SEA
Central Group, one of Thailand’s biggest conglomerates that partnered with JD.com to tap ecommerce and financial technology growth in Thailand, is mulling over an IPO for its retail arm. The Group is working on restructuring ts retail operations ahead of a possible IPO. (Deal Street Asia)
This Malaysian startup can assist with your to-do list on demand. GoGet helps busy people to outsource their to-do list to a trusted people in a community – essentially functioning like a marketplace for on-demand errands and deliveries powered by a community of GoGetters. (Tech in Asia)
SGInnovate invests in blockchain-based medtech startup MediLOT. The funding round is an undisclosed one, but it marks the first government-backed blockchain and healthcare analytics startup in Singapore. (e27)
Temasek-backed ClassPass to enter Singapore next month. ClearPass that allows users to book fitness classes via monthly subscriptions will launch its services by August 9 this year. (KrASIA).
Why should Singapore SMEs care about EU’s General Data Protection Regulation? Organisations all over the world have been scrambling to prepare for the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force on May 25. (Business Times / SGSME)
Indonesian Regulator to Launch Fintech Hub Next Month. Indonesia’s financial regulator is taking a leaf out of near neighbour Singapore’s book in preparing to embrace financial technology. (Finews.asia)
China
Tesla foe in China Xpeng hits US$4 million in valuation before even selling cars. The Chinese firm is backed by the likes of tech giants such as Alibaba Group Holdings, Foxconn Technology Group & Xiaomi founder Lei Jun. (SCMP)
Chinese ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing is looking to spin off its car services unit in a deal worth up to $1.5 billion as it prepares for an expected initial public offering. The firm is looking to raise between $1-1.5b for the car services unit. (KrASIA)
Didi gets $500m from Booking Holdings. This partnership will strengthen Didi’s presence in the East Asian country and will allow Booking Holdings to provide its users with on-demand car service, powered by Didi. (KrASIA)
Hong Kong has become the battleground for China’s mobile payment vendors – Alipay and WeChat. The former British Colony is a high-quality ‘experimental field’ for cross-border payments. (TMTPost)
Three Chinese auto giants drive together into ride-sharing market to compete with Didi. FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, and Changan Automobile jointly formed an entity to explore ride-sharing and autonomous driving market together. (KrASIA)
Pinduoduo looking to raise $1.63b via ADR issue on Nasdaq. Some of its financial backers include the likes of Tencent and Sequoia Capital. The firm targets consumers in the country’s vast lower-tiered cities, yielding robust growth. (KrASIA)
Rest of Asia
Hacker aims to protect the world and encourage women. White hat hackers like Nakajima work to find faults in personal computer software to identify possible security holes. (The Japanese News)
World
India has taken over France as the sixth largest economy in the world, according to the World Bank. The International Monetary Fund projects India to continue to grow to become the fourth largest economy globally by 2022. (Bloomberg)
In the new era of artificial intelligence interface, news corporations can no longer differentiate fake news from real news: more importantly, what is real or trustworthy. It has become difficult or even impossible for external observers to comprehend the dynamics of how or why a piece of information is newsworthy. (TMTPost)
Billionaire tech investor, Peter Thiel bets on crypto startup Block.one. The cryptocurrency eos is now the fifth biggest by market capitalization, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. (CNBC)
Netflix’s Slowdown Sparks Fresh Fears of Video-Streaming Bubble. Netflix stunned Wall Street by attracting fewer subscribers than expected last quarter, renewing concerns that the video-streaming service has become an investment bubble. (Bloomberg)
Gadgets
OnePlus 6 is getting google lensin its native camera app with the upcoming OxygenOS 5.1.9 update to bring an advanced camera experience to its latest flagship offering. (NDTV)
Good News Bad News
Even as the world becomes more connected than ever with the advancement of technologies, thousands of mega logins from email addresses, passwords to list of file names were exposed and have been published online. The listings date back to the cloud service’s debut in 2013, and as recently as January. (ZDNet)