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Razer makes virtual currency push with $20M investment in Asian payment firm
Razer has invested close to $20 million into Malaysia-based online payment firm MOL Global as part of a push to establish its virtual currency for gamers in Asia. The deal sees Razer subsidiary ZV-Midas buy equity from existing backers MOL Investment and Hotel Resort Enterprise in a deal that values the MOL Global business at around the $100 million mark. Gaming company Razer, which made… Read More
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Crunch Report | Apple Rolls Out Early Version Of Its Safe Driving Feature
Today’s Stories Do Not Disturb While Driving feature rolls out in Apple’s newest iOS 11 beta Sean Parker has left Spotify’s board; Padmasree Warrior, Thomas Staggs join in lead up to IPO Trump might kill next month’s new startup visa before it takes effect Facebook is testing a feature to prevent profile pictures being abused by other users Tantan, China’s… Read More
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JD.com invests $397M into luxury marketplace Farfetch as part of a new strategic partnership
JD.com, China’s second-largest e-commerce company after Alibaba, is pumping $397 million into Farfetch, a marketplace for luxury brands, as part of a new strategic partnership. JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu will take a seat on Farfetch’s board as part of the deal, which makes JD.com one of its largest shareholders. Read More
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Tantan, China’s top dating app, raises $70M for monetization push and overseas expansion
Chinese startup Tantan, which is probably most comparable to Tinder, has raised $70 million in new capital as it looks to monetize its business for the first time and explore overseas expansion options. Three-year-old Tantan claims 60 million ‘validated’ users — i.e. not fake accounts — of which six million are active on a daily basis. Of those active users, 75 percent… Read More
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Mercari hires John Lagerling from Facebook’s management team to guide its U.S. strategy
When Mercari became Japan’s first startup unicorn with a $75 million round last year, the funding was earmarked to fuel its goal of becoming the top secondhand marketplace app in the U.S. Now Mercari is doubling down on its efforts to succeed where no other Asian e-commerce company has. Today it launched a refreshed version of its American app and announced the hiring of John Lagerling… Read More
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Crunch Network
Regulation could stifle growing China-US venture activity
Let’s step back from politics and look at some cold, hard numbers to assess the current state of cross-border investment and other transactional activity between the U.S. and China. We’ll look at one type of transaction that could be affected: venture capital investments. We’ll show the “big picture,” as well as analysis of transactions in AI and related sectors. Read More
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China’s Mobike plans move into services and aggressive international expansion
Mobike, the Chinese bike-sharing company that raised $600 million last week, has lifted the lid on its plans to expand beyond rides and move into services. The company announced last week that it plans to expand to reach 200 cities before the end of the year, many of which are expected to be outside of China. But, as if that ambitious target wasn’t enough, the company is also working… Read More
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Kik CEO explains why its doing an ICO instead of venture fundraising
Ted Livingston, CEO of messaging app Kik, spoke on stage at TechCrunch’s event in Shenzhen, China on Tuesday. Moderator Jon Russell asked him about why the company is doing an initial coin offering (ICO), a newly popularized method of fundraising. It’s “a way to raise funding” and “a way to get money into the company,” he said about the ICO, which was… Read More
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‘All roads do lead back to Shenzhen,’ according to Indiegogo’s Sandy Diao
Shenzhen has been called China’s Silicon Valley (or at least one of its Silicon Valleys). A panel on hardware startups at TechCrunch Shenzhen took a stab at explaining why. “There’s a new startup model coming out of Shenzhen,” said Eli Harris, whose startup Ecoflow is building the River Mobile Power Station. The city’s history as “the land of OEM… Read More
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Hike beats WhatsApp to launching messenger app payments in India
India-focused mobile messaging service Hike landed funding from Tencent last year, and today it took a major step to emulating the Chinese firm’s WeChat app with the introduction of mobile payments. The launch of Hike Wallet not only shows an ambition to build a messaging platform, it also means Hike has beaten WhatsApp, the chat app that dominates India, to the punch. Facebook-owned… Read More
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Qunar co-founder Fritz Demopoulos says startup success in China requires a 10-year commitment
Fritz Demopoulos, who co-founded Chinese travel portal Qunar and now makes early-stage startup investments through Queen’s Road Capital, said that if he had a single piece of advice for founders looking to pursue their “China dream,” it boils down to one word: “Commitment.” Demopoulos was interviewed on-stage at TechCrunch Shenzhen, which we organized with TechNode. Read More
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Despite challenges, startups see a bright future for tech companies in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of the world’s premier financial hubs, but can it be a destination for tech startups? That was the question put to a panel of experts at the TechCrunch China event in Shenzhen today. The answer, largely, was yes but it may need a little time. “Hong Kong is becoming a global innovation center, but it needs companies to look up to,” Blake Larson, head of… Read More
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Will Amazon become a force in fintech?
Amazon is the tech giant most likely to become a dominant player in fintech, predicted James Lloyd, Ernst & Young’s fintech lead, when speaking on stage at TechCrunch and TechNode’s event in Shenzhen, China on Monday. Lloyd told TechCrunch that he expects Amazon to expand further into payments, lending and credit scoring. “They’ll get into everything that… Read More
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Alibaba is in talks to invest in Uber’s Southeast Asia rival Grab
Alibaba could substantially increase its business interests in Southeast Asia with an investment in Uber rival Grab. Bloomberg reports that Alibaba President Jack Ma is considering joining an upcoming $1.4 billion funding round for Grab which will be led by SoftBank, a company with many links to Alibaba. Separately, TechCrunch has confirmed with a source that Alibaba has held meetings with… Read More
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China’s Mobike raises $600M to expand its bikes on-demand service worldwide
Mobike, one of two fast-emerging on-demand bike rental services, has landed $600 million in new funding as it seeks to expand its business outside of China. Bike rentals are shaping up to be the first global tech industry that was born in China. The principle is simple: bikes are fitted with GPS trackers which allows them to be picked up from and left anywhere using an app. With companies… Read More
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India’s MobiKwik is raising new funding at $1B valuation to battle payment rival Paytm
With high-profile investments from Alibaba and SoftBank fueling an impressive growth story since demonetization last year, you could be forgiven for thinking that Paytm has India’s payments market sewn up. But at least one company will agree to differ on that. MobiKwik, the mobile payments startup that is number two to Paytm in India, is quietly confident that it can take advantage of… Read More
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500 Startups closes $35M Japan fund with the backing of the Japanese government
500 Startups has announced the close of its fund for Japan, more than 18 months after it was first unveiled. The effort is backed by the Japanese government, which has chipped in as an LP via its Cool Japan Fund. (Yes, that really is the name of the fund, which is aiming to use about $1 billion in public money over its lifecycle.) Initially U.S.-based 500 Startups targeted a $30 million close… Read More
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