Welcome to our first weekly briefing. Whereas our other articles follow one theme each week, this weekly article will give you an overview of tech news across the continent. Do you have any ideas about what you would like to see here each week? Please drop us feedback on social media or email us at contact@asiaobservatory.com.
In brief
This week many businesses in Asia continue to take a toll from the global COVID-19 lockdown, with mass layoffs and furloughs ensuing.
However, some businesses, especially those serving customers stuck at home, are booming, and companies are scrambling to expand at unprecedented rates and grab their market share.
Although this week China saw the lockdown lifted in Wuhan, startup giants Luckin Coffee and iQiyi have been embroiled in scandal as both companies stand accused of grossly inflating revenues.
East Asia
🇨🇳 China
- Luckin Coffee lenders seek to sell over 76 million shares after chairman defaults on loan following a false data scandal
- iQiyi, a video streaming platform, also faces accusations of inflating revenue
- Shanghai Gas partners with VeChain on a blockchain-based platform
- Forbes 2020 billionaires list includes Bitmain co-founders Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu
🇯🇵 Japan
- Instant messenger LINE to conduct second national health survey to strengthen COVID-19 countermeasures – the first survey received 24 million respondents
- Code for Japan releases source code of project with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which allows users to access clearly presented and up-to-date COVID-19 information
- Solaseed Air becomes the first domestic airline to move all employees onto Slack as Japan goes into partial lockdown
- Kikusui Shuzo, a sake and shōchū company, develops an alcoholic beverage with the same ABV as disinfectants to avoid having to go through the lengthy process of obtaining a rubbing alcohol license
- Professor at Kyoto University announces a paper which will prove the “abc conjecture” after passing eight years of peer review
🇰🇷 South Korea
Southeast Asia
🇮🇩 Indonesia
- Education tech platform Zenius teams up with multi-service platform Gojek to provide free educational services to students studying at home
- P2P lending firm Investree receives $23.5 million in funding to accelerate business in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines
- Agritech startup TaniHub raises $17 million
🇵🇭 Philippines
🇸🇬 Singapore
South Asia
🇮🇳 India
- Startups including Acko, Bounce, MakeMyTrip, and Oyo begin mass layoffs of staff due to COVID-19
- Indian food delivery startup Swigg receives $43 million in investment from Tencent, Samsung Ventures, and more
- Indian online grocery startup BigBasket raises $60 million to meet the demands of those stuck at home during the nationwide lockdown
- Agrtitech startup DeHaat raises $12 million
