SEA
Singapore-based Carousell, which operates an online marketplace, on Wednesday announced the launch of its long-awaited mobile payment service, CarouPay, within the Carousell app. (KrASIA)
RedDoorz, an online booking platform for budget hotels, just announced it would expand its business to the Philippines, making an investment of US$ 5 million to grow its lodging properties to over 100 across the country, consisting of 7,000 islands, in the next 12 months. (KrASIA)
Toyota could gain a sheer size of data about cars in the region, tracking how fast people drive and how many time people spend stuck in traffic. It plans to install its driving recorder devices into Grab’s fleet of lease cars. (Reuters)
Sea Limited announced it has completed its convertible notes offering at US$575 million. (Deal Street Asia)
Worldbridge Group, Cambodian logistics and real-estate developer company, claims it will invest in entrepreneurs in the country through its newly launched venture capital firm OOCTANE. (e27)
Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the country could extend new tax incentives if companies could create better-paid jobs in the country. (Reuters)
China
CHEN Weixing, the former founder of Kuaidi Dache, has revealed his intentions of building a wider blockchain-based ecosystem offering a range of services beginning with ride-hailing, to hotel stays, food delivery, and even flight bookings. CHEN was reported to be talking about his collaboration plans with Yang, former Meituan founder, on a blockchain ride-hailing project. (KrASIA)
Bianli24 (便利24), a startup that provides unmanned retail solutions, announced it has closed an almost US$ 10 million Series Pre-A round led by Sequoia Capital China in February this year. (KrASIA)
China’s super app WeChat now allows travelers to claim tax refunds at 77 airports in Europe and Asia. The service is dubbed We Tax Refund. (Technode)
All of Xiaomi’s cornerstone investors are Chinese companies, including Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and China Everbright, Poly Group and Shanghai Municipal Investment Group. The size of the IPO is reportedly between US$65 billion and US$80 billion. (Technode)
Qiming Venture Partners leads the US$37-million Series A round of Alpha Biopharma, a Shanghai-based biopharmaceutical firm. (Deal Street Asia)
AI startup Yitu Technology has partnered with a hospital in Chengdu to leverage on AI technologies to reduce queue time and speed up diagnosis and treatment of cancer. (SCMP)
Rest of Asia
Samsung is going to contend against Amazon and Google in AI, as the company claimed all of its devices will have AI features by 2020. (SCMP)
Masayoshi Son said he plans to spend more time to hunt for technology investments around the world, instead of devoting most of his time to manage the telecoms business. (SCMP)
Firstcry, India’s largest baby products retailer, is in talks with Temasek and Tencent among other investors to raise US$100-150 million. (Deal Street Asia)
World
PayPal has agreed to acquire Hyperwallet Systems, a fintech company, for around US$400 million. The deal comes as part of PayPal’s plan to improve its services to businesses for managing their payments. (WSJ)
Microsoft integrates Adobe PDF to Office 365, expanding the partnership between the two companies. (The Verge)
Marriott International will use Amazon’s Alexa to provide services including room service and requesting housekeeping. (CNBC)
Bithumb, South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange, said hackers have stolen US$31.5 million worth of cryptocurrencies. (Reuters)
Gadgets
Rumor has it that Apple will launch three variants of the 2018 iPhone. The most premium and expensive variant, commonly known as the iPhone X Plus, will have a notch display. (Gadgets360)
Good News Bad News
As Go-Jek and Grab both bet on the food delivery businesses, Southeast Asia is now the new battleground for the food delivery industry. (Deal Street Asia)
