In brief: Paytm comes to Japan, Bilibili removed from app stores

A screenshot from a Bilibili video with “bullet commenting” from viewers / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

Paytