it’s Robin.

Uber’s exit from China wasn’t enough. Its departure from Southeast Asia just happened not too long ago. But now, Uber is finally looking to change its strategy as it prepares for its upcoming initial public offering in 2019. Plans to dominate and disrupt do not seem to work and Uber today prefers to abide by rules and regulations instead.

This lesson isn’t limited to just Uber but can be applied to tech giants both in China and Southeast Asia.

Nasdaq-listed Pinduoduo had to deal with the negative impact following cases of counterfeit products on its platform. Didi Chuxing is beefing up its security measures after the two murders in 3 months. Even the US$75 billion ByteDance also has to deal with regulators over its online content.

Singapore’s competitive watchdog made Grab and Uber pay S$13 million for their merger deal, after ruling that the merger infringed on anti-monopoly laws.

The fast-growing Ant Financial has been labelled as ‘too-big-to-fail’, commonly known for huge financial institutions, and is increasingly seeing tighter regulatory oversight in China.

Other than regulations, Uber is also doing more partnering, like the case with Japan. Apparently, Uber jumped on the opportunity to partner with Japan’s local taxi service to break into the Japanese market.

Tencent pushed further into Southeast Asia’s gaming market this week by inking a new partnership with Garena, paving the way for new revenue streams amidst regulatory changes back home.

Grab unveiled its first cohort of its accelerator program as the firm is actively looking to partner with startups as a means of its expansion plans to become the everyday app. In Vietnam, for instance, Grab partnered mobile payment provider Moca to venture further in Vietnam’s mobile payment space.

Go-Jek is also set to collaborate with DBS Bank to offer regional payment services, as it prepares the launch of its beta ride-hailing services in Singapore.

Indeed, the new race going forward for global expansion might become more of the ability to establish mutually beneficial partnerships as quickly as possible. After all, no man is an island.

Read on to find out more interesting stories from last week, and feel free to tip us if you have news clue or you just want to talk with us, email us at [email protected] and we are looking forward to hearing from you.

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