Asia’s venture capital-backed startups are gunning for Starbucks . In China, the U.S. coffee giant is being pushed by Luckin Coffee, a $2.2 billion challenger surfing China’s on-demand wave, and on the real estate side, where WeWork China has just unveiled an on-demand product that could tempt people who go to Starbucks to kill time or […]
View More First China, now Starbucks gets an ambitious VC-funded rival in IndonesiaCategory: Companies
Go-Jek confirms first close of $2B Series F round at $9.5B valuation
Go-Jek, the Indonesia-based ride-hailing company that is challenging Grab in Southeast Asia, has announced the first close of its Series F round, as TechCrunch reported last week. The company isn’t revealing numbers but sources previously told us it has closed around $920 million. Go-Jek is planning to raise $2 billion for the round, as reported last […]
View More Go-Jek confirms first close of $2B Series F round at $9.5B valuationPoor smartphones sales drag LG to first quarterly loss in 2 years
We’ve written extensively about LG’s struggling mobile business, which has suffered at the hands of aggressive Chinese Android makers, and now that unit has dragged its parent company into posting its first quarterly loss for two years. The Korean electronics giant is generally in good health — it posted a $2.4 billion profit for 2018 […]
View More Poor smartphones sales drag LG to first quarterly loss in 2 yearsAlibaba’s growth slows to lowest in 3 years
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 yearsAs it raises new cash, Recharge adds homes to its supply of on-demand spaces
Recharge, the business which got its start pitching pay-as-you-go rentals of unused hotel rooms, is adding private homes to its inventory of spaces — offering the first 100 signups in cities where the plan is available a guaranteed income of $1,000 per month. “To celebrate the launch and continue to expand our community early Recharge […]
View More As it raises new cash, Recharge adds homes to its supply of on-demand spacesLack of transparency in healthcare startups risks another Theranos implosion
Are more Theranos -style scandals looming for investors in healthcare startups? A team of researchers associated with the Meta Research Innovation Center at Stanford thinks so. They’ve published a paper warning investors in life sciences startups that a systemic lack of transparency exists in their portfolio companies — creating the possibility for more multi-billion dollar implosions and […]
View More Lack of transparency in healthcare startups risks another Theranos implosionSamsung is ditching plastic packaging
Samsung Electronics said Sunday it will replace plastic packaging used for its bevy of products from mobile phones and tablets to home appliances and wearables with paper and other environmentally sustainable materials like recycled/bio-based plastics. Samsung will start making the switch in the first half of the year. The company aims to only use paper packaging materials […]
View More Samsung is ditching plastic packagingGo-Jek makes first close of $2 billion round at $9.5 billion valuation
Southeast Asia-based ride-sharing firm Go-Jek is making progress with its plan to raise up to $2 billion in fresh capital to fund its battle with close rival Grab . Indonesia-headquartered Go-Jek has closed an initial chunk of that round after a collection of existing investors, including Google, Tencent and JD.com, agreed to invest around $920 million […]
View More Go-Jek makes first close of $2 billion round at $9.5 billion valuationSamsung Galaxy S10+ leak shows headphone jack, dual hole-punch camera
The Samsung Galaxy S10 is slowly being revealed through unofficial means. Several leaks have revealed key details and the latest report is the most detailed yet. According to All About Samsung, the upcoming Samsung flagship will have tiny bezels, front-facing cameras that poke through the display, a USB-C port and a headphone jack. This report […]
View More Samsung Galaxy S10+ leak shows headphone jack, dual hole-punch cameraViacom buys the free video streaming service Pluto.tv for $340 million
Viacom is bucking the trend of launching new premium subscription-based entertainment offerings with its bid to acquire Pluto TV for $340 million in cash. It’s a way to distribute the company’s once mighty-with-millennial properties like Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, MTV and BET to an audience that doesn’t pay for cable and boost the audience and reach for […]
View More Viacom buys the free video streaming service Pluto.tv for $340 millionWaymo plans to open a self-driving car factory in Michigan
Waymo and Magna plan to build thousands of self-driving cars at a factory in southeast Michigan, including autonomous versions of the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace and Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. Waymo, the former Google self-driving project that spun out to become a business under Alphabet, announced Tuesday that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation voted to approve […]
View More Waymo plans to open a self-driving car factory in Michigan