The world of cars is to be dominated by smart EVs. Technology companies, as well as automakers, are weighing in to get a share of the cake.
Kr-Asia Daily is a five-minute read to brief you everything you need to know to start your day. We only choose the latest tech & startup news that is worth your time, with a focus on Southeast Asia and China.
Southeast Asia:
Singapore: Obike exposed global users’ personal and location data without any protection. The bike-sharing company was also alleged to have violated transparency rules as it does not make clear what kind of user data it collects when users download the app. (BR)
The Philippines: Go-Jek plans to explore the market in the Philippines in early 2018, as part of its plan to expand its business in other Southeast Asian countries over the next 3 to 12 months. The company is eyeing an IPO in the next few years. (DealStreetAsia)
Indonesia: Central bank’s regulation, which bans the use of cryptocurrencies by financial technology companies in payment system activities, was made public today. The Central bank is also examining whether there is a need to regulate trading on virtual currency exchanges. Fintech firms involved in processing payment will need to register at Bank Indonesia. (DealStreetAsia)
Indonesia: PT Bhinneka Mentari Dimensi, the country’s oldest online retailer, seeks an IPO worth more than $100 million as soon as next year, changing its previous plan which targets to get listed in 2020. (DealStreetAsia)
Singapore: NTUC Income, a Singapore-based insurer, has inked a strategic partnership with Temasek-owned Fullerton Fund Management Company, seeing the latter becoming its portfolio assets estimated at $17.05 billion. (DealStreetAsia)
Singapore: Taxi firm ComfortDelGro is likely to become the city-state’s second-worst performing stoke in 2017, as it has lost $370 million in four months. The company was said to be in talks with Uber for a potential alliance, but investors lose patience as nothing has been announced. (DealStreetAsia)
China:
Ofo has made its foray into Paris, which is the 20th country that ofo has entered. So far, the bike-sharing company has offered 100 billion rides for overseas users, covering over 50 cities. Ofo reported having secured a funding round led by Alibaba and Ant Financial, meaning the merger with Mobike unlikely to happen in the near future. (cnFOL)
The fund manager of Yu’ebao, China’s largest money fund, set a cap of around $3022 (RMB 20000) for the daily transfer amount. (thfund)
JD is to invest around $1.5 billion in the upcoming 5 years to build its autonomous driving industrial park in Changsha, starting with research centers focused on self-driving technologies. (cnFOL)
Alibaba Cloud, together with Suzhou local government, rolled out a smart brain powered by AI, which is designed to help the government analysis companies and provide customized supports. (Finance.qq)
EV maker Faraday Future is reported to acquire1 billion investment from Richard Li, son of the former richest man in Hong Kong. Li denied intentions to invest in Faraday Future. (Tech.qq)
Alibaba has denied the speculation that it has injected around $2.8 billion in LETV, China’s Netflix-like website, and has become LETV’s biggest shareholder. (BiaNews)
BYD Auto is to sell 3191 EVs to Shenzhen’s transport company Xi Hu Gu Fen, as part of the city’s plan to expand the use of electric taxis. The deal is the largest one among deals of the same kind. (egsea)
NetEase has signed a contract with FFF, becoming the first Chinese Internet media reported to ink strategic partnership with 2018 FIFA World Cup. The company is to team up with Microsoft to provide content generated with the help of AI. (NetEase)
SenseTime has sealed a long-term partnership with Honda, pushing for the development of self-driving cars. (ebrun)
Alibaba has teamed up with Ford in areas including smart Internet vehicle, AI, digital marketing. (Tencent)
China’s new retail solution provider, iTrigger, has closed its Series A funding round led by Alibaba. Founded by Alibaba’s former VP Yu Sicheng, the startup aims to help digitalize companies. (36Kr)
The biggest deal in the sector of third-party physical examination has been made, with e-Tong closed its around $30 million funding round led by Vision+ Capital. (36Kr)
Xiaomi has launched the new generation of smartphone Hongmi 5/5 Plus, priced at around $120 to $150. (Tencent)
EV maker Nio is eyeing an IPO in the second half of next year, following its latest $1 billion funding round led by Tencent. (Yicai)
Baidu teamed up with Qualcomm in optimising AI-powered voice solution. (iFeng)
Jack Ma reported being among other investors who invested in world-leading medical diagnostic equipment maker Esaote, while the market capitalization for the latter stands at $354 million. (Sina)
China’s P2P lending has amassed transactions worth around $92 billion, while the number of platforms decreased 21 in November to 1954. (Techweb)
Didi is planning a foray in Mexico, intensifying the competition in the ride-hailing industry. Mexico is to be its first overseas market while precise timeline undisclosed. (Sina)
Shares of Tencent has evaporated approximately $64 billion. (Techweb)
World:
Lyft teamed up with autonomous driving technology provider nuTonomy, starting a pilot scheme in Boston. Users in the region may be matched up with autonomous cars. This comes as the ride-hailing company seeks to expand into the self-driving vertical, in which its counterparts, Waymo and Uber, also seeks a breakthrough development. (Sina)
U.S.-based tech media Mashable was acquired by media company Ziff Davis at the price of $50 million, as the latter plans to shift to science and technology content. Following the deal, at least 50 Mashable employees will be dismissed. (Sina)
Deloitte has acquired VR & AR producer Well Placed Cactus (WPC) in order to keep up with the latest technology. WPC is expected to become the new Digital Emerging Technology team of Deloitte Digital. (Sina)
AlphaZero has beaten three world champion algorithms, including chess, Go and Shogi, after 24 hours of self-play games, according to DeepMind. (Sina)
Bitcoin surged over $15,000, making the total market capitalization exceed $250 billion, according to Bitstamp. While statistics at GDAX shows that its price has hit a record high at $19500. (JRJ)
London starts rolling out electric taxis providing Wi-Fi and phone charging, with the price for commuters unchanged. (Huanqiu)
Some of the world’s biggest banks seeks to prevent the launch of bitcoin as futures, worrying about financial risks the cryptocurrency would bring about. (Sina)
