Asia

Suzuki Motor Corporation has launched $40 million fund in India to support social entrepreneurs.

DealCart, a Pakistan-based social e-commerce startup, has successfully raised $3 million seed in a funding round led by Shorooq Partners and Sturgeon Capital. The round also saw participation from 500 Global, Evolution VC, Rayn Capital, and Khyber Venture Partners.

Open Campus, the decentralized education protocol backed by various launch partners including Animoca Brands, announced Thuesday it has received designated grant funding from the Arbitrum Foundation to support the upcoming launch of EDU Chain, the first Layer 3 (L3) blockchain specifically designed for education.

Choco Up, a Singapore-based revenue-based financing (RBF) and growth platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Set Sail AI, a Hong Kong-based intelligent contact center solution, to facilitate the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions among businesses and merchants.

Chinese fintech player Ant Group and American payment firm Mastercard, along with 12 overseas payment partners of Alipay+ and other major international card organizations, have extended the International Consumer Friendly Zones program to facilitate inbound travel to China.

Singtel, a Singapore-based communications technology group, and Hitachi Digital, a Japan-based end-to-end digital transformation services and technology firm, have announced a new collaboration that will pair Hitachi’s deep artificial intelligence (AI) expertise with Singtel’s Paragon platform, the all-in-one orchestration platform for 5G, edge computing…

Global technology provider Westcon-Comstor has on Tuesday announced an expansion of its long-standing relationship with Finnish multinational telecommunications firm Nokia to distribute Nokia’s drone-in-a-box solution in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and more.

The central banks of India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines are working together to start an instant cross-border retail payments platform.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the IFRS Foundation have signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing on their strategic partnership to strengthen sustainable capital markets by improving sustainability and climate reporting in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).

The panelists shared their views on the most promising sectors in Southeast Asia, the future development of the tech ecosystem, among others. These investors also shared their views on several issues related to the tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia from a foreign investor's and a regional investor's point of view.