Editor’s note:
In a bid to expand to the Indonesian market, oBike has partnered with Bandung city government’s transport department, the Indonesian hotel general management association (IHGMA) and Ecotransport.
Each ride is priced at IDR4,000 (US$0.30) for every 30-minute ride and new users will enjoy 3 free rides.
The Singapore-headquartered bike-sharing startup has launched its service in 20 other countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea.
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:
Indonesia: Singapore’s bike-sharing startup oBike has officially rolled out its dockless bikes in Indonesia. Residents in Bandung and in areas of Bali including Kuta, Legian and Seminyak will be the first in the country to use the bikes. (e27)
Singapore: Engine Biosciences, a Singaporean startup that is using artificial intelligence to make drug discovery more efficient, announced today it has raised US$10 million led by two Silicon Valley investors named DHVC and 6 Dimensions Capital. (e27)
Singapore: San Francisco and Asia-based biotechnology company Engine Biosciences has closed a $10-million seed financing round backed by funds affiliated with the Singapore government. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore: Vertex Ventures and Pelion Venture Partners have co-led a $11.5-million Series A round in Astound, an enterprise software company applying machine learning and natural language processing to automate service and support. (Deal Street Asia)
Indonesia: Telkom Indonesia, the largest state-owned ICT enterprise and telecommunications network in Indonesia, has acquired a significant stake in Europe-based multinational mobile wallet provider Cellum Global. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: Japan’s Mikazuki Hotel Group is planning to invest in a $100 million project in Da Nang, Vietnam, making the biggest foreign investment in tourism property in the city this year. (Deal Street Asia)
Vietnam: The Vietnamese government has raised $308 million (VND6.996 trillion) by selling 20 per cent of PetroVietnam Power (PV Power) in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hanoi Stock Exchange on January 31. (Deal Street Asia)
China:
China’s most popular news aggregator Toutiao claimed it has sued Baidu, the dominant search service in China, for unfair competition amid an intense battle for the lucrative mobile feed ads business the duo both heavily bet on. (KrASIA)
In response to Toutiao’s allegation, Baidu rebutted that Toutiao’s PR team is not professional and the company is poised for a fight if Toutiao ignites it. (Baidu PR’s WeChat account)
Didi’s self-owned bike-sharing brand Qing Ju launched in Dongguan and Foshan cities. Users in these two cities can access the bike-sharing service using Didi’s app. (36Kr)
Taobao is set to roll out a WeChat mini-app-like feature in mars which aims to help brands to reach out to customers. (36Kr)
LeSEE plans to change its Chinese name to draw a line between itself and the beleaguered LeEco. (Caixin)
China’s smartphone manufacturer OPPO unveiled its new product in Japan, marking a significant step forward for its expansion to the Japanese market. The company has previously established a subsidiary and an R&D center in Japan. (36Kr)
China’s bike-sharing industry has generated over 30,000 offline jobs and is serving over 221 million users across the country, according to a recent report by CNNIC. Chinese bike-sharing companies have expanded to 21 overseas countries. (qq)
China’s two apps dedicated to live trivia games, Chongding Dahui and Zhishi Chaoren, has experienced a decrease in app download in the past ten days. (36Kr)
Tounao Wangzhe, a popular WeChat mini app for app-based trivia game between friends, suspended its service as it has violated the regulation on instant messaging tools and failed to audit its content. (tech.sina)
Cheetah Mobile rolled out a blockchain e-wallet SafeWallet to overseas users. (jrj)
World:
Japanese internet conglomerate SoftBank has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy a 51 percent stake in messaging platform LINE Corp.‘s mobile services business, with an aim to promote its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business. (e27)
LINE is planning to offer cryptocurrency trading, loans, and insurance via its newly-established company called LINE Financial Corporation, it said in an official press release. This subsidiary is a follow-up to its payment platform LINE Pay — which it claimed has 40 million users and transacted over JPY 450 billion (US$4.14 billion) — and will help strengthen LINE as a financial service provider and fintech platform. (e27)
Fujifilm Holdings is buying control of Xerox Corp. in a deal that creates an $18 billion company and marks the end of the independence of the iconic American corporate giant. (Bloomberg)
South Korea’s finance minister said the government has no plans to shut down cryptocurrency trading, welcome news for investors worried that authorities might go as far as China’s tough action in blocking virtual coin platforms. (Reuters)
Nintendo reported earnings for its fiscal third quarter of 2017 on Wednesday that beat market expectations, with the gaming giant also upping the sales forecast for its flagship Switch console. (CNBC)
Samsung reported record quarterly profit and disclosed numbers showing that it’s chip business pulls in more revenue than Intel Corp. The Suwon, South Korea-based company took the opportunity to unveil a 50-to-1 stock split, which sent its shares surging. (Bloomberg)
Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg announced a drastic overhaul of the social network’s vaunted news feed. He said people spent roughly 50 million fewer hours on Facebook every day. (cnet)
eBay announced today that it will stop working with PayPal as its back-end payments service in 2020, and will start to move a small percentage of its payments volume to a new partner later this year. (recode)
