gojek buys 22% stake in Bank Jago to expand its payments services footprint in Indonesia; The deal, however, doesn’t alter the control of Jago, as Metamorfosis Ekosistem Indonesia and Wealth Track Technology (WTT) still hold a combined 51% in the tech giant; In 2019, the bank made headlines when gojek investor Patrick Walujo invested in it through WTT. More here
Singapore bank DBS starts currency and crypto exchange; Touted as the first for trading fiat money and cryptocurrencies with backing from a traditional bank in the country, the platform uses blockchain to allow traders exchange Singapore, US, and Hong Kong dollars, and the Japanese Yen for Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and XRP. More here
foodpanda CTO: Why autonomy is important for developing agile tech teams; Benjamin Mann says that their engineering and product teams have the liberty to erase their road map and prioritise what they feel is more important; He also stresses on the importance of finding a balance between customer feedback and data. More here
Temasek injects US$50M into India’s new early-stage VC fund Info Edge Ventures; Launched in January 2020, the US$100M fund has already invested in nine startups in e-commerce, digital media, fintech, edutech, healthtech, gaming and SaaS. Temasek itself has recently invested in Bits x Bites and EV Growth. More here
TurtleTree Labs closes US$6.2M pre-Series A round to accelerate R&D of cell-based human milk; Both existing and new investors, including Green Monday Ventures, Eat Beyond Global, KBW Ventures, and Verso Capital, joined the round; The funding comes fresh off TurtleTree’s win at the Entrepreneurship World Cup, where it secured US$500K in cash prize. More here
Waresix acquires Trukita to grow its freight and trucking network in Indonesia; Waresix focuses mainly on renting out warehouses to businesses whereas Trukita helps large and small business find the best transportation services; This acquisition allows Waresix to expand its offerings into first-mile logistics (transportation of goods from the port to the warehouse) and in turn, provide clients with one-stop logistics services. More here
Thailand to roll out New Smart Visa rules for digital nomads; Allowing up to four years stay without a work permit, the new rules have already been approved by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration; The next step required for the new rules to be implemented is Cabinet approval. More here
5G subscriptions in Vietnam forecasted to reach 6.3M by 2025; Vietnam and Singapore are expected to be the first SEA countries to roll out 5G in 2020-2021. While the market penetration in Vietnam in the early stage of 5G implementation will be lower than that in Indonesia and Thailand, but growth is projected to accelerate in the later stage. More here
How Singapore used design thinking for workplace mental health policy; In developing workplace mental health guidelines, the country sought the expertise of Co-Lab, an innovation unit in the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) that uses design thinking, behavioural insights and data analytics to improve labour policies. More here
PwC: Singapore startup ecosystem is poised to bounce back post-pandemic; The pandemic may have caused a decline in funding, but it has also given startups the opportunity to address the new post-COVID-19 problems that are emerging.
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Indonesia looks to adopt innovative methods to boost its e-government; According to Dwi Wahyu Atmaji, Secretary of the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, the Indonesian government is in the process of carrying out knowledge-sharing activities with South Korea in a bid to enhance its Electronic-Based Government System. More here
SOSV names former TechCrunch COO Ned Desmond as Senior Operating Partner; Desmond left TechCrunch this summer when he was soon contacted by SOSV founder Sean O’Sullivan. More here
Singapore firms trialling the use of digital health passports to verify travellers’ COVID-19 test results; Affinidi, Accredify, and ICC AOKpass are some of the tech companies that are working to develop digital health passports for both inbound travellers to Singapore and the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble pilot; With at least 10 digital health passports being developed by various organisations, a key problem will be interoperability. More here
New app monitoring nutrition of children launched in Indonesia; Indonesia’s Department of Nutrition and Health announced that it has spearheaded the launch of the E-Toddler Application Implementation Assistance Programme for Stunting Management; As part of an effort to infuse tech into a wider array of government operations, this new system is part of a stunting prevention initiative of the companies’ Community Development Programme. More here
SoftBank-backed Chinese warehouse solutions startup bags US$100M in series C+ round; Quicktron Intelligent Technology announced a US$100 million series C+ funding round from Saudi Aramco’s investment unit Prosperity7 Ventures and Kion Group, a German multinational manufacturer of materials handling equipment; BOCOM International (a subsidiary of the Bank of Communications), Shenwan Hongyuan, and CCB Principal Asset Management, and existing investors also participated in the funding round. More here
From India’s richest man to Amazon and 100s of startups: The great rush to win neighbourhood stores; Both Walmart and Amazon face restrictions on what they could do in India, but the companies have partnered with tens of thousands of neighbourhood stores to leverage their vast presence; These stores —kirana— also have the advantage of being in close proximity of the companies’ potential customers. More here
Singapore firm’s virtual payment card lets visitors go cashless in China; Aleta Planet, a China-centric fintech firm started by Singaporean Ryan Gwee, launched its AP-1 virtual card for QR code through UnionPay; The platform enables travellers in China to use e-payments services without the need for a local bank account. More here
How climate change can threaten food production in Singapore; Having been reliant on food imports, Singapore’s strategy of food source diversification has served it well; However, the country’s effort to increase local food production might be threatened by climate change. More here
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