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East Asia
🇨🇳 Mainland China
- China’s tech giants turn to street vendors following government support for economic boost →
- Tencent Cloud announces plans for a blockchain alliance with 100 members including enterprises, industry associations, investment firms, universities, and think tanks →
- Chinese electronics company Xiaomi caught collecting user data without permission. Xiaomi defended its actions saying the data was anonymised, which has not gone down well with its users →
- Xiaomi begins pre-research into 6G →
🇯🇵 Japan
- Healthtech startup Ubie raises $18.7 million in series B investment →
- GINKAN, which manages restaurant discovery platform SynchroLife, raises $2.6 million to develop its services and fund marketing campaigns →
- Coincheck customers fall victim to a data breach after attackers accessed one of its domain accounts and used it to impersonate the cryptocurrency exchange →
- Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announces plans to standardise QR codes for payments in Japan →
- The long-awaited ECG function on the Apple Watch looks set to pass Japanese standards →
- Restaurant chain Yayoi-Ken introduces robots for serving rice to fight COVID-19 →
- Streaming service Showroom introduces an ultra-low latency mode with lag reduced to a minimum of 0.5 seconds →
🇰🇷 South Korea
- South Korean prosecutors file an arrest warrant for Samsung’s anointed heir and two other former executives for accounting fraud and a controversial merger →
Southeast Asia
🇮🇩 Indonesia
- Facebook and PayPal invest in ride-hailing giant Gojek →
- Gojek’s video-streaming service GoPlay closes its first independent funding round →
- Southeast Asian venture capital firm Kejora Capital and Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings announce $30 million joint venture fund for early-stage investments in Indonesia →
🇸🇬 Singapore
- Singapore government-linked EDBI and Seeds Capital announce a $205 million fund to support startups in Singapore and help sustain their growth throughout the pandemic →
- Digital construction management startup Hubble raises $3.6 million to expand in Southeast Asia →
- Legaltech startup Intelllex raises $2.1 million to expand in Asia-Pacific and Europe →
🇵🇭 Philippines
- Philippine-based fintech startup Ayannah and Indian payments company Electric Cash and Payment Solutions (ECAP) announce pan-Asian merger to provide digital financial services to the middle class in the region →
🇰🇭 Cambodia
- Singapore-based ride-hailing and food delivery provider Grab expands grocery service to Cambodia →
South Asia
🇮🇳 India
- Jio Platforms to receive $1.2 billion from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment firm →
- Silver Lake to buy an additional $600 million stake in Jio Platforms →
- Amazon reportedly considering a $2 billion stake in Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel →
- Facebook strikes a deal with Sargegama, one of India’s oldest and largest music labels →
- Google and Walmart-owned PhonePe race to dominate mobile payments in India as WhatsApp struggles to launch →
- Online financial services marketplace BankBazaar raises $6 million from investors including South Korea’s second-largest telecom →
🇵🇰 Pakistan
- Startup accelerator Y Combinator-backed Tajir raises $1.8 million to help digitise neighbourhood stores →
