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Singapore secured about S$13 billion in investment commitments amid COVID-19 outbreak
30May By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
China, Singapore, USA

Singapore secured about S$13 billion in investment commitments amid COVID-19 outbreak

Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing on Saturday said that despite the COVID-19 outbreak, the Economic Development Board (EDB) has in the first four months of this year secured about S$13 billion in investment commitments for the “next few years”.“These investments, in sectors including electronics and infocomm, will generate a few thousand jobs for workers in Singapore in the coming years, Chan explained.Companies such as chipmaker Micron and life sciences firm Thermo Fisher Scientific are adding jobs, he said.This “very good performance” means Singapore has exceeded the S$8 billion to S$10 billion which had been projected for the whole of 2020.Chipmaker Micron aims to add 1,500 jobs in Singapore over the next few years, while Thermo Fisher Scientific is increasing hirin...
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Foodpanda waives commissions for one month for COVID hit Singapore hawkers joining the app
22May By Team FPNo Comments
Singapore, USA

Foodpanda waives commissions for one month for COVID hit Singapore hawkers joining the app

As hawkers across the nation continue to borne the brunt of the dine-in ban in light of COVID-19, Foodpanda on Friday announced that the hawkers who get on board will not have to pay commission for the first month as part of a new initiative to ease hawkers' entry onto the food delivery app.Dubbed the "pandasupport hawker initiative", the incentive is being rolled out with "the understanding that commission fees are factored as a substantial barrier that is currently preventing hawkers from coming on board Foodpanda", the company said in a press statement.Over the last few months, food delivery apps have faced heat for charging steep commissions of 30 to 40 per cent, eating into hawkers' already-thin margins. Foodpanda's latest move comes as the food and beverage sector prepares for contin...
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PEZA reports investment performance amidst the Enhanced Community Quarantine
20May By Brian Thompson1 Comment
China, Market, USA

PEZA reports investment performance amidst the Enhanced Community Quarantine

Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Charito “Ching” Plaza on Tuesday shared the top investment promotion agency’s performance for the first quarter of 2020 amidst the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).“PEZA’s investments continued to be challenged for the First Quarter of 2020. On top of this issue is still the continuing uncertainty posed by the rationalization of incentives under the pending legislative measures that have created uncertainties. Added to this is the current pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, which has caused a tremendous and immediate impact on PEZA’s export manufacturers and exporters of IT-enabled services (BPOs),” stated Plaza.“Before the declaration of the ECQ on March 16, 2020, PEZA’s total approved investments from January to February 20...
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Phoenix set to invest in road transport, property
20May By Team FPNo Comments
Singapore, USA

Phoenix set to invest in road transport, property

Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. is firming up its road transport operations with a new subsidiary, and also in property holdings in which it will invest close to P5 billion in the near term. The Davao-based firm, led by businessman Dennis Uy, will have these moves—first given the green light by its board of directors in the second half of 2019—approved by its stockholders in their annual meeting that will be held online on May 29. Phoenix said in a regulatory filing it needs stockholders’ approval to form a wholly owned subsidiary for a road transport business, which will have an initial capital of P57 million. Such company will absorb Phoenix’s existing operations related to road transport, in order for this to be efficient and to expand. Also, Phoenix intends to invest P4.9 billion of...
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Igloo raises $8.2M to bring insurance to more people in Southeast Asia
20May By Team FPNo Comments
Asia, Singapore, USA

Igloo raises $8.2M to bring insurance to more people in Southeast Asia

Singapore-based Igloo, formerly known as Axinan, has raised $8.2 million as the insurance-tech startup looks to broaden its foothold in half a dozen Southeast Asian markets and Australia. InVent, a corporate venture capital arm of telecommunications firm Intouch Holdings, led Igloo’s extended Series A round, the startup told TechCrunch. Existing investors Openspace Ventures,  a venture capital fund that invests in Southeast Asia, and Linear Capital, a Shanghai-based early-stage venture capital firm focusing on tech-driven startups, participated in this round, which makes four-year-old Igloo’s to-date raise to $16 million. It raised about $1 million in its Seed financing round. Igloo — founded by Wei Zhu, who previously served as Chief Technology Officer at Grab — works with e-commerce and ...
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Indonesia Extends Tax Breaks to Include All Sectors
20May By Team FPNo Comments
USA

Indonesia Extends Tax Breaks to Include All Sectors

The government would soon extend a series of tax breaks issued to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic to all sectors, eyeing to inject $2.3 billion into Southeast Asia's largest economy for the next six months, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Wednesday. The news managed to boost the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Thursday, with the benchmark index rising 0.9 percent to 4,610 at the lunch break.  Last month, the government issued tax breaks for 19 subsectors in the manufacturing industry to ensure companies would have enough cash to see out the coronavirus crisis. Since then, many other businesses have asked for similar incentives to help them cope with slowing demand during the coronavirus pandemic.  Sri Mulyani said the government will revise a ministerial ...
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It will use the funding raised on technology upgrades, growing its team, and branding to fuel its multi-channel strategy.
20May By Team FPNo Comments
USA

It will use the funding raised on technology upgrades, growing its team, and branding to fuel its multi-channel strategy.

Indonesia insurtech Qoala has successfully closed a $13.5 million Series A funding round, the largest raised by an Insurtech from Indonesia, the startup announced on Tuesday in a statement. The round was led by Centauri Fund, a $150 million growth-stage joint-venture between South Korea’s KB Financial Group and Telkom Indonesia. It also saw participation from new investors Sequoia India, Flourish Ventures, and Mirae Asset Management, which join existing investors Surge, MassMutual Ventures, Seedplus, Central Capital Ventura (Bank BCA fund), MDI Ventures. During the present crisis we are seeing an increased demand for innovative and scalable services to support the industry as physical contact restrictions are impacting traditional offline sales of insurance,» said Qoala co-founder Tommy Ma...
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Starbucks China and Sequoia Capital launch technology investment plan
20May By Team FPNo Comments
USA

Starbucks China and Sequoia Capital launch technology investment plan

Starbucks is to partner with investment company Sequoia Capital to invest in new technologies which will accelerate the company’s digital innovation in Mainland China.  The two companies plan to focus on next-generation food and retail technology companies whose products will help Starbucks grow the coffee and retail industry in China, one of its fastest-growing markets globally. An early focus will be opportunities to embed digital technologies across Starbucks’ retail business, making the most of data-driven analytics, modelling and decision making.  “These may entail adopting creative solutions to enhance front- and back-of-house operations, such as the use of machine learning and predictive intelligence tools in managing Starbucks growing retail operations in China, or the optimisation...
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Alibaba will invest $28 billion in the cloud as it challenges Microsoft and Amazon head-on
20May By Team FPNo Comments
China, USA

Alibaba will invest $28 billion in the cloud as it challenges Microsoft and Amazon head-on

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will invest 200 billion yuan ($28 billion) on cloud infrastructure such as datacenters over the next three years, a major effort to extend one of its fastest-growing businesses to more countries. That huge outlay -- equivalent to about half the revenue the entire company generated in fiscal 2019 -- underscores the importance of a division Alibaba relies on to spearhead its international expansion. The Chinese e-commerce giant now plans to build more datacenters to complement an existing network covering 21 regions globally and support the development of technologies in areas such as AI-inference chips, it said in a statement. Cloud computing has become one of Alibaba’s fastest-growing initiatives beyond the traditional e-commerce sphere. The division’s revenue ro...
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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...
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