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| April 20 · Issue #149 · View online |
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Welcome back, Last week was incredible reading for anyone tracking the Vision Fund. SoftBank’s huge bets don’t read so well now, but as Masayoshi Son and others on his team have said, it just takes a few big wins to return a fund. That’s a very different approach to SoftBank’s previous vision of a portfolio of champions, as I wrote in The Ken’s newsletter this week. This week, watch out for details of China’s blockchain fund, which is reportedly slated to be announced on Wednesday ending years of speculation. If you’re looking for non-pandemic reads, Couchfish is a new newsletter from Travelfish, the indie travel site for Southeast Asia. With the virus impacting business, Stuart is re-telling the many stories from his decades of travel across the region – and using audio, too. Cue lots of ideas for when we can all move freely again. Jon
You can get Asia tech news as it happens by subscribing to the ATR Telegram channel. It’s totally free and there’s no catch, just follow 👉🏻 https://t.me/asiatechbulletin
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China's much-rumoured blockchain program is poised to be announced this week
The launch is reportedly slated for Wednesday and is part of Beijing’s grand strategy to lead a digital transformation.
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The UN backed down on using Tencent’s video service for its upcoming 75 anniversary event link
But Chinese companies are still aggressively pushing productivity and remote working services link
The Tech Buzz China podcast on the Luckin Coffee saga link
It’s open season to go after listed Chinese firms. After Luckin and TAL Education look into fraudulent sales numbers, another edtech company (GSX) was accused of cooking books – although the accuser is Citron Research, which had backed Luckin link
Unsurprisingly, many firms are now keen to list closer to home rather than the US link
Airwallex, a China/Australia startup that helps companies manage and move money across borders, raised $160M – that’s $360M so far and already a valuation of over $1B link
ByteDance is hiring 10,000 new people worldwide link
Foxconn’s promised US operations are still empty despite many promises and denials link
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How a Reddit-like forum helped Taiwan prepare early for Covid-19
Taiwan’s 25-year-old forum PTT helped limit the spread of the coronavirus
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Reliance Retail and Facebook are reportedly considering a joint app
The “super app” (😬) would incorporate shopping and messaging. Potentially a way for Facebook to handle push back from the Indian government on its plans to add payment to Whatsapp? There’s lots of other consolidating moves apparently in the offing:
- Zomato is reportedly bidding to buy e-grocer Grofers for $750M link
- Milkbasket is reportedly in talks to be bought by Amazon link
- While Swiggy is doing grocery delivery in over 100 cities link
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Alibaba, Tencent and other Chinese investors are using a loophole in laws to run fantasy sports and other gambling apps link 🔒 India’s lending startups are in financial trouble due to the outbreak link India’s most popular apps are also struggling to rebound link
The country’s media industry, and particularly print media, has cut jobs and salaries en masse link
Cloud kitchen firm Rebel Foods raised $47M from Uber investor Coatue link
Chat bot startup Yellow Messenger raised a $20M Series B link
Set, which connects banks and fintech services, raised $15M link
Autodesk is buying a minority stake in Bengaluru-based Aurigo, which provides cloud based systems for managing infrastructure projects link
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SoftBank expects nearly $17B loss for Vision Fund as valuations plummet
A second fund does not look likely.
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Coral Capital launches $25m growth fund to double down on portfolio link
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Coupang, SoftBank's only Korea investment, sees business surge
Coupang said its operating loss shrank by a third last year, helped by a 64% climb in revenue as it expanded its customer base and online demand for home appliances and groceries surged.
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US issues guidance on North Korean hackers with a $5M reward
The US government issued guidance on North Korean hacking activity in a joint advisory published by the Departments of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security, and the FBI.
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Insta-star wars: China tensions in Southeast Asia flare online
Social media anger from Chinese nationalists over a Thai internet model’s comments on the coronavirus has set off a storm, uniting pro-democracy campaigners against pro-Beijing cyber-warriors, with insults and mocking memes flying.
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The Ken profiled Circles.life, the Singapore-based MVNO, and looked at its struggles to win market share, make its business sustainable and expand overseas link 🔒 A look at the powerful old money families in Indonesia that have invested in tech link
I looked at the real reason Singtels’s HOOQ streaming businesses failed: Singtel itself link 🔒 Zilingo is the latest to make layoffs – everyone is in that boat but a weird way to announce it: “planned company-wide restructuring” link 🔒 Grocery trucks which go through neighbourhoods selling fruit, vegetables and other essential are seeing a boost in business link
Payments firm 2C2P has its own investment fund now link
Quest Ventures, a full-time VC, hit first close on a new $50M fund, its first with institutional LPs link
SME-focused lending startup Koinworks raised $20M link
Another, Lending Societies, raised $40M but cut jobs as part of its Covid-19 readjustment link
Kargo, a startup that digitises trucking logistics, raised $31M link
Philippines live-streaming startup Kumu raised $5M link
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The New York Times visited the city of Hefei to see how average China is covering – instead they got followed by the police and abused for being foreign link
What the world can learn from Kerala about how to fight Covid-19 link
How Vietnam has tackled the outbreak link
Struggling with isolation life? This podcast on the day-to-day life of Thailand-based monk (and a foreigner, to boot) gives some perspective link
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- Circles.Life or circles of hell link
- A hasty rapid test sealant for Indonesia’s Covid testing leak link (free read)
- HOOQ, the first (and last?) casualty in the house of Singtel link
- Best fruit forward: Grab, Zalora and the lockdown pivot to grocery link (free read)
This is where I (briefly) plug last week’s stories from The Ken, the subscription media startup where I work. We take a qualitative approach to telling business stories in Southeast Asia – you can sample our work at our free reads page.
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