RedDoorz, a budget hotel startup focused on Southeast Asia, has closed $11 million in new funding to expand its presence.
The three-year-old startup is a number offers a network of hotels that are grouped together under a single brand. The goal is a happy combination that marries the ubiquity of (typically) unorganized local guesthouse-style rooms with the more organized and efficient (but… Read More
Category: Southeast Asia
Zen Rooms, Rocket Internet’s budget hotel network in Asia, faces fire sale or closure
Zen Rooms, a budget hotel network funded by Rocket Internet among others, is facing shutdown if investors are unable to sell the loss-making business. The two-year-old company offers a network of affordable hotels in 50 cities across Southeast Asia that are designed as a happy medium between affordable guesthouses, which are typically not organized and hard to book online, and more… Read More
Sea President Nick Nash is leaving to start his own Asia-focused investment fund
Nick Nash is leaving his role as group president of Sea, the Singapore-based games and e-commerce company that went public in the U.S. last year, to start his own startup fund.
Sea announced that Nash will exit the company at the end of 2018, giving it plenty of time to transition and find a replacement. In the meantime, TechCrunch understands that Nash will begin fundraising with a view to… Read More
Is Uber selling its Southeast Asia business to Grab?
If you read the tech press, you might have seen reports that Uber is pursuing a sale in Southeast Asia that would see Grab, its Singapore-headquartered rival valued at $6 billion, acquire Uber’s business in the region. Rumors of such a tie-in have been rife for a while. Uber sold its China business in exactly such an arrangement in 2016, and it made a similar exit from Russia last year.… Read More
Uber CEO plans to ‘invest aggressively’ to compete with rivals Southeast Asia
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has distanced the company from reports that it might exit Southeast Asia and India. Currently in India on his maiden visit to Asia as Uber boss, Khosrowshahi told an audience that the company plans to continue to invest in Southeast Asia, where Uber has slipped behind Grab and Indonesia-based Go-Jek. “We expect to lose money in Southeast Asia and expect to… Read More
Vynn Capital plans maiden $40M startup fund for Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has a new venture capital fund on the scene after Victor Chua, formerly a vice president at Gobi Ventures, launched Vynn Capital. The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered venture is founded by Chua and Singaporean Darren Chau, previously with IE Singapore, and it is targeting a $40 million total close. Chua declined to say how far advanced the project is, but we did a little digging… Read More
Google confirms investment in Indonesia’s ride-hailing leader Go-Jek
Google has confirmed its investment in Go-Jek, the hail-railing service that rivals Uber and Grab in Indonesia. TechCrunch reported the investment last week, which was made alongside China’s Meituan-Dianping and Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek. The trio were part of a final tranche of a $1.2 billion round that Go-Jek began negotiating on last April, with commitments from the likes… Read More
StoreHub lands $5.1M help SMEs in Southeast Asia digitize their business
StoreHub, a startup that helps retailers digitize their business, has closed a $5.1 million Series A round led by Vertex Venture to expand in Southeast Asia.
The startup was founded in 2014 and it offers point-of-sale technology and digital services to retailers. The idea is to help bring the long tail of less sophisticated physical merchants online to help them digitize their finances and… Read More
Tryb Group raises $30M to develop fintech platforms for Southeast Asia
Tryb Group, a Singapore-based organization focused on fintech services in Southeast Asia, has landed a $30 million investment from Makara Capital. The investment comes from Makara’s $770 million joint fund with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), which is focused on finding valuable IP in the tech and startup space. TechCrunch understands that Tryb is talking to a… Read More
Rocket Internet’s Carmudi raises $10M to refocus on Asia following global retrenchment
Carmudi, a Rocket Internet-backed company that sells cars online in emerging markets, has raised $10 million to develop its business in Southeast Asia after reducing its global footprint. The company was formed in 2013 and, at peak, it grew to co…
View More Rocket Internet’s Carmudi raises $10M to refocus on Asia following global retrenchmentIndonesia’s BeliMobilGue raises $3.7M to let consumers sell their cars quickly and easily
A new startup in Indonesia wants to car owners in Southeast Asia’s country sell their vehicle with more security and reliability. BeliMobilGue — meaning ‘Buy My Car’ — was quietly started last year as a joint venture from Berlin-based Frontier Car Group and Intudo Ventures. It acts as a middleman between Indonesia’s car dealers and consumers who want to… Read More
Google is investing in Indonesia-based Uber rival Go-Jek
Google is backing investing in ride-hailing companies. The U.S. search firm and China’s Meituan-Dianping are among the tech giants set to invest in Go-Jek, the Indonesia-based rival to Grab and Uber, a source with knowledge of discussions told TechCrunch. We understand a deal could be completed as soon as next week, though whether Go-Jek announces it is unclear since it has history of… Read More