SEA
India’s ride-hailing firm Jugnoo shuts down Singapore app. It will instead, partner with Kardi, a Singapore-based ride-hailing startup, by providing tech expertise and engineering support. This comes after a previous account in The Straits Times Report of Jugnoo’s difficulty recruiting drivers locally. (Deal Street Asia)
China
Alibaba invests $750m in Turkey’s Trendyol to compete against Amazon. This move will see Alibaba providing its technology, e-commerce, mobile payment, and logistics expertise to Trendyol, as part of this strategic alliance. (KrASIA)
JD teams up with Sequoia China to raise $5.8b for state-owned Starquest Capital. Starquest Capital invests in areas like artificial intelligence, automation robots etc, basically anything that falls under China’s long-term and strategic planning push for China’s technological advancement. (KrASIA)
China could reportedly use its ‘unwritten’ tech rules to retaliate against Washington’s tariffs. China’s cybersecurity standards might become the weapon as the US-China trade war escalates. These so-called standards are often treated as mandatory by foreign firm’s Chinese business partners. (CNBC)
Alibaba launches a new suite of 9 cloud product offerings. These services are mainly targeted for most Chinese services that aim to go global via the Asia Pacific as the launchpad. (Technode)
Y Combinator works with ex Baidu executive Qi Lu to set up China arm. The accelerator has invested in more than 1,900 startups and its push into China marks the latest push by US companies into the Middle Kingdom. (CNBC)
China’s gaming industry was thrown into disarray amidst a government shake-up, according to people familiar with the matter. Gaming companies ranging from big names like Tencent to small developers are now waiting for approvals. (SCMP)
Rest of Asia
Why are investors bullish on Japan’s venture growth? The language and cultural barrier don’t seem to stall the interest in the country. Skilled labour force, easy access to capital, and a well-developed infrastructure were some of the reasons cited that are making Japan an attractive country for entrepreneurship. (Tech In Asia)
World
Tesla major shareholders trimmed stakes during the second quarter. These were done before Elon Musk’s recent announcement of plans to take the company private. The second quarter saw investors focusing on the production of the new Model 3 sedan at a slower cash burning rate. (Reuters)
Karma raises $12m for restaurants and grocery stores to sell unsold food at a discount. This app-based marketplace helps to sell unsold food direct to consumers at a discount. A consumer just has to register one’s location and can search for the unsold food items posted by merchants to buy. (TechCrunch)
Tinder founders sue parent IAC. They reportedly claim that IAC purposely undervalued Tinder so as to avoid payments of billions of dollars. Some employees were also deprived of stock options. (Reuters)
Cryptocurrency scammers pocketed $2.3m in Q2. More than just token sales, websites that appear to offer popular cryptocurrency services are also targeting would-be victims. (Coindesk)