SEA
Nasdaq-listed YY Inc. announced on Tuesday it has invested US$ 272 million in a series D funding round of preferred shares in Singapore-based Bigo Inc, which runs a social video streaming app. (KrASIA)
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore said that it encourages the adoption of greener and cleaner vehicles, which is part of LTA’s three pronged approach to address emissions, in response to Elon Musk’s tweet, “We tried, but Singapore govt is not supportive of electric vehicles.” (SCMP)
Grab will continue to invest in Grab Philippines despite current and foreseen losses. (Deal Street Asia)
East Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in Indonesian video analytics startup Nodeflux. The capital will be spent on research and development on computer vision and deep learning. (Deal Street Asia)
Indonesian angel investment network ANGIN has raised a seed round from 500 Startups, Sintesa Group CEO Shinta Kamdani, Pak Cardig International CEO Diono Nurjadin and Alpha JWC co-founder and managing director Jerfrey Joe. ANGIN plans to expand the team and further develop its technology with the funding. (Deal Street Asia)
Singapore-based blockchain and artificial intelligence technology startup LaLa World formed a strategic partnership with Rebit.ph, a blockchain-powered remittance company, to enter the Philippine payments market. (Deal Street Asia)
Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC) has purchased 7.2 million shares for US$4.57 million in Vinasun which amounts to a 10.6% stake in the Vietnamese taxi firm. Singapore’s GIC has sold all its 5.4 million shares in Vinasun. (Deal Street Asia)
Indonesian loyalty program startup TADA has raised an undisclosed Series B funding round led by Finch Capital. Finch Capital Partner Hans de Back will join TADA’s board. The funding will assist development and expansion of products. (e27)
Retail data analytics startup Omnistream has received $1.7 million seed funding round jointly by C31 Ventures, Capitaland’s venture capital arm, and Wavemaker Partners. (Deal Street Asia)
China
Tencent Holdings and the Chinese government together are creating an electronic pass system, linking multiple travel documents to the WeChat app, to make travelling between Hong Kong, Macau and the southern province of Guangdong smoother and rid the special permits required. (SCMP)
According to people familiar with the matter, ZTE has sent out reprimand letters to 35 current and former employees involved in the illegal sales to Iran, that led to the US export ban, to try take back the bonuses from those who have left the company. (SCMP)
Lenovo Group has launched a new series of low-priced smartphones in China, an already saturated market for competitively priced smartphone devices. (SCMP)
Crowdfunding company Indiegogo has launched the Indiegogo China Global Fast-Track Program. The program is designed to help Chinese entrepreneurs reach a global audience. (Techcrunch)
Alibaba’s Cainiao will lead a joint venture, to expand its global delivery network, with China National Aviation Corp (Group) and courier YTO Express to invest $1.53 billion in a new logistics center at Hong Kong’s airport. The stakes would be 51%, 35%, and 14% respectively. (Deal Street Asia)
China’s live streaming leader YY reports Q1 earnings. The company generated a revenue of around US$518 million in the first quarter of 2018, up 43.4% compared with the same period in 2017, while its net profit was around US$70.8 million, down 18%. (Pingwest)
YY’s game streaming spinoff Huya reports a revenue of around US$134.5 million in Q1 2018，up 111.5% compared with the same period in 2017. Its MAU rose by 25% to 41.5 million during the same period. (36Kr)
Toutiao apologized on Wednesday for advertisements which appear in search results that were disrespectful to heroes and martyrs. The company is recently under public outrage for carrying content from Baozou Comic, which makes jokes about Chinese hero Dong Cunrui. (Technode)
VIPKID introduced a sub-brand dubbed Ziyou Xingqiu, meaning free planet in Mandarin Chinese, to provide English lessons to children aged under 6. The company has also formed a strategic partnership with China’s largest parenting portal Babytree. (36Kr)
Danke Gongyu, a Chinese apartment rental platform, has raised US$70 million Series B+ funding round led by Tiger Global, with participation from China Media Capital, Gaorong Capital, Joy Capital, Youjin Investment Management, Vision Plus Capital, and BAI. The startup has previously raised US$100 million Series B funding round in February. (36Kr)
Zailouxia, a self-service selling machine operator, has raised over US$10 million Series A+ round of financing led by IDG Capital and Sinnovation Ventures, with participation from Vision Capital. (KrASIA)
Rest of Asia
Singapore’s Ascendas-Singbridge Group kicked off the Ascendas India Logistics Programme, and Temasek is a principal investor in the programme. The move comes as the company seeks to make the most out of the opportunities in the Indian logistics sector. (Deal Street Asia)
Paytm chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma and venture capitalist Shailesh Vickram Singh launched a fund which will invest as much as US$150 million in startups and companies which are working to solve environmental problems caused by pollution. (Deal Street Asia)
World
Uber announced to launch JUMP Bikes, an electric bicycle sharing service, in Europe. The ride-hailing giant bought JUMP in April to expand its transport services. (Reuters)
Elon Musk told investors on Tuesday that Tesla will “quite likely” meet its target of making 5k Model 3 sedans per day. The EV maker has twice delayed the deadline for meeting the goal of producing 5k model 3 cars per week. (WSJ)
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) is set to launch the second generation Ryzen Threadripper processor and 7nm Radeon Vega GPU later this year. (Technode)
Gadgets
Huawei has introduced its GPU Turbo technology, which it claims to be a turbocharged graphics processing technology that will put its Android-based phones ahead of their counterparts in terms of mobile gaming. (SCMP)
Apple has removed the newly unveiled watchOS 5 developer beta from its website without elaborating on specifics for the removal. (9to5mac)
Good News Bad News
The WeChat team and Apple have reached an agreement for both iOS and Andriod platforms to enable original content creators to directly receive tips to their individual piece or article on WeChat and not to the public account itself. (Technode)
