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India bans 59 Chinese apps, severely restricts Chinese investment from entering the country   By Sharon Lewis   The India-China border conflict has spilled over into business relations between the two giant Asian economies, with the Indian government undertaking a series of moves including banning 59 Chinese apps from the subcontinent.   In a press release

PlayBrain will use the fresh funds to expand into additional esports and entertainment properties and build on its partnership with Riot Games   By Monika Ghosh   Japanese esports content provider and event organizer PlayBrain has raised US$6 million in a Series A financing round, to produce content and manage esports competitions in Japan,

Carmine Therapeutics and Takeda will collaborate to discover and develop non-viral Rare Disease Gene Therapies Using Carmine's novel REGENT platform   By Monika Ghosh   U.S. headquartered Biotech startup Carmine Therapeutics has signed a $900 million research collaboration agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical to discover, develop and commercialize transformative non-viral gene therapies for two rare

Airlift Technologies also announced its new service Airlift Grocer   By Sharon Lewis   Pakistan-based transit systems startup Airlift Technologies has raised US$10 million in an extension of its Series A round, the company announced today via its official blog.   Airlift Technologies is an app-based ride-sharing ‘decentralized mass transit system’ that allows users to book

Although not a medical condition, founder burnout is a serious issue in the startup ecosystem that can cause companies to fail   By Monika Ghosh   It may be hard to fathom how a successful entrepreneur can be unhappy, and feel desolate and helpless, especially if their startup has just received funding or hit

Transforming mental health treatment in Australia with Lysn Founder Dr. Jonathan King    By Jasmine Chan   Mental health is an issue we cannot overlook. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4.8 million Australians suffered from a mental or behavioral condition in 2018. Although it’s vital for those in need to receive help

Gaming has comfortably found its place in the virtual age.   By Sharon Lewis   After the Covid-19 pandemic was declared a global health emergency by the United Nations in late January, countries fell into lockdown mode like dominoes, confining people to their homes indefinitely. With more people at home, the popularity of gaming

Hilarious, bite-sized commentary By Jasmine Chan   Bill Simmons is a regular fixture in the American entertainment scene. He’s a sportswriter, author, talk show host, and the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website, The Ringer. Produced by The Ringer, The Hottest Take is Simmons’s newest project, where he and

Are all meal kit delivery services following Blue Apron’s path downhill?   By Alvin Mak   How do you cook nutritious, healthy, and delicious food all without having to plan meals yourself or buy groceries? The startup world's answer was the revolutionary meal kit delivery system.   These services deliver cooking instructions and the corresponding ingredients

Zuoyebang has raised more than US$1 billion till date and was valued at $6.5 billion prior to the investment   By Monika Ghosh   Chinese online tutoring platform Zuoyebang announced the close of its US$750 million Series E funding round, led by FountainVest Partners and Tiger Global Management.   Zuoyebang Founder and CEO Hou Jianbin disclosed

More than 40 new game products and updates were unveiled at the Tencent Games Annual Conference   By Monika Ghosh   Tencent Games, the gaming arm of Chinese Internet giant Tencent, held its Annual Conference on June 27 to unveil the company's upcoming plans for game releases and partnerships.   As the operator of the largest

By Alvin Mak   The U.S. Government’s blacklisting of Huawei in 2019 has shaken the company, to say the least. As an immediate outcome of this decision, Google ended its business relationship with the Chinese hardware manufacturer, resulting in Huawei being banned from using apps under Google Mobile Services (GMS).   Not only has

With consumer trust shaken, new search engines are rising to tackle the giants   By Nayantara Bhat   While Google now dominates much of our daily Internet explorations through searches and targeted ads, some will remember early entrants in the search engine space. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Yahoo, AltaVista, and Excite

By Ben Teo   As Covid-19 continues wreaking unmitigated damage in 180 countries and 6 continents across the globe, Singapore is set to bear the brunt of the economic fallout, being a trade dependent economy with one of the world’s highest trade to GDP ratios (326% in 2018).   Singapore’s GDP contracted 2.2% in

The seed fund by East Ventures is focused on innovations for a post-pandemic world   By Sharon Lewis   Indonesia-based early-stage tech investor East Ventures has announced the first close of its eighth fund, a seed fund that aims to raise US$88 million to support post-Covid-19 digital innovation startups in Southeast Asia, in a

