Asia tech news roundup – Nov 15

Chaoyang, Beijing. Photo credit: sepavo / 123RF.

A new unicorn is born in China, while two of the country’s other billion-dollar startups got funding from a US tech giant.

Media

Yidian Zixun joins the unicorn club (China). The personalized news app has closed a US$112.1 million funding round led by Long De Cheng Zhang Culture Communication, with a post-money valuation of over US$1 billion. The company’s main competitor is Toutiao, which is valued at US$20 billion, making it China’s fifth-largest unicorn. (China Money Network)

Singaporean gaming company iCandy acquires 318 titles from Animoca Brands (Singapore/Hong Kong). The US$3.76 million cash and equity deal gives iCandy access to Animoca’s reported user base of 325 million gamers. Animoca has struggled with cash burn over the past year, as well as a drop in monthly active users and revenue. (iCandy)

Transportation

A Go-Jek scooter in action. Photo credit: Go-Jek.

Go-Jek strikes deal to acquire Kartuku (Indonesia). The ride-hailing company is reported to have paid up to US$50 million in cash and equity for a majority stake in the payments firm. Go-Jek has been busy on the M&A front in recent months, and is rumored to be eyeing a stake in Midtrans, another Indonesian payments provider. (DealStreetAsia)

Ecommerce

Amazon pumps US$444 million into India battle (India). The investment comes as the US ecommerce giant seeks to ramp up its game in India, where its strongest competition comes from local player Flipkart, which is backed by Microsoft, SoftBank, and Tencent. (The Economic Times)

Investors, incubators, and accelerators

Marvelstone and landlord fall out over Lattice80 rental (Singapore). Hong Leong Group has accused investment firm Marvelstone Group of failing to pay utility bills and other service and rental fees relating to its Lattice80 fintech hub, which used to be located in Hong Leong’s 80 Robinson Road building. Lattice80 tenants had previously expressed concern about Marvelstone’s plans to relocate the hub, with some saying that they had not been informed of the proposed move. (e27)

The now-vacated Lattice80 fintech hub at 80 Robinson Road in Singapore. Photo credit: Lattice80.

Qualcomm invests in nine startups through China fund (China). Among the Chinese startups being backed by the US chipmaker – itself the subject of a takeover bid from Broadcom – are unicorns SenseTime, which has developed face recognition tech, and bike-sharing app Mobike. The investments were made through Qualcomm’s US$150 million China Venture Fund. (TechCrunch)

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from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/apac-news-15-11-2017
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