Asia news roundup: Foyr funded, Gravity acquired, and Rappler takes the rap

Shailesh Goswami, Foyr founder and CEO / Photo credit: Foyr

Foyr and Zoom secured funding today, while Philippine news startup Rappler may be on its last legs after an adverse regulatory ruling.

Property and real estate

Foyr gets US$3.8 million series A (India). The Indian startup has developed a platform for visualizing and virtually customizing interior spaces, and it will use the funding to deepen research and development in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and 3D visual technologies. Real estate consultancy JLL led the round with participation from several undisclosed investors. (JLL)

Co-working provider naked Hub acquires Gravity (China/Australia). Shanghai-based shared workspace operator naked Hub – which has venues across China, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the UK – will take over Gravity, an Australian provider of premium co-working spaces. The deal comes amid a boom in Asia-Pacific’s co-working industry, with increasingly fierce competition between regional players like URWork and JustCo, and foreign entrants like US unicorn WeWork. (China Money Network)

Media and entertainment

Rappler loses its license (The Philippines). The online news site had its certificate of incorporation revoked by country’s Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) after allegedly falling foul of regulations limiting foreign investment in media companies. The SEC said that Rappler engaged in a “deceptive scheme to circumvent the [Philippine] constitution” under which “its receipt of over a million dollars from a foreign investor would be theoretically defensible.” (Philippine Daily Enquirer)

Logistics and delivery

On-demand delivery app Zoom closes US$1 million pre-series A round (Malaysia). Gobi Partners led the round, with Cana Asia, Spiral Ventures, and Cradle Fund also taking part. Zoom said it will use the funds to launch in Johor Bahru and Penang, expand its services in the Kuala Lumpur region, and work towards entering Indonesia and Thailand. It will also invest in white-labelling its interface for corporate clients. (Gobi Partners)

Transportation

Ofo rides into Pune (India). Chinese bike-sharing firm ofo is launching its first Indian service in partnership with payments app Paytm, which can be used to pay for ofo rides. Initially rolling out in Pune, ofo is next expected to expand to Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, and Bangalore. The Chinese company will face competition from local players Ola and Zoomcar, which have both launched bike-sharing services within the past few months. (Livemint)

Big tech

SoftBank mulls US$18 billion IPO for mobile phone unit (Japan). The Tokyo-based tech giant is planning to list shares in its mobile phone business towards the end of this year. It would be one of the largest IPOs in history and could be Japan’s biggest, rivaling fellow telco NTT Docomo’s US$18.1 billion stock market float in 1998. SoftBank would use proceeds to invest in foreign IT and telecom businesses. (Nikkei Asian Review)

Alibaba and MediaTek partner on IoT (China/Taiwan). Alibaba’s AI Labs unit has signed an agreement with Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek to collaborate on internet of things research and development in area such as smart home protocols, customized IoT chips, and AI smart hardware. (Technode)

See: Previous Asia news roundups

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from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/apac-news-15-01-2018
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