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Morning News Roundup: gojek’s accelerator program introduces 3rd batch of retail startups

Gojek Xcelerate’s 3rd edition selects 9 local retail startups to growth-hack

gojek’s accelerator programme Gojek Xcelerate has entered its third season with the appointment of nine retail startups to receive training in growth-hack in collaboration with Digitaraya and others. gojek said that the focus of the programme will be to apply daily consumer innovation and to reach product-market fit.

Among the nine selected startups are baby needs and toys rental marketplace Gigel.id, personalised skin treatments startup Callista, as well as daily smart gadgets provider startup Sugar Technology.

Launched just in September last year, Gojek Xcelerate is said to be gojek’s way to share knowledge as the first decacorn in Indonesia and Asia Pacific through curriculum-based training. It is developed together with other global partners such as McKinsey & Co, UBS Bank, dan Google Developers Launchpad. Its first batch focussed on machine learning startups with five Indonesian startups graduates, followed by a second one focussed on women founders with nine Asia Pacific startups graduates.

Also Read: gojek, Digitaraya launch accelerator programme Gojek Xcelerate

The demo day wrapped up on February 14 with contestants presenting their business models in front of potential investors, VCs, and other partners. The startups also fight for a chance to be integrated into gojek’s platform and ecosystem.

Hong Kong’s crypto trading startup Amber raises US$28M investment from Coinbase, others

Amber, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency firm that offers services such as providing loans, electronic market trading, financial management, OTC trading, and more to all institutional investors, announced a US$28 million in investment from Coinbase, Pantera Capital, Polychain, Paradigm, and Fenbushi Capital.

As reported by Tron Weekly, Amber started off as Amber AI, a startup built by four Morgan Stanley traders and one Bloomberg engineer in 2015 to trade Chinese Stocks and securities before focussing on only crypto trading in 2017 after finding an arbitrage opportunity. Now, the company has eliminated the element of AI completely.

Unlike the US government, the Hong Kong government does not count cryptocurrency as a security asset, resulting in Amber’s clients’ abilities to trade more than 700 coins on up to 30 crypto exchanges as compared to 30 digital assets in the US.

Amber now has 105 employees in Hong Kong and is in the same leagues as top crypto companies such as Binance of Singapore, Huobi of Beijing, and Bitmex of Hong Kong.

Binance CEO announces company’s application for Singapore’s Crypto Licence

Cryptocurrency trading startup Binance Holdings Ltd., reportedly has applied for an operating license in Singapore under the government’s new payments legislation, as reported by The Edge Markets.

“We submitted the application pretty fast. Binance’s Singapore entity has been in close touch with the local regulators, and they have always been open-minded,” said Binance co-founder and CEO “CZ” Zhao Changpengz.

The Payment Services Act just came into fruition last month as the first regulation for companies handling activities ranging from digital payments to the trading of tokens such as Bitcoin and Ether. The law will also supervisor rights for cybersecurity risks and controls on money laundering and terrorist financing to the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Also Read: Crypto exchange Binance hacked, loses US$41 million in bitcoin

Tokyo-based crypto exchange operator Liquid Group Inc. and London-based Luno also revealed plans to apply.

Binance also operates in Singapore and is backed by Singapore-based Temasek Holdings Pte.’s VC arm Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd.

Vietnam will be home to two new ride-hailing apps

Vietnam will soon have two new options of local ride-hailing officially operating in the country following the launching preparation of Unicar and ZuumViet, as reported by VN Express.

Unicar is a startup that is based in Vietnam’s central Nghe An province and currently is testing its services in the province’s capital, Vinh Town. Unicar offers car ride-hailing, motorbike ride-hailing, express delivery service, logistics service, and self-drive car rental through its app.

ZuumViet, another ride-hailing startup, offers motorbikes, four-seater and seven-seater cars, and luxury cars.

Right now, Vietnam’s market is dominated by Singapore-based ride-hailing giant Grab. It recently introduced an advance booking service in Hanoi, allowing Grab customers to book rides at least seven days in advance.

Vietnam’s ride-hailing market was the fourth largest in Southeast Asia last year behind Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, according to a report by Google, Singaporean state-owned holding company Temasek and US management consultancy Bain.

Image Credit: Gojek Xcelerate

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