Editor’s note:
China’s ride-hailing space was presumably settled when Uber ceded to Didi Chuxing in 2016, but with the newly emerged industry disrupter, the lifestyle e-commerce major Meituan-Dianping, a fierce competition is foreseeable.
At the same time, Didi has been recruiting riders in Wuxi for its takeaway-delivery service to take on Meituan-Dianping on its home turf.
KrASIA 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: The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) on Friday said it has reasonable grounds to suspect that Grab’s acquisition of rival Uber’s Southeast Asia operations has infringed competition laws. (Deal Street Asia)
Thailand: TPG is in talks to buy a stake in a Thai hospital specializing in fertility treatments, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The owners of Bangkok’s Jetanin Institute for Assisted Reproduction are seeking an outside investor for the business, which could be valued at $400 million to $500 million, the people said. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: The Vietnamese government has raised over VND980 billion ($43.12 million) by selling 34.51 per cent stake in Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro) in its initial public offering (IPO) on Hanoi Stock Exchange on March 30. (Deal Street Asia)
The Philippines: The Philippine central bank has sounded an alert to local financial institutions following a cyber attack at the Malaysian central bank, in which hackers sought to steal money using fraudulent wire transfers, its governor said on Saturday. (Reuters)
China:
Didi Chuxing told China’s biztech media 36Kr that it has started its food delivery test in Wuxi with a plan for a wider launch. (36Kr)
Instead of fighting with each other, market rumor has it that Meituan-Dianping and Didi Chuxing will cooperate in ride-hailing by holding each other’s share. (Tech.Sina)
Walmart has previously stopped providing Alipay in some of its stores in Southwest China. WeChat Pay Deputy Manager HUANG Li said Walmart is not taking side with Tencent and the decision comes from a business strategy point of view. (TMTPost)
A Chinese carmaker has launched a vehicle sharing service in Shenzhen by offering a special deal on rental prices that works out cheaper than bike sharing. GoFun, a car-sharing platform backed by state-owned Shouqi Group, said has put 300 new energy vehicles into service in the southern Chinese city, considered to be China’s Silicon Valley. (SCMP)
China said it cut taxes for semiconductor makers, lending new support for the pivotal industry just as U.S. President Donald Trump weighs tariffs on the sector amid rising trade tensions. (Bloomberg)
Apple has updated its operating system to enable Chinese passengers to use Apply Pay on the public transportation systems in Beijing and Shanghai, to rival Tencent and Alibaba in mobile payment. (China Money Network)
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has said that the company’s smartphones already enable commuters to pay for public transport in over 60 cities around the country. (Technode)
Global Managing Director at Alibaba, K Guru Gowrappan, resigned from the Chinese company. (ebrun)
China announced a pilot scheme on Friday to encourage tech, bio-tech and high-end manufacturing firms to list their shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen. (Deal Street Asia)
China’s government is working on a plan to combine its two biggest shipbuilders to create an industrial giant that would dwarf its South Korean rivals, according to people with knowledge of the matter. (Bloomberg)
China is now the largest market for renewable energy and has potential for more growth in the sector, according to the chief of the international organization encouraging the use of eco-friendly power. (Nikkei Asian Reviews)
World:
Tesla late Friday acknowledged its semiautonomous Autopilot system was engaged by the driver in the seconds before a fatal crash last week, raising more questions about the safety of self-driving technology on public roads. (WSJ)
More family members of a woman killed by an Uber Technologies self-driving vehicle have hired legal counsel, indicating the ride services firm’s legal problems may not be over in the first fatality caused by an autonomous car. (Reuters)
Global ride-hailing rivals Taxify and Uber have launched motorcycle passenger service in East Africa. Customers of both companies in Uganda and Taxify riders in Kenya can now order up two-wheel transit by app. (Tech Crunch)
Uber Technologies Inc. said it will shutter a same-day parcel and package delivery service called Rush that once was viewed as a viable threat to everything from FedEx to small couriers. (WSJ)
The U.S. government’s Supreme Court battle with Microsoft Corp over whether technology companies can be forced to hand over data stored overseas could be nearing its end, after federal prosecutors asked that the case be dismissed. (Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump launched his second attack in a week on Amazon.com Inc on Saturday, accusing the world’s biggest online retailer of getting unfairly cheap rates from the U.S. Postal Service and not paying enough tax. (Reuters)
Under Armour said on Thursday that data from some 150 million MyFitnessPal diet and fitness app accounts was compromised in February, in one of the biggest hacks in history, sending shares of the athletic apparel maker down 3 percent in after-hours trade. (Reuters)
