SEA
Sendo secures $51m from SoftBank, SBI amongst others. This Vietnam-based online marketplace will use the funds to introduce its new B2C marketplace. The startup primarily works with micro, small, and medium enterprises. (KrASIA)
SingPost sees potential in Southeast Asia’s last-mile fulfilment. The company operates more than 150 ‘PopStations’, essentially unmanned tech-enabled lockers situated across the country. (KrASIA)
Zilingo to raise $80m Series D funding round, potentially bringing the startup to a valuation of more than $500m, according to an executive at the firm. This ongoing round is led by the likes of Burda Principal Investments, Sequoia Capital India, and Sofina. (Deal Street Asia)
Coinhako forays into the Indonesian market. Its service will allow users to store and trade digital currencies. Trades can be made in the Indonesian Rupiah, Singapore Dollar, and Malaysian Ringgit. (e27)
China
How WeChat became China’s everyday mobile app. It has grown into the most popular app in China with over more than 1 billion monthly active users. The seven-year-old app has turned the parent company behind the app Tencent Holdings into one of China’s most influential firm. (SCMP)
The trust issue in China’s startup industry. Hard work might just go unrewarded after years of the long hours, working weekends, low pay, and sacrifice. (Tech In Asia)
Investors of Tencent are spooked amidst sliding Tencent shares as profits fall. China’s censors have clouded the outlook for the world’s largest market for mobile games in a country. (Reuters)
Google search will not beat Baidu. Despite that confidence, in a recent internet poll, 86% of the participants indicated their preference for Google over Baidu. That said, the game in China is unlike the US, and the turf war is on localized marketing strategies than product qualities. (Technode)
World
The Japanese regulators are investigating allegations that Apple Inc has unfairly pressured Yahoo Japan Corp to slow the growth of the latter’s online games platform. Shares in Yahoo Japan dropped by close to 2.5% in early trade. (Reuters)
Many key features of Tweetbot will be gone as Twitter makes API changes, as the latter has chosen not to provide alternatives to some parts of its public interfaces. This means Tweetbot’s timeline streaming has been disabled and users will not get to see new tweets in real-time. (TechCrunch)
The FBI requested for Google’s location data when it was investigating a spate of armed robberies across Portland, Maine. This unprecedented move to catch a robber that shows FBI’s creative new ways also has privacy implications for Google’s users. (Forbes)
Facebook is losing the war on hate words in Myanmar. The social media site was said to be hiring dozens of more Burmese speakers to review posted Burmese hate speech. (Channel News Asia)
Good News Bad News
This might be shocking, but most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies do not have a working product. Despite raising millions of dollars in funding, 60 of these cryptocurrencies have yet to release a working product to the public. (TNW)
