Do Kwon on the run, Huawei going US-free, HappyFresh saved and more
Do Kwon on the run, Huawei going US-free, HappyFresh saved and more
Asia Tech Review: 26 September 2022
Welcome back,
It has been a long while. The newsletter has been on hold since July while I was consumed with work and more, but I’m hopeful that I can now find the time for it to resume on a weekly basis. Thank you to the readers who contacted me to encourage the return.
I’ll keep this message short and sweet.
See you next time,
Jon
China
Here’s a fact for you: China installed almost as many robots in its factories last year as the rest of the world link
But even the insatiable appetite to grow China’s chip sector is impacted by the global economic situation, with firms cutting back on hiring according to the FT link
Huawei is reportedly redesigning a number of its core chipsets to be ‘US-free’—building them with tech and resources that are more available in China can help rebound from US trade sanctions that have dented the business link
A profile of China’s unlikely star investor: a 61-year-old academic who has made angel investments in over 60 startups, including drone giant DJI—his incubation platform’s deals are said to be worth some $11.5B link
Speaking of investments, Tencent may sell of some its shareholdings from investments to “refocus” its growth strategy—stakes in Didi and Meituan may be part of the strategy, according to the WSJ link
Luxury brands like Tiffany are using NFTs to reach potential customers in China despite the country’s ban on NFTs link
A new TikTok trend is seeing creators in China, Asia and beyond publish translated and condensed recaps of Western films, complete with translation errors and robotic voices link
ByteDance’s early efforts to rival Meta with a VR unit are reportedly struggling to come together link
India
The Indian government is expecting to see at least $25B in investment from its semiconductor incentive scheme link
The government has asked Google to help it battle distribution and use of illegal lending apps, which often come from China and leave users on the hook for huge sums due to opaque terms and high repayment rates link
India has proposed to regulate internet-based communication services, requiring platforms to obtain a license to operate in the country link
Proton is the latest VPN provider to exit India following concerns around cybersecurity regulations which cause force the the disclose of user data link
Gaming platform WinZO is suing Google for preventing it from allowing real-money games for fantasy sport or gambling services on the Google Play App Store and Android devices link
Zopper, an API platform for insurance infrastructure, raised $75M—the 11-year-old company raised nearly $100M to date previously and sold its SME platform business off to fintech firm PhonePe in 2018 link
Digital insurance firm Digit has had its proposed IPO to raise over $400M put on hold (“in abeyance”) potentially pending an investigation, although the authorities haven’t been specific link
DotPe, an offline-to-online commerce platform for businesses, closed a $58M Series B led by Temasek link
SoftBank reduced its estimated valuation of Oyo to $2.7B (from $10B) link
Southeast Asia
Grocery delivery firm HappyFresh raised new funding and revamped its board to stave on layoffs or cutbacks as a result of the economic downturn link (it had a similar experience back in 2016 when it was establishing itself—the difference now may be that Covid has established a larger market for grocery delivery)
A look at a nascent and locally-created cryptocurrency that could be crucial for anti-coup groups, as the ruling army seizes and closes bank accounts, but adoption and trust is a huge challenge link
Indonesia’s new data privacy law could hand down six-year prison sentences or big fines in cases of data mishandling link
In the crypto world, Indonesia said it plans to tighten rules around crypto exchanges with a stimulation that most board members must be Indonesians who reside domestically link
Singapore-based Headquarters, which helps web3 companies manage their money/tokens without manual processes, raised $5M link (disclaimer: Crypto.com Capital, my employer, invested)
Malaysia-based Respond.io raised $7M to enable companies manage their communication across messaging apps from one place link
Storehub, another Malaysian startup, raised $13.5M as it looks overseas for its platform that includes point-of-sale and commerce automation services—the Philippines may be its next expansion link
Meanwhile, Philippines-based cloud kitchen startup CloudEats raised $7M for expansion across Southeast Asia link
Korea
SoftBank supremo Masa Son is headed to Korea to help broker a partnership between ARM and Samsung link
Is Terra co-founder Do Kwon on the run? The net is closing:
14 September: Reports from Korea suggest there is warrant for his arrest link
18 September: Do Kwon denies on Twitter he is on the run link
19 September: Korean prosecutors state he is “obviously” on the run and ask Interpol to step in link
26 September: Interpol issued a red notice link
Hmmmm…
Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service said it has discovered an additional $680M in “abnormal” foreign-exchange transactions, mostly related to cryptocurrencies—that takes the estimated value of confirmed unusual transactions found since June to $7.2B link
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