SEA
We’ve all heard of how you can pay for street food in Beijing with a wave of WeChat Pay or Alipay, or how it’s better to lose your wallet than your smartphone in China. But this is not the reality in most parts of Asia whether in affluent Singapore or an emerging market like Indonesia. Here’s a snapshot of digital payments in Asia. (KrASIA)
Suzuki Motor Corp is set to test its electric vehicles (EV) prototype in India. The firm is looking to work closely with the Indian government to develop the charging infrastructure for EVs to become popular in the country. (Reuters)
RazerPay is set to be launched by April 2019. The company is now looking to recruit engineers and payment experts. The end goal is to bring Singapore one step forward to become a truly ‘cashless’ society. (VulcanPost)
China
China’s Meituan Dianping to start IPO offering today. It is seeking more than US$4 billion to fund its R&D efforts and also strategic plans to become the all-in-one Chinese super app. However, it is noteworthy to mention that the pre-profit company has made it clear that it can’t guarantee whether it will become profitable in the future. (KrASIA)
WeWork acquired Naked Hub. This strategic buyout of Naked Hub proved pertinent to WeWork’s foray into China. While lucrative, it has been very difficult for foreign companies to compete in the Chinese market. WeWork has found a way in. (KrASIA)
TianTian Xuenong, a Chinese agricultural education platform, secures tens of millions of RMB. The funds will be used to build a team of professional copywriters, work with agricultural experts and invest into other diversified markets. (KrASIA)
JD.com CEO Liu’s return to China did little to garner investors confidence. The Nasdaq-listed e-commerce giant saw its share price tumbled by 10.6% to US$26.30 on Wednesday. The company claims that there has been no disruption to JD’s day-to-day operations and that Liu is willing to cooperate further with the US authorities if needed over the rape allegations. (SCMP)
Tencent-backed fresh produce e-commerce platform secures $450 million in funding. The Chinese startup is looking at using the proceeds to expand the company’s supply chain and develop cold chain logistics. (Deal Street Asia)
China’s Bullet Messaging is looking to roll out new user acquisition plan in two weeks time. The goal is to add another 100 million users to its network within the next six months, to combat its slowing user numbers growth. (Technode)
Didi faces angry user response in China. The public backlash was triggered by recent passenger killings and the ride-hailing giant has since suspended its Hitch services. The app saw a precipitous decline in user numbers after the incident. (Tech In Asia)
China’s rental housing industry is in trouble again. Despite a government crackdown, fake online apartment rental listings have not stopped. Rental agencies have been found to include fake pictures of apartments in their listings. (Technode)
A closer look at Google’s attempts at re-entering the lucrative Chinese market. 8 years after Google left China, the company is now at it again. It is reportedly testing a new project to offer search services just for the Chinese population. Can Google succeed this time? (Caixin)
Elsewhere
British Airways customers might find themselves amongst the many victims in a recent data breach. The UK flag carrier reported that potentially hundreds of thousands of their customers who booked their flights online between Aug 21 to Sept 5 have had their financial and personal data stolen. (Reuters)
The recent news that Goldman Sachs is dropping bitcoin trading is fake. The bank is, in fact, building a Bitcoin trading platform modelled on a commodities trading platform. There are also additional plans to offer services that involves the physical bitcoin. (TechCrunch)
Tech stocks sell-off and tech stocks could face more pressure if the Sino-US trade war continues to worsen. Regulatory fears following congressional scrutiny of social media companies, trade issues and tariffs all could have negative effects on tech stocks. (CNBC)
