SEA
Lazada removes commission fee in Singapore to boost transaction, after receiving an extra US$2 billion investment boost from Alibaba in mid-March.The Southeast Asia e-tailer Lazada is looking to scrap all commission charges for its Singapore-based marketplace sellers. (KrASIA)
Go-Jek goes live with motorcycle taxis and couriers in Vietnam today.The Indonesian-based ride-hailing giant is officially operating in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, under the name Go-Viet. (KrASIA)
Behind the scenes with Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling. Compared to Anthony Tan, Tan Hooi Ling is the lesser known co-founder of Southeast Asian ride-hailing major Grab. She oversees people and operations at Grab, while Anthony typically handles the more ‘external facing part’ of the business. (Deal Street Asia)
Go-Jek signs up as smart warung project’s first cashless payments partner. The hope is that this partnership can demonstrate the benefits of mobile paymentsto more warung owners around the country. A warung is a small, typically family-owned business. (Tech In Asia)
More job openings at Google Singapore as it unveils plans to launch third data centre in Jurong. The third facility is targeted to start operating in 2020. While Google did not clearly specify how many new jobs will be created as a result of this new facility, it did say that is ‘’looking forward to growing [their] small team here.’’ (Vulcan Post)
Singapore-based global VC firm Vickers Venture Partners, along with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia, has inducted US$6 million into Canadian company Icontek, which creates Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning systems. (e27)
China
Energy management IoT company En-trak closes pre-Series A from Alibaba.The company said that they will be using the money for the expansion of its operations and sales in the region, according to company’s spokesperson. (KrASIA)
China’s imToken launches 2.0 International version, imToken Venture. This creator of digital currency wallet apps for the Ethereum(ETH) blockchain, announced this new launch in Singapore. (KrASIA)
Baidu sales, profit top estimates as news, video woo advertisers. The company racks up sixth straight quarter of revenue growth. The rising popularity of its personalized news service helped the company sustain its growth. (SCMP)
China’s once-booming tech sector hits some obstacles. While the US tech sectors regained some of its footings Tuesday, the tech sell-off in China continues. Chinese tech stocks are facing tightening liquidity and currency depreciation. (Cheddar)
China to investigate online discounter Pinduoduo over media reports of counterfeit goods. Shanghai regulators have been asked to investigate Pinduoduoregarding the media reports about counterfeit goods and intellectual property infringements on the platform. (Reuters)
Huawei beats Apple with global shipments to become the world’s No 2 smartphone vendor in the second quarter. This is, in part due to strong sales of its latest flagship model, the P20, and a stellar contribution from its budget brand Honor. (SCMP)
Chinese tech giant Alibaba and Tencent invest $53m in TV producer Canxing, gaining 1.17 per cent and 0.94 per cent, respectively. The internet giants are putting their bets in the content sector. (Deal Street Asia)
Tencent’s WeChat credit card repayments will start to be charged from 1st August 2018.All of its credit card users who engage in credit card repayment transactions above the RMB 5,000 monthly threshold will have to pay a 0.1% transaction fee for each transaction. (TMTPost)
Rest of Asia
India is threatening the made-in-China industry. The signs of a shift are everywhere. Apple, Foxconn, and a host of other domestic mobile phone manufacturershave also invested in India-based manufacturing over the past couple of years. (Tech In Asia)
Korean version of Alipay to debut next year. Recently, the Bank of Korea which is the central bank of Korea began to step up efforts to diffuse mobile debit card services, joining a move to launch new mobile debit cards services such as Small Business Pay and Seoul Pay. (Business Korea)
World
Tesla is enlisting workers from all over the world. The company is in an urgent push to build batteries and carsand is taking urgent steps to add workers to its vehicles and battery plants. (CNBC)
Apple Pay is finally coming to CVS and 7-Eleven, and will soon expand to Germany. This news is particularly notable because CVS was one of the first major retailers to snub Apple Pay, choosing instead to launch its own barcode-based mobile payments solution ‘’CVS Pay’’ back in 2016. (TechCrunch)
Apple’s pricey iPhone X, subscriptions deliver earnings beat. The company’s pricey iPhone X-led sales pushed quarterly results beyond Wall Street targets. (Reuters)
Uber and Lyft encourage NYC customers to oppose proposed ride-hail cap legislation. This legislation would affect Uber, Lyft, Juno, and Via– all of which operate ride-hailing services in the city and the deadline to submit an amended version of the proposal is tonight at midnight. (TechCrunch)