Inside North Korean crypto crime operations, a Facebook exec exodus in India and more

Asia Tech Review: 21 November 2022

So it begins, The 2022 World Cup is here, Twitter is apparently melting down and new revelations are coming out about FTX on a daily basis—what a time to be alive.

In Asia tech, this past week has seen China’s top firms post disappointing results likely on account of China’s arduous Covid lockdown regulations—even Foxconn is struggling to hire for its factories. Elsewhere, though, China’s academics continue to push the US after ‘winning’ a major semiconductor event.

Meanwhile, Meta has seen an executive exodus in India; fintech firm Opn—valued at over $1B—has entered the US; and Warren Buffet has taken a bite into Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC.

All that and more in this week’s newsletter,

Catch you again next week (dare I suggest that it’s coming home?!),

Jon

PS: You can follow Asia Tech Review on Telegram for the latest daily news

Stories in focus

• How North Korea became a mastermind of crypto cyber crime

• The consumer-finance arm of Ant Group is raising a reduced $1.5B after a larger bigger deal anchored by state-backed investor fell apart

• Grab lifted its revenue forecast after its delivery business broke even—but profitability is still some distance

• The Chinese government is helping Foxconn hire for one of its struggling factories

• India proposes permitting cross-border data transfers with other countries

China

TuSimple co-founder Mo Chen has taken control of the self-driving trucking startup amid a federal investigation into TuSimple’s relationship with Chen’s other startup, a Chinese hydrogen-trucking company link 

China has overtaken the US to become the top country contributor for research papers accepted by the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) for the first time—that’s a big deal as the event, dubbed ‘The Olympics for the semiconductor industry’, provides the basis for future hardware technology link

Also in semiconductors: The UK government has blocked the sale of Newport Wafer Fab to Chinese-owned Nexperia on national security grounds after months of uncertainty link

Xiaohongshu—often known as China’s Instagram—has lost half its implied value in private markets after reaching a valuation of $20B last year link

Blizzard ended its 14-year licensing deal with NetEase in China link

Tencent is divesting its stake in Meituan, worth $20B, to offer shareholders a boost following a slip in sales and reorganisation to close some unprofitable business units link

Alibaba is looking to logistics growth in Latin American markets like Brazil, Mexico and Chile to offset slowing growth in China link

Alibaba indeed posted a surprise loss as China’s Covid rules appeared to hit its business with sluggish quarterly growth—the firm also wrote down the value of ownership in Didi, GoTo and other investments link

But JD.com is one tech firm that could buck the downturn after posting an 11% annual sales increase and a net income between July and September link

TikTok is trying to bring live e-commerce to the US—Rest of World looked at its bootcamp for sellers in America link

India

Mini Meta exodus: Days after India’s Facebook head Ajit Mohan left for Snap, so WhatsApp’s India chief Abhijit Bose and Meta India public policy director Rajiv Aggarwal have both left link

The esports industry is showing signs of taking off in India link

Lentra, an Indian embedded AI-based finance startup, raised $60M at a $400M valuation link

India appears to have lifted its download ban on content player VLC link

For its latest tech move, Tata Group plans to open "beauty tech" stores that will use virtual makeup kiosks, digital skin tests and more to get young shoppers interested in premium cosmetic products, according to Reuters link

Edtech startup Simplilearn raised $45M link

US investment fund Blackstone is buying a 52% stake in Indian IT services firm R Systems International for $359M link

Southeast Asia

It has been reported that Sea laid off more than 7,000 employees, or around 10% of its workforce, over the past six months as it deals with global economic uncertainty and a tech/stock market downturn link

An alleged Chinese state-sponsored group hacked certificate authority and government agencies across Asia link

Temasek has written down its $275M investment in FTX link

Beam, a Thailand-based startup that provides a one-click payment solution for social commerce sellers, raised $2.5M led by Sequoia Surge link

KKR led a $48M Series C for Indonesian digital trust provider Privy link

Venture capital firm iGlobe Partners is raising a new $200M fund (its fifth) to back deep technology startups link

South Korea 

Korean authorities are investigating Terra co-founder Daniel Shin’s Chai Corp. business—which once had a close business relationship with Terra; authorities are said to have raided Chai’s offices link

VC Sopoong closes new $8M fund for environmental impact startups in Korea and Southeast Asia link

Japan

Japanese payment unicorn Opn has entered the US via acquisition—buying payment provider MerchantE for a reported $400M link

Taiwan

LA and Taipei-based startup GoFreight raises $28M to become the "Shopify of freight forwarding" link

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has said it bought more than $4.1B in stock of Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC link