Malaysia’s unicorn Carsome acquires WapCar & AutoFun Businesses
Southeast Asia’s used car e-commerce platform Carsome Group announced on Thursday the acquisition of digital automotive content businesses under brands of WapCar and AutoFun from Tang Internet Ltd and its subsidiaries.
Upon the completion of the acquisition, Carsome set up WapCar AutoFun Sdn Bhd (WapCar), as a fully-owned subsidiary of the Carsome group in Malaysia.
Carsome Co-founder and…
India’s Geniemode lands $28M Series B funding led by Tiger Global
Geniemode, an India-based business to business (B2B) cross-border tech platform for lifestyle goods, said Friday it has scooped up $28 million Series B funding led by Tiger Global.
Existing investor Info Edge Ventures, also doubled down in the round, Geniemode said in a statement. The new round has come within just four months of the company closing its $7 million Series A led by Info Edge.…
GRAB-Singtel, Axiata’s Boost-RHB, Sea Ltd-YTL, AEON Credit consortiums among winners of Malaysia digital banking licenses
Bank Negara Malaysia announced on Friday the five successful applicants for the digital bank licenses as approved by the Minister of Finance Malaysia. The country will have three digital banks licensed under the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA) and two Islamic digital banks licensed under Islamic Financial Services Act 2014 (IFSA).
According to the cenral bank, the following applicants are to…
Malaysia to announce digital banking license winners as early as Friday – report
Bank Negara Malaysia is expected to announce the successful applicants for its digital bank licenses on Friday (Apr 29), local media theedgemarkets.com reported, quoting sources. The central bank said earlier that the announcement will be made by end of last month.
The central bank later told local media that it would be announcing the winners “upon completion of the legal process”.
Bank…
Alibaba’s Lazada to expand to Europe – report
Lazada, the Southeast Asian arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, plans to expand to Europe, Reuters reported, quoting two sources familiar with the matter.
Lazada plans to target local European vendors, while AliExpress will continue to focus mainly on cross-border sales from China, one of the sources told Reuters. Lazada Thailand CEO James Dong will help spearhead the initiative,…
Indonesian Bukalapak 1Q revenue surges 86 percent to $54.39M on higher Mitra Bukalapak contribution
Indonesian e-commerce firm Bukalapak said Thursday that its revenue for the first quarter of 2022 (1Q22) grew by 86 percent year on year to IDR788 billion ($54.39 million), underpinned by its Mitra Bukalapak’s growth.
Bukalapak said in a statement that Mitra Bukalapak’s 1Q22 revenues grew by 227 percent year on year to IDR472 billion ($32.58 million), 47 percent higher than 4Q21.
Mitra…
Singapore’s Adgorithmics partners South Korea’s Klaytn Foundation to launch NFT-based loyalty program
Singapore algorithms e commerce firm Adgorithmics and South Korea blockchain platform Klaytn Foundation announced Thursday a partnership to utilize non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for an e-commerce incentive system and customer loyalty program through the MetaGachas platform.
The first marketplace that uses this scheme is a social commerce app Tapao, where both sellers and buyers can get NFTs from…
Glife’s Caleb Wu & Novitee’s Benjamin Yang on the impact of data, AI & innovative financing on the future of food [Q&A]
Glife Technologies is a Singapore-based digital business-to-business (B2B) Food- and AgriTech company, connecting farmers from the region with food and beverage (F&B) businesses. Together with Novitee, an omnichannel F&B tech solutions firm, it has recently announced in its Series A funding that the two companies have partnered together to bridge the gap between restaurants, suppliers and…
Singapore eCommerce checkout solution Arrow raises $4.8M seed funding led by Sequoia Capital India
Arrow, a Singapore-based eCommerce checkout solution, announced Tuesday a $4.8 million seed fundraise led by Sequoia Capital India and supported by Alpha JWC and Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth.
High-profile angel investors such as Ooi Huey Tyng (current board member at AIG and Maxis), Steve Vickers (Chief Operating Officer at Paysend), and Hassan Ahmed (Head of Southeast Asia at Coinbase)…
Overcoming fraud challenges in the BNPL space
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) has tremendous appeal for online shoppers, enabling consumers to access goods and services now while paying for them at a future date. In particular, Asia-Pacific’s high internet penetration rate and vibrant e-commerce economy make the region an excellent incubator for this service. BNPL is projected to be the fastest-growing payment method for Singapore, and BNPL…