Asia

Binance launches payments technology company Bifinity

Binance on Monday announced the launch of Bifinity, a payments technology company and its official fiat-to-crypto payments provider. Bifinity's on- and off-ramp solutions will empower businesses to adopt crypto and reach new audiences with easy, direct fiat-to-crypto transactions.

Malaysian finance platform Ethis Group launches Ethis Global platform for global expansion

Malaysia-based ethical investment and social finance platform operator Ethis Group said Monday it will be launching EthisX as part of its global expansion plan. Approved by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) – the Sultanate of Oman’s regulator and supervisor of the capital market and insurance sector – EthisX is managed by Ethis Investment Platform LLC…

Singtel’s NCS acquires Australian IT services firm The Dialog Group for $241M

NCS, the information technology (IT) and communications engineering arm of Singtel, announced Monday it has acquired Australia’s largest privately-owned IT services company The Dialog Group (Dialog) for A$325 million ($241 million). The acquisition of Dialog is geared to unlock new growth opportunities in the Australian market and accelerate NCS’…

Australia’s New Forests announces first close of SE Asia-focused fund at $120M

New Forests announced Thursday the first close of its Tropical Asia Forest Fund 2 (TAFF2) with $120 million of capital commitments. Investors in the first close include Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Australian Government, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SuMi TRUST), Temasek and TotalEnergies. New Forests will continue to…

Australian FinTech firm Zeller doubles valuation to over $1B with $100M raise

Zeller has raised $100 million in Series B round at a valuation worth of $1 billion.The Series B, which saw Zeller more than double its valuation, was led by US-based Headline, with additional funds contributed by Australian industry superannuation fund Hostplus. Previous investors, including Square Peg, Addition, and Spark Capital, also returned to…

Australia’s Language Confidence raises $1.5M in seed funding from Wavemaker Partners and Investible

Language Confidence has raised $1.5 million seed round to automate the teaching and testing of spoken English. The capital raise was led by Wavemaker Partners with participation from Investible. The funding will enable the company to expand its product offering and grow it’s already global customer base.

Korean digital content distribution firm RIDI gets $100B funding led by Singapore’s GIC

RIDI Corporation has signed definitive agreements to receive an investment of KRW 120 billion ($100 million) led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. Korea Development Bank, NVESTOR, and Atinum Investment also participated in this investment. As a result, RIDI has been recognized as the first unicorn startup in Korea’s content platform industry with an…

Binance & Cuscapi Bhd take strategic stakes in Malaysia FinTech firm MX Global

MX Global Sdn. Bhd announced Tuesday an equity investment into the company from Binance. It also landed another investment for Redeemable Convertible Preference Shares (RCPS) into the company by Cuscapi Berhad. These new capital injections will allow MX Global, a licensed fintech company, to build brand awareness, hire more high-quality talent and develop…

Japan e-commerce giant Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani donates $8.7M to Ukraine for humanitarian assistance

The donation is intended for humanitarian activities to help people in the country who have become victims of the violence, he said.

VCs scout opportunities in MedTech despite higher valuation fueled by pandemic

A growing population of more than 600 million with a combined GDP of more than $3 trillion and a rapid growth of the middle class are expected to fuel strong demand in healthcare coverage in Southeast Asia.