China’s Alibaba continues to see slowing expansion in the latest quarter, but the e-commerce giant’s effort to spur new growth from new arenas have started to bear fruit. The Hangzhou-based firm rang up $17 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2019. That’s a 41 percent increase from the previous year but it also […]
View More Alibaba’s growth slows to lowest in 3 yearsCategory: alibaba
Chat app Line’s mobile payment service is getting its own Visa card
Brown, Cony and the gang are coming to a credit card near you in Japan. Line, the messaging app company behind the cute sticker characters, announced today that it is bringing its payment service to plastic through a tie-in with Visa. Line is Japan’s largest chat app with an estimated 50 million registered users. The cards […]
View More Chat app Line’s mobile payment service is getting its own Visa cardAlibaba’s alternative to the app store reaches 230M daily users
WeChat isn’t the only one doubling down on lite apps. Ever since China’s messaging titan introduced “mini programs” two years ago, a handful of its peers including Alibaba and Baidu have followed with their own manifestations. Alipay, the payments solution affiliated with China’s ecommerce juggernaut Alibaba, today announced it surpassed 230 million daily active users and […]
View More Alibaba’s alternative to the app store reaches 230M daily usersMeet the little-known Chinese WiFi startup that rubs shoulders with WeChat and Alipay
A service that connects people to WiFi hotspots for free turned out to be one of China’s most popular apps, nestling in the top ranks with Tencent’s WeChat messenger and Alibaba’s digital wallet affiliate Alipay. According to a report from app tracking service App Annie, WiFi Master Key was China’s fifth-largest app and the world’s ninth […]
View More Meet the little-known Chinese WiFi startup that rubs shoulders with WeChat and AlipayChina’s Mobike will rename to Meituan Bike as its parent takes the wheel
One of China’s top bike rental apps is entering a new phase. Mobike, which neighborhood services giant Meituan-Dianping gobbled up last April, is changing its name to Meituan Bike as part of an ongoing integration with its parent, according to an internal letter from Meituan senior vice president Wang Huiwen to staff. There’s no timeline for when the […]
View More China’s Mobike will rename to Meituan Bike as its parent takes the wheelVCs give us their predictions for startups and tech in Southeast Asia in 2019
The new year is well underway and, before January is out, we polled VCs in Southeast Asia to get their thoughts on what to expect in 2019. The number of VCs in the region has increased massively in recent years, in no small part due to forecasts of growth in the tech space as internet […]
View More VCs give us their predictions for startups and tech in Southeast Asia in 2019China’s JD.com tests drone delivery in Indonesia in first overseas pilot
We hear a lot about drones having the potential to revolutionize delivery and logistics. It’s easy to be dismissive — in many cases, a robot may take what would be a human’s job — but there are some examples where drone technology could genuinely be transformative. One such case is Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest […]
View More China’s JD.com tests drone delivery in Indonesia in first overseas pilotGo-Jek buys fintech startup Coins.ph for $72M ahead of Philippines expansion
Ride-hailing startup Go-Jek’s expansion into the Philippines ran into problems earlier this month over its ownership structure, but that isn’t deterring the Indonesian company from investing into the market. Today, Go-Jek announced that it has acquired local fintech company Coins.ph through “substantial investment” which gives it a majority stake in the business. The deal is officially […]
View More Go-Jek buys fintech startup Coins.ph for $72M ahead of Philippines expansionIndonesian e-commerce unicorn Bukalapak raises $50M
The chances are you may be familiar with Tokopedia, especially after it commanded a $7 billion valuation last November when it raised $1.1 billion from investors like Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision Fund, but fewer people outside of Indonesia are aware of another sizable local online retail unicorn: Bukalapak. Smaller than Tokopedia in size, the company is […]
View More Indonesian e-commerce unicorn Bukalapak raises $50MNew policy puts revenue squeeze on China’s payments giants
The era that saw China’s mobile payments providers making handsome interest returns on client money has officially ended. Starting this week, non-bank payments companies must place 100 percent of their customer deposit funds under centralized, interest-free accounts as Beijing moves to rein in financial risks. In the past, third-party payments firms were allowed to hold […]
View More New policy puts revenue squeeze on China’s payments giantsEVs and online marketplaces thrive despite slump in Chinese car sales
China’s massive auto market hit the brakes last year as trade tensions and a softening economy dampened consumer confidence, but one segment soared on account of increasing internet penetration — used car sales. New passenger car sales fell to 23.7 million last year, representing a 4.1 year-over-year drop according to a new report by China’s Association of […]
View More EVs and online marketplaces thrive despite slump in Chinese car salesTikTok is giving China a video chat alternative to WeChat
ByteDance, the world’s most-valued startup, just launched a new social media product under its Douyin brand in what many people see as a serious attempt to challenge WeChat. Tencent has long dominated China’s social networking space with WeChat and QQ. WeChat claims to have one billion monthly active users worldwide, most of whom are in China. […]
View More TikTok is giving China a video chat alternative to WeChat