SEA
Grab and Fave announced they have signed a strategic partnership to ‘accelerate growth for both platforms across the region by tapping into each other’s strengths. Fave will mobilise its large merchant sales team to onboard merchants for GrabFood and GrabPay. On the other hand, GrabPay will be also be integrated into Fave so that the latter’s customers, will be able to spend GrabPay balance in addition to bank cards at restaurants and retailers across Fave’s merchant network. (KrASIA)
Myanmar-based Technolic, parent company of freelancer platform Chate Sat, has raised a six-digit sum in its Pre-Series A round. The round was led by Singapore-based angel investors Willy Ballmann and Keizo Fujitake. (e27)
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says cloud and tech stacks are vital to ‘re-engineering’ the Singapore government. The Singapore government is digitising its public services and building its centralised Singapore Government Technology Stack. (The Straits Times)
A major Telco in Singapore, StarHub, will axe 300 employees. This news comes as Starhub recently appointed a new CEO. (Channelnewsasia)
China
Ctrip, China’s largest online travel services provider, will partner with London-based ride-hailing marketplace Splyt, to allow its users to book a ride on Splyt as they travel across the world. This will indirectly pit Ctrip against Chinese car-hailing giant Didi Chuxing in overseas markets. (SCMP)
Chinese bitcoin tycoon Li Xiaolai has announced that he will personally not invest in blockchain projects in the future. Li Xiaolai is the founder of Beijing-based venture capital firm BitFund. He added that he plans to spend the next few years contemplating a career change. (Technode)
China’s Jiangsu province will begin issuing electronic marriage licenses through Alipay. The move is part of an update to the province’s ‘Jiangsu Government Affairs’ Alipay programme. (Technode)
Bullet Messenger’s daily downloads falls to below 6000 at the end of September. Just two months ago, the app was downloaded nearly 568,000 times daily. CEO Luo Yonghao admitted that after experiencing explosive growth, the app has now entered a period of slower steady growth. He added that the team is now pushing out weekly software updates to improve their product. (Technode)
Alibaba’s retail management platform Tao will partner up with 200 garment factories to monitor their production data using AI. Cameras will be installed in the factories for data collection and Tao Factory will synchronise the production process using computer algorithms. (Technode)
Elsewhere
Guardant Health, a cancer-detection firm backed by SoftBank, raised $237.5 million during its US IPO. The California-based company sold 12.5 million shares on Wednesday at $19 each. (Dealstreetasia)
Instagram back up after worldwide outage. The photo-sharing social network is back up on Wednesday, after suffering a worldwide outage. The app displayed an error message saying ‘couldn’t refresh feed’. (Reuters)
Ebay accused Amazon of trying to poach its sellers and has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Amazon. ‘We have uncovered an unlawful and troubling scheme on the part of Amazon to solicit eBay sellers to move to Amazon’s platform’, eBay said. (Channelnewasia)
Former American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recommends that countries sit down at the table to thrash out acceptable international rules for using the internet. Albright points to an increasingly unruly online space and calls it a ‘bucking bronco’. (Channelnewasia)