And, Amazon has partnered with dLocal, a fintech company, to launch local acquisitions in Chile; Twitter is testing a new feature called fleets in Brazil.
India
Google will create a new Cloud Region in Delhi. According to Inc42, Google claims that it will establish Delhi’s cloud service area by next year, which will help Google’s existing business, healthcare and financial services. This is Google’s eighth cloud service region in Asia. In addition, Google plans to establish the same services in Qatar, Australia and Canada.
The State Bank of India has approved a “principle” investment in YES Bank. According to Your Story, the announcement was made several hours after the YES Bank was forced to close, while the Reserve Bank of India announced that it would adjust the monthly deposit withdrawal limit for each account to 50,000 rupees, and Took over the company’s board of directors. The government has requested that the Reserve Bank of India and the life insurance giant LIC jointly hold a 49% stake in YES Bank. SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said earlier this year in Davos, Switzerland that the bank, which has more than Rs 2 crore in deposits, will not be allowed to fail.
Healthcare startup Suki Bags raises $ 20 million in Series B funding. According to Inc42, this round of financing was led by Flare Capital Partners and the funds will be used to expand its staff team. The company was founded by Punit Soni, former chief product officer of Flipkart.
“India Headlines Today” Dailyhunt’s ability to complete $ 125 million in financing depends on SoftBank. According to Inc42, the company is already negotiating with Japan’s SoftBank to raise funds for this round. However, after the WeWork fiasco, SoftBank said it was concerned about new investments. So far, Dailyhunt has raised US $ 120 million from Sequoia, Matrix, Byte Beat and other companies.
Fashion e-commerce Koovs lays off 50% of its core business. According to Inc42, the company plans to refinance and adjust its business focus, and has laid off more than 140 employees in the marketing and purchasing departments. Last year 1In February, Koovs sold some of its assets and businesses.
Southeast Asia
Singapore-based VC Monk ’s Hill raised US $ 200 million for its second fund focused on the Southeast Asian market. According to Tech in Asia, VC Monk ’s Hill, which focuses on early-stage technology companies, has completed the fund ’s second round of $ 100 million. Temasek is a major investor in the second fund, and Monk ’s Hill is looking for more limited partners in this fund.
Sequoia India led a $ 8 million Series A round of technology startup Salesken. According to DealStreetAsia, this round of financing has laid the foundation for Unitus Ventures and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation to withdraw some funds. The company said it will use the funds to further develop its artificial intelligence-based dialogue platform and expand in the Asia Pacific and North American markets.
British insurance company Aviva withdraws from the Indonesian joint venture. According to DealStreetAsia, the company said it sold all of its shares in the joint venture company PT Astra Aviva Life to its partners and exited the Indonesian market completely. Under the leadership of new CEO Maurice Tulloch, Aviva began reviewing its Asian operations in 2019 and decided in November to retain its operations in Singapore and China, but is still looking at markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam.
Middle East
The mobile wallet apps Halalah and BayanPay have obtained digital wallet licenses from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA). The two companies announced the news last week, according to Menabytes, and this is the fourth license SAMA has issued to non-bank financial institutions.
Africa
Nigeria ranks among Africa’s largest economies. According to Ventures Africa, Nigeria has replaced the country as the largest economy on the African continent after the South African economy fell into the second recession in two years. The analysis said that Nigeria ’s increased oil production and the radical policy adopted by the Central Bank (CBN) last year may pave the way for this leap, and the country ’s economy is expected to continue to grow steadily in the future.
Egypt recruitment startup Talents Arena plans to expand on the African continent. According to Disrupt Arica, the company is currently raising $ 2 million in funding and plans to expand its business to more African countries after establishing a platform foundation. The company was founded in 2019 to find technical talent for start-ups and has now partnered with 35 registered companies in Africa and Europe.
South African education startup Snapplify acquires online community teacher platform. According to Disrupt Africa, the company recently acquired Onnie Media / Teacha, South Africa ’s largest online community platform for independent teachers! , Designed to diversify products. The funding comes from a $ 2 million financing that the company completed in September last year.
Latin America
Twitter tests new feature “fleets” in Brazil. According to LABS, this feature is similar to Snapchat snapshots and Instagram stories. It has a 24-hour time limit and cannot be reposted or liked. Twitter said that the feature is currently only piloted in Brazil because it is one of the countries with the most frequent online conversations on Twitter. This feature is becoming increasingly popular among social media users who prefer smaller groups and private chats.
Amazon has partnered with fintech company dLocal to launch local acquisitions in Chile. We are informed that the company will provide Amazon Chilean customers with international and domestic credit card payment services, enabling them to use their national currency for free installments, while supporting subscriptions to the Amazon Prime Video service. This collaboration addresses Amazon’s limited coverage in Chile due to fragmented payment infrastructure. dLocal is a company that specializes in providing cross-border payment services in emerging markets for global online companies. It supports more than 300 different local payment methods through a flexible and easy-to-operate API to accelerate time to market.
Others
The epidemic has exposed South Korea to an unprecedented supply chain crisis. According to Gizmochina, the South Korean epidemic has caused huge crises in industries such as manufacturing, shipping and shipbuilding. If more manufacturers decide to suspend operations, they will cause “unprecedented” supply chain disruptions. At present, major shipyards have begun to seek solutions from relevant authorities. South Korea has become the country with the worst outbreak except China. So far, more than 5,200 people have been infected.
Samsung has temporarily shifted production of smartphones from South Korea to Vietnam. According to foreign media reports, Samsung announced earlier today that the company has temporarily closed its smartphone factory in Gumi, South Korea, again because another worker was tested positive for coronavirus. Samsung said in a statement: “The transfer of some high-end smartphone production to Vietnam is aimed at supplying products to consumers in a more efficient, stable, and timely manner. Once the epidemic stabilizes, this part of production will also be returned to Gumi Factory. “(Sina Technology)
OrbiMed, a U.S. healthcare investment company, raised $ 750 million for its fourth Asian-focused fund. According to DealStreetAsia, the company plans to raise 750 million for the fund, and three years have passed since its last fundraiser completed.
Nihon Kotsusha and content platform Billboard Indonesia reached copyright cooperation. It is learned that this cooperation enables the Japanese publishing house Guangwensha to introduce Japanese best-selling novels in the form of books, e-books and audio books in the Indonesian market. Guangwensha was founded in 1945 and is affiliated with the Japan Otowa Group. It includes signed writers including Higashino Keigo, Okuma Zaichang, and Shibata Tetsou.
文 | Qiu Zehui @ 出海
Picture | Pexels
