Ridehailing firm Lyft will reportedly make its Nasdaq debut as early as next week.
View More Lyft’s imminent IPO could value the company at $23BCategory: online marketplaces
Surging costs send shares of ecommerce challenger Pinduoduo down 17 percent
China’s new tech force Pinduoduo is continuing its race to upend the ecommerce space, even at the expense of its finances. The three-year-old startup earmarked some big wins from the 2018 fiscal year, but losses were even greater, dragging its shares down 17 percent on Wednesday after the firm released its latest earnings results. The […]
View More Surging costs send shares of ecommerce challenger Pinduoduo down 17 percentSea is raising up to $1.5B for its Shopee e-commerce business in Southeast Asia
Alibaba is about to get a jolt from its largest rival in Southeast Asia. Sea, the Nasdaq-listed business, is raising as much as $1.5 billion from a new share offering that’s sure to be funneled into its Shopee e-commerce business. Singapore-based Sea said in a filing that it plans to offer 60 million American Depositary […]
View More Sea is raising up to $1.5B for its Shopee e-commerce business in Southeast AsiaAlibaba challenger Pinduoduo is bringing imported goods to rural homes
Pinduoduo, the latest challenger to China’s ecommerce dominators Alibaba and JD.com, wants to bring affordable, imported items to shoppers in China’s smaller cities and rural areas. The three-year-old Tencent-backed ecommerce upstart is recruiting importers to set up shop on its marketplace, shows a message on its website. The business is known for offering cheap, sometimes […]
View More Alibaba challenger Pinduoduo is bringing imported goods to rural homesChina wants its rural villages to go cashless by 2020
Residents of even the tiniest far-flung villages in China may soon be able to pay on their phones to run daily errands as Beijing announced this month that it aims to make mobile payments ubiquitous in rural areas by the end of 2020. The plan arrived in a set of guidelines (document link in Chinese) […]
View More China wants its rural villages to go cashless by 2020Amazon is reportedly merging its China import unit with NetEase
You’d be forgiven for not knowing Amazon has operated in China for more than a decade, but perhaps not for much longer. The company is reportedly in talks to merge its China-based import business with local peer Kaola, the cross-border shopping platform run by Chinese internet behemoth NetEase, Caijing reported (link in Chinese) on Tuesday. The deal, […]
View More Amazon is reportedly merging its China import unit with NetEaseGoTrendier raises $3.5 million to take on Spanish-language fashion marketplaces
Thanks to environmentally conscious young buyers, throwaway culture is dying not only in the U.S., but also in Latin America — and startups are poised to jump in with services to help people recycle used clothing. GoTrendier, a peer-to-peer fashion marketplace operative in Mexico and Colombia, has raised $3.5 million USD to do just that. […]
View More GoTrendier raises $3.5 million to take on Spanish-language fashion marketplacesAlibaba takes an 8% stake in Tencent-backed anime streaming site Bilibili
Ecommerce giant Alibaba is continuing its push into the world of youth culture after it scooped up an 8 percent stake in anime streaming and game publishing company Bilibili. According to a securities filing on Thursday, Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace has acquired about 24 million shares in Bilibili, the Shanghai-based firm that has captured 93 million monthly users […]
View More Alibaba takes an 8% stake in Tencent-backed anime streaming site BilibiliAlibaba’s Ant Financial buys UK currency exchange giant WorldFirst reportedly for around $700M
Ant Financial, the financial services behemoth affiliated with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has made its first big move into Europe. It’s acquired London-headquartered payments company WorldFirst in a deal that sources tell us is valued at around $700 million. (That price would also line up with multiple reports from December claiming the two were in […]
View More Alibaba’s Ant Financial buys UK currency exchange giant WorldFirst reportedly for around $700MEurope agrees platform rules to tackle unfair business practices
The European Union’s political institutions have reached agreement over new rules designed to boost transparency around online platform businesses and curb unfair practices to support traders and other businesses that rely on digital intermediaries for discovery and sales. The European Commission proposed a regulation for fairness and transparency in online platform trading last April. And late yesterday […]
View More Europe agrees platform rules to tackle unfair business practicesChina’s Alipay digital wallet is entering 7,000 Walgreens stores
China’s payments heavyweights have been following tourists abroad as their home market gets crowded. Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial affiliate with a said valuation of $100 billion, now sees its virtual wallet Alipay handling transactions at 3,000 Walgreens stores in the U.S. and is eyeing to reach a roster of 7,000 locations by April. The alliance will […]
View More China’s Alipay digital wallet is entering 7,000 Walgreens storesBeliMobilGue raises $10M for its used-car sales platform in Indonesia
BeliMobilGue, a used car sales platform in Indonesia, has fueled up with a $10 million Series round for the race to dominate the automotive market in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The company was started in 2017 as a joint venture between Europe’s Frontier Car Group (FCG) and Intudo Ventures, a VC firm focused on Indonesia. BeliMobilGue said […]
View More BeliMobilGue raises $10M for its used-car sales platform in Indonesia