Hello and welcome back!It's been more than two years since I started this newsletter, and today it is
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March 7 · Issue #1 · View online |
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Hello and welcome back! It’s been more than two years since I started this newsletter, and today it is getting its first major revamp. Regular readers will have noticed that I haven’t been publishing every week – it’s certainly something I’m conscious of. That’s one of the reasons that I’ve switched to Revue, a new service for email newsletters that is powering this new (hopefully more vibrant) design.
Beyond making the newsletter prettier, Revue massively simplifies and shortens the process of compiling it which, I hope, will mean I can get back to emailing you all every week. That’s a longer introduction than normal, but I want to explain the recent blip in mailings. Also, most importantly, I’d love to hear what you think about the change so do let me know. (It’s still a work in progress with many things to improve.) Finally, at long last, I have a proper sign-up page – asiatechreview.com – that you can direct friends, colleagues or others who you think might like this newsletter to. (Thanks Ian Borders for creating that.) I hope you enjoy this issue and the new design! Jon
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Delivery Hero quits China
The company entered via an acquisition in 2012, but is one of the smaller players in the very competitive market. 400 staff will be let go. The company has reorganized its global business after pulling out of an IPO last year, and it seemingly decided China isn’t worth attention at this point.
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Mobvista buys US ad tech startup for $24.5M
Mobvista claims to be one of the world’s largest mobile advertising networks with 10 billion daily impressions and a user database that covers two billion devices.
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Xiaomi may consider IPO
CEO Lei Jun has said something other than ‘no plan’ for an IPO for the first, after admitting that Xiaomi is “not ruling it out.” That’s hardly a cue for something imminent, but could represent a change in approach. Xiaomi missed its targets last year, and is seen by many as overvalued at $45 billion. It last raised money in December 2014, when it pulled in $1.1 billion.
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Qualcomm pays $7.5M to settle claim it bribed Chinese officials
The company said it neither denies nor admits violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
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Uber and Ola launch motorbike taxi services
The battle is intensifying and moving to two wheels with two new services that have debuted in Bangalore. Uber first launched bike taxis in Thailand last month, but this is Ola’s first time moving into the segment.
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Apple is selling more phones in India’s biggest cities than you might think
This one might surprise you. While Apple accounted for less than 1% of smartphones sold in India in Q3 2015, the company’s marketshare in India’s tier-one cities was over 5% in Q4. Yes, the launch of two new devices boosted that, but it seems Apple is actually doing decent in urban areas in India.
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Facebook co-founder leads $13M round in e-commerce site for mums
Eduardo Saverin led the deal for Hopscotch, his first in India in a personal capacity. The startup was founded by ex-Diapers.com executives and is far leaned than others in the mum commerce segment in India.
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Times Internet buys US-based Willow TV
Its first deal in the US keeps its focus on cricket and sports while expanding its broadcast media reach.
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Uber launches in Pakistan
You don’t often hear about new market launches for Uber these days, the company has expanded rapidly worldwide in recent years, but Pakistan is one such example. There, Uber is debuting with ‘Go’, its low-cost hatchback service that first went live in India.
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Marketplace Mercari raises $75M and becomes Japan’s first unicorn
This is the peer-to-peer marketplace startup’s Series D round, and it brings its total funding to just over $110 million. Mercari has 32 million downloads, 7 million from the US, and is Japan’s first private tech unicorn – others that have IPOed include GREE, DeNA, Nintendo and more.
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Mobile publisher Wrap Media raises $4M
Wrap, which is actually based in San Francisco, enables customers to make more responsive mobile sites. It has raised around $25 million so far.
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Line plans $3B IPO in New York and Tokyo (again)
The story that never dies. Line is again planning a US-Japan IPO having abandoned similar plans in 2014 and 2015.
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Line closes its Line Mall marketplace in Japan
Also in Lineland, the company is scaling back its commerce efforts in Japan, but still has similar services operating in Thailand and Taiwan. For now at least.
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Last-minute hotel app DailyHotel launches in 10 new countries
Not a lot of Korean startups expand globally and there are plenty of competitors in this space in Asia already.
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Malaysia's Carsome nabs $2M to expand in Southeast Asia
The company says it has reached a gross merchandise value of $5 million, and wants to grow that amount ten times and hit profitability by the end of this year.
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Singapore's UOB bank to invest $10M in crowdfunding site
It is putting its cash in Israeli-based equity funding platform OurCrowd, which claims to have thus far helped raise $200 million in funding for startups on its platform.
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New budget hotel network Tinggal lands $1M for Indonesia
Budget stay networks are a hot thing in Southeast Asia right now. It’s increasingly becoming a crowded market, with well-backed entrants from India and a Rocket Internet company in the fray, but Tinggal has the backing of the investors and CEO of ambitious Indian startup Wudstay, which could make it one to watch.
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Big Wired puff piece on Xiaomi, which says nothing of the company’s major challenges right now ( link) China is using technology to predict crime before it happens, Minority Report style ( link) Report on startup exits/IPOs in Southeast Asia from Golden Gate Ventures ( link)
Cambodia’s Prime Minister is using Facebook to help solve his people’s problems ( link)
BBM is winning the messaging race in Indonesia, but for how much longer? ( link)
Very interesting story on how operator Telenor is becoming a big data company ( link)
Video review of Taiwan’s Gogoro, “the Tesla of scooters” ( link)
Pew: Emerging countries gain ground in the tech revolution ( link)
Who is behind the Sony hack? ( link)
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China’s clubs have spent big, but President Xi is behind the latest push into football (soccer) ( link) Japan’s population fell by nearly 1 million between 2010 and 2015 ( link) The politics of pork industrialization in modern China ( link)
Don’t ever try to be a commercial fisherman in Alaska ( link)
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