J. Angelo Racoma

Sid Sijbrandij, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GitLab, has reportedly established a $100 million venture fund in 2020 called OpenBook Ventures, which looks to invest in companies and innovations in Asia and other global markets, according to DealStreet Asia.

The company plans to grow the team and work on its current product offerings and set up new offerings to further diversify. This will include working on ZipUp, Zipmex’s interest-bearing product, and ZMT, its new native token.

On the first working day of 2021, Singapore’s Parliament approved a bill to impose stricter oversight on virtual payment service providers that support DPTs or cryptocurrencies

This is the first time for Grab’s FinTech arm to secure money from new investors. The new investment in Grab Financial Group is substantial, but Grab Holdings Inc. continues to own the majority stake in the subsidiary.

TIME dotCom shelled out over $14.5 million to purchase a 60 percent controlling stake in the company.

GCash has reportedly facilitated over $20.78 billion (PhP1 trillion) in in-app transactions in 2020 and grew its customer based to 33 million, amid increased demand for online payments and money transfer transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Nusantics is planning to use the fund to continue expanding its research and development in the field of genomes of different microorganisms. Aside from microbiome analysis, Nusantics also plans to delve into research and production geared towards medical diagnostic kits, specifically Covid-19.  

The news about Poema Global’s relatively massive IPO comes at a time when SPACs  are gaining popularity as an option for private companies in Asia to tap on public investments.