Singapore

Facebook, three Indonesian firms in early talks for mobile payment approval: sources
20May By Team FPNo Comments
Asia, China, Singapore

Facebook, three Indonesian firms in early talks for mobile payment approval: sources

Facebook Inc is preparing to apply for regulatory approval in Indonesia to launch mobile payments in partnership with three local digital fintech firms, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The plan, if approved, could be among the first such services under the unified payment service Facebook Pay it, which the social media platform unveiled in November. It allows users across its various platforms including WhatsApp and Instagram to make payments without exiting the app. The move comes amid early partnership talks between the social network and ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek. Four sources said Facebook wants to capitalize on the Indonesian market and is preparing for regulatory approval in the country. The three e-wallet operators are Indonesian ride hailing firm Gojek’s Go...
Read More
Qoala raises $13.5M to grow its insurance platform in Indonesia
20May By Team FPNo Comments
Asia, Singapore

Qoala raises $13.5M to grow its insurance platform in Indonesia

Online lending firms might be beginning to feel the heat of the coronavirus pandemic in Southeast Asia, but investors’ faith in digital insurance startups remains unflinching in the region. Jakarta-based Qoala has raised $13.5 million in its Series A financing round, the one-year-old startup said Tuesday. Centauri Fund, a joint venture between funds from South Korea’s Kookmin Bank and Telkom Indonesia, led the round. Sequoia India, Flourish Ventures,  Kookmin Bank Investments, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Sekuritas and existing investors MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, MDI Ventures,  SeedPlus and Bank Central Asia’s Central Capital Ventura participated in the round, which pushes the startup’s to-date raise to $16.5 million. Qoala works with leading insurers including AXA...
Read More
Vickers Venture Partners tapping South Korean institutional investors
19May By Team FPNo Comments
Singapore

Vickers Venture Partners tapping South Korean institutional investors

Singapore-based venture capital firm Vickers Venture Partners, a Singapore is tapping South Korean institutional investors in the second round of fundraising to attract up to $500 million for its sixth fund.The company has recently submitted an investment proposal to Korea Growth Investment Corp., a fund of funds manager investing in startups and small businesses. The VC firm is aggressively marketing the fund to domestic institutions investing in overseas venture capital funds.Vickers has hit its first close of the new fund at $300 million, or 60% of its target amount. Korea Venture Investment Corporation, another fund of funds manager, committed $16 million in the first round of fundraising.“There are a number of deep-tech startups in South Korea where we can invest,” a Vickers source sa...
Read More
D Chinese tech giant Baidu to invest $70.3 million into the live-streaming sector
19May By Team FPNo Comments
Singapore, USA

D Chinese tech giant Baidu to invest $70.3 million into the live-streaming sector

Chinese tech giant Baidu is going to invest $70.3 million into the live-streaming sector in a bid to take on rivals Douyin, China’s version of Tiktok, and Kuaishou in that space. The move comes in the wake of the three players jostle for dominance amidst a series of tit-for-tat lawsuits, and as Baidu on Monday announced better-than-expected revenue for the March quarter, causing its U.S.-listed shares to rise 8% in extended trading.Baidu’s new investment will be spent on growing its live-streaming user base and attracting high quality content creators, according to Baidu’s vice president Shen Dou. Baidu, best known for operating a Google-like search engine, plans to boost its short video operations by sending traffic from the rest of its ecosystem to creators’ content.Haokan content will b...
Read More
18May By Team FPNo Comments
Singapore

Ant Financial to invest US$73.5 million in Wave Money

Ant Financial has decided to invest US$73.5 million in fintech firm Wave Money as part of a strategic partnership to boost financial inclusion in Myanmar. The investment makes the Alipay operator a substantial minority stakeholder in Wave Money, alongside existing shareholders Yoma Group and Telenor.Wave Money lets users send and receive money using their phones or through one of its 57,000 agents called “Wave Shops” scattered across urban and rural areas in Myanmar. It was founded in 2015 as a joint venture between Yoma and Telenor,Wave Money is profitable, having become EBITDA-positive in 2018 and reaching US$4.3 billion in transfer volume in 2019. The company also said that over 21 million people have used its platform, with its monthly active user base growing by 14% month on month. Wi...
Read More
Asia’s Quest Ventures plans to invest in Indonesia
17May By Team FPNo Comments
Asia, Singapore

Asia’s Quest Ventures plans to invest in Indonesia

Singapore-based venture capital Quest Ventures plans to expand its investment to Indonesia, among other Southeast Asian countries, after recently announcing the first close of a fund worth US$50 million. The amount represented more than half of its target for the fund named Asia Fund II. It will be invested in post-seed and series A stages funding in start-ups across Southeast Asia and emerging Asia such as Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines. Quest Ventures has been deploying capital in Singapore and Vietnam with its portfolio, including as second-hand e-commerce platform Carousell, property finding platform 99.co and rental fashion StyleTheory. “We were deliberate in selecting our investors and we hope with this fund we can bring different skill sets, domain experience and connections...
Read More
16May By Team FPNo Comments
China, Singapore

Securities and Exchange Commission caution Philippines public over investment

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines has asked the public again to exercise caution when presented with opportunities to invest in businesses or join organizations promising easy money amid the COVID-19 pandemic.In The SE has identified five more groups engaged in investment-solicitation activities without the necessary licenses: CryptoInvestWith.Us (CIW.U), Won Project/ Won Network/ Won Foundation, Captcha Philippines, Inc., Fil-Invest, and Xtreme House of Beauty Trading Corporation.CIW.U, Won Project, Captcha Philippines, Fil-Invest and Xtreme have neither registered securities such as investment contracts nor secured secondary licenses to solicit and take investments from the public, as required under Republic Act No. 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code.Fu...
Read More
15May By Team FPNo Comments
Asia, Singapore

Singapore-based startup plans to make mental health approachable

Intellect, a Singapore-based startup, has decided to make the idea of mental health more approachable with an app that offers self-guided exercises based on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. The company develops consumer and enterprise versions of the app (for employers to offer as a benefit) and now has users in several countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, India and China. Since its beta launch earlier this year, co-founder and CEO Theodoric Chew says Intellect has signed up about 10,000 users, as well as 10 companies ranging in size from startups to large corporations. The startup plans to launch Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesian versions, and is currently working with researchers to develop localized versions of its exercises, which include guided journaling, behavioral exerci...
Read More
Grab: From business-school project to game-changer in Southeast Asia
4May By Team FPNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, Singapore

Grab: From business-school project to game-changer in Southeast Asia

Ride-hailing app brings financial security to drivers and new technology to region SINGAPORE -- In Malaysia, taxi drivers not using meters were once a common sight. And women, fearful of possible assaults, avoided riding alone in taxis. Seeking to transform the taxi industry in their home country, Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling founded the ride-hailing app Grab in 2012. In the eight years since then, Grab has grown into a leading provider of social infrastructure in roughly 340 cities across eight countries in Southeast Asia. The two began developing a plan to start a business when they were students at Harvard Business School. Their idea for a ride-hailing app, for which they found inspiration from a lecture on balancing the pursuit of corporate profits with social contributions,...
Read More