The capital injection will help Nextbillion.ai explore new domains such as neuro-linguistic programming and facial recognition   By Monika Ghosh   Singapore-headquartered enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider Nextbillion.ai has raised US$7 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Falcon Edge Capital, barely five months after it was

Unpacking the how and why of digital-first luxury brands opening physical retail locations   By Nayantara Bhat   With the rise of Shopify and the founding of glossy digital brands like Away, Casper, and Recess, retail is no longer restricted to a physical shopping experience. These luxury digital-native brands built up loyal online followings

Aye Finance has also raised several debt funding rounds since its large venture financing   By Sharon Lewis   Indian microfinance fintech Aye Finance has raised INR 2.1 billion (approximately US $27.8 million at current rates) in Series E Round from existing investors, the company announced in a statement.   The round was led by Google-owned

"Food tech innovation in Asia is way overdue," a TurtleTree Labs investor says   By Sharon Lewis   Singapore-based biotech startup TurtleTree Labs has raised $3.2 million in seed funding for its cell-based milk development technology, the company announced in a statement today.   The round was funded by Hong Kong-based Green Monday Group’s impact investment

Although not a medical condition, founder burnout is a serious issue in the startup ecosystem that can cause companies to fail   By Monika Ghosh   It may be hard to fathom how a successful entrepreneur can be unhappy, and feel desolate and helpless, especially if their startup has just received funding or hit

A subtly provocative use of the podcast medium   By Kelly Cho   Moonface is a six-episode, independent audio drama created by James Kim, an established podcast producer based in Los Angeles. Kim’s life inspires the semi-autobiographical story: Paul is a Korean-American in his 20s who’s passionate about sound art. The plot centers around

Scooter sharing platforms have been slow off the line in Asia. Are Asian riders ready for fresh wheels?    By Alvin Mak     Scooters are no longer a child’s toy found in skate parks. They are secretly transforming the world of transportation.    Studies show that electric scooters bring never-before-seen energy efficiency; they average 82.8 miles

Myanmar's Wave Money says its revenue, transaction numbers, and transfer volume have more than tripled in 2019   By Monika Ghosh   Yoma Strategic Holdings, which owns a diversified portfolio of businesses in Myanmar, announced today that it plans to acquire a controlling stake in Wave Money, a leading mobile financial services provider in

The Lever China Alternative Protein Fund will also provide an accelerator program run by Brinc   By Sharon Lewis   Lever VC, a U.S. and Hong Kong-based alternative protein venture capital fund, has launched an RMB 200 million (approximately US$28 million) joint investment fund and accelerator, to fund Chinese plant-based and cell-cultivated meat and

Maturity and a mindset shift are transforming the region’s startup ecosystem   By Philip Bahoshy   It has been fascinating being part of and tracking the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) startup ecosystem over the last four years. As we move into the new decade, the landscape has changed at such an accelerated

Why Covid-19 has proven tech’s ability to accelerate    By Jenora Vaswani   The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the education system into disarray. UNESCO reports that over 1.1 billion learners have been affected globally. Major exam boards, including those for IGCSEs, A-Levels, and the IBDP, have canceled their annual end-of-year assessments.    The rushed implementation of

Canva also made a slew of other announcements, including a new U.S. office   By Sharon Lewis   Sydney-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) graphic design platform Canva has raised funding of $60 million in a round that has doubled its valuation to $6 billion, a statement from Canva has announced.   Australian venture company Blackbird and Sequoia China

Cleantech Solar plans to build over 500MW of solar power projects across Southeast Asia   By Monika Ghosh   Singapore-based Cleantech Solar, one of the largest commercial and industrial (C&I) focused solar photovoltaic (PV) developers in Asia, has secured a US$75 million green loan from ING Bank N.V., Singapore Branch (ING), according to a

21Vianet to use latest funds to reinforce its position in China’s data center market   By Monika Ghosh   21Vianet Group, Inc., a carrier and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China, today announced that funds managed by Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment firms, have agreed to make a US$150 million

 SGInnovate, Sequoia Capital India back Horizon Quantum Computing's seed-plus round   By Sharon Lewis   Singapore-based quantum computing startup Horizon Quantum Computing has raised SG$4.5 million (US$3.23 million) in a seed-plus round, the company announced in a statement today.   Sequoia Capital India was the lead investor for the round, which saw participation from existing backers