Grab’s fundraising push continues unabated after the Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm announced that it has raised $200 million from Central Group, a retail conglomerate based in Thailand. Central’s business covers restaurants, hotels and more than 30 malls in Thailand, while it has operations in markets that include Vietnam and Indonesia. Its public-listed holding companies alone are worth more […]
View More Grab raises $200M from Thailand-based retail conglomerate Central GroupCategory: Indonesia
Southeast Asia’s Grab is adding Netflix-like video streaming to its ride-hailing app
Grab is Southeast Asia’s top ride-hailing firm thanks to its acquisition of Uber’s local business last year. Its biggest competitor gone, the company is on a push to go beyond transport and become an everyday ‘super app’ and that strategy just embraced video streaming today. That’s because Grab is integrating video-on-demand service HOOQ — a […]
View More Southeast Asia’s Grab is adding Netflix-like video streaming to its ride-hailing appGo-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 valuationSingapore’s Credit Culture raises $29.5M for its soon-to-launch digital loan business
Singapore’s digital fintech companies are attracting investor attention and dollars in 2019. Fresh from Singapore Life — a digital-only insurer — raising $33 million across two recently closed rounds, so Credit Culture, a digital loan specialist — has banked SG$40 million ($29.5 million) ahead of its imminent launch. Credit Culture has raised its capital from […]
View More Singapore’s Credit Culture raises $29.5M for its soon-to-launch digital loan businessVCs 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 pilotWarung Pintar raises $27.5M to digitize Indonesia’s street vendors
The digital revolution in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, continues to attract big money from investors. Hot on the heels of a $50 million round for Bukalapak, a billion-dollar company helping street stall traders to tap the internet, so Warung Pintar, another startup helping digitize the country’s vendors, has pulled in $27.5 million for growth. Bukalapak […]
View More Warung Pintar raises $27.5M to digitize Indonesia’s street vendorsGo-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 expansionMomo, Vietnam’s top payment app, lands big Series C investment led by Warburg Pincus
Fintech in Southeast Asia continues to pique the attention of global investors. Alibaba, Tencent and others have jumped into the region and deployed hundreds of millions of dollars, and now Warburg Pincus is joining them. The U.S-headquartered PE firm has led a Series C investment in Vietnam’s Momo, which claims to be the company’s largest mobile […]
View More Momo, Vietnam’s top payment app, lands big Series C investment led by Warburg PincusIndonesian 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 $50MFacebook is launching political ad checks in Nigeria, Ukraine, EU and India in coming months
Facebook is launching some of its self-styled ‘election security’ initiatives into more markets in the coming months ahead of several major votes in countries around the world. In an interview with Reuters the social networking giant confirmed it’s launching checks on political adverts on its platform in Nigeria, Ukraine and the European Union, reiterating too that […]
View More Facebook is launching political ad checks in Nigeria, Ukraine, EU and India in coming monthsGrab moves to offer digital insurance services in Southeast Asia
Grab is Southeast Asia’s top ride-hailing firm, thanks in no small part to its acquisition of Uber’s local business last year, but the company also houses an ambitious fintech arm, too. That just added another vertical to its business after Grab announced it is teaming up with China’s ZhongAn to introduce insurance. Grab and ZhongAn International, […]
View More Grab moves to offer digital insurance services in Southeast Asia