Japan’s Paidy gets US$143M in funding – Press Release
Paidy Inc, a Japan-based payment provider offering instantly-issued credit, today announced additional funding worth US$143 million.
The funding consisted of a US$83 million Series C extension from the likes of PayPal Ventures, Soros Capital Management LLC (a Robert Soros Enterprise), JS Capital Management LLC (the family office of Jonathan Soros), Tybourne Capital Management Ltd. and one more undisclosed company. It also included the participation of existing investors such as Eight Roads Ventures.
The remaining of the funding is a US$60 million in debt financing.
In a press statement, Paidy said that it will focus on increasing its customer base to 11,000,000 accounts by the end of 2020. It plans to achieve this by acquiring large-scale merchants and offering additional financial services.
Indonesia to open startup ecosystem hub in Papua – DailySocial
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo announced the upcoming launch of a startup ecosystem hub in Papua, DailySocial reported.
In a press statement, the president said that the setup of the facility –which will include an incubator and accelerator programme and a dormitory– is aimed to foster tech entrepreneurship in the region.
Set to be built in the city of Kotaraja, the facility will be run by locally owned company PT Papua Muda Inspiratif.
Also Read: Paying online without a credit card? Japanese startup Paidy just raises US$15M to push the effort
Govt officials around the world targeted for hacking through Whatsapp – Reuters
In an exclusive report, Reuters wrote that senior government officials in multiple US-allied countries were targeted earlier this year with hacking software that used WhatsApp to take over users’ phones.
Citing people familiar with the investigation process, the report stated that a “significant” portion of known victims are high-profile government and military officials spread across at least 20 countries on five continents.
It suggested that the hacking could have broad political and diplomatic consequences.
Keyless raised US$2.2M in pre-seed funding – Dealstreet Asia
London- and Singapore-based cybersecurity startup Keyless has raised US$2.2 million in pre-seed funding led by blockchain venture firm gumi Cryptos Capital, Dealstreet Asia wrote.
The funding round also included the participation of Ripple Labs, Blockchain Valley Ventures and LuneX Ventures.
Describing itself as the world’s first distributed biometric authentication and identity management platform, Keyless is in the midst of developing a deep tech solution that aims to tackle cybercrime and make passwords obsolete.
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