Hi there, it’s Robin.

Just when Go-Jek made some drivers in Singapore unhappy by cutting generous incentives, it’s now offering the carrot.

The Indonesia headquartered ride-hailing company has designed an insurance scheme to offer a range of protections at subsidised rates, setting a new standard when it comes to driver protection in Singapore. With a single monthly rate, Go-Jek drivers will get a standard earnings protection coverage, up to 21 days for medical leave and up to 84 days for hospitalisation.

In other Go-Jek news, the firm’s on-demand multi-service platform Get has become fully operational in Bangkok this week after a phase of trials. The Indonesian on-demand platform operator wants to meet its target of operating in six countries by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Grab is taking Vietnamese taxi operator Vinsasun to the appeals court. The taxi operator has tried to sue Grab for unfairly eating into its profits. Vietnam’s regulators are also busy coming up with new rules to level the competition between traditional taxi companies and these app-based ride-hailing operators like Grab.

Over in China, the “business optimisation” strategy continues as Chinese tech giants look to make bold changes to face the slowdown.

China’s second-largest gaming company Netease joined this downsizing and restructuring trend. JD.com is another example. It has cut 10% of its underperforming senior executives but is now looking to hire another 15,000 fresh employees.

The Hong Kong-listed Meituan took a step out of China, looking to get a slice of the Southeast Asian market. Meituan will integrate restaurant booking app Chope into its platform, allowing Chinese travellers to seek out dining options whenever they visit Southeast Asia.

Read on to find out more interesting stories from last week, and feel free to tip us if you have news clue or you just want to talk with us, email us at hello@kr-asia.com and we are looking forward to hearing from you.

Here are some stories you shouldn’t miss.

Southeast Asia

‘P2B’ Lender Validus Capital raises $15m series B round led by Dutch development bank

Singaporean transport regulator impounds nearly 200 electric scooters

Thai insurtech startup Sunday raises $10m in Series A round led by Vertex Ventures

Singaporean co-living startup Hmlet venture into Australia

Indonesian fintech services Kredivo and Moka team up for offline transactions

Grab takes Vietnamese taxi provider Vinasun to the appeals court

Migo’s e-bike sharing concept to face fresh regulations in Indonesia

Indonesian online travel unicorn Traveloka expands to Australia

Go-Jek’s Thailand subsidiary begins full service in Bangkok

English learning App Elsa bags $7m from Google’s Gradient Ventures to expand into Indonesia, Japan, and India

Quest Ventures launches new $50m early stage tech fund, appoints new partners

From farm to kiosk: Indonesian micro-retail startup Warung Pintar acquires Limakilo

China

5G race is on for phone makers as Huawei launches extra-expensive foldable, 5G phones

Firing thousands, Didi is said to be dolling out sweeter-than-expected compensation deals

Xiaomi-backed UP Fintech to raise $150m in US IPO

Vodafone and LG Uplus back Huawei’s 5G gear

Touting better user stickiness than Facebook, TikTok looks for advertisers in the US

Pinduoduo starts seeking international products for its hundreds of millions of bargain-hunters

Huawei exec says security warnings against its tech lack evidence, fires shot against US by bringing up Prism

Aided by Huawei, Sunrise is to roll out Switzerland’s first 5G networks in March

Lenovo CEO Yang scorns foldable phones saying “they only stand behind glass”

Tencent said to be considering partial acquisition of Universal Music Group

Tesla expected to grab $2b loans from Chinese banks to speed up mass production

One out of two Chinese uses e-commerce sites, but appetite for online food delivery still lagging

TikTok now has more than 1 billion downloads, a quarter comes from India

Google earns solid $3b from China, despite stranded plans to re-enter the country

After picking up $1.5b from Softbank, Chinese car trading site Chehaoduo says it’ll spend $300m on advertising

Insights/ Interviews

Singapore is the heart of healthtech in Southeast Asia

Chuhai: Why Chinese entrepreneurs are targeting emerging markets across the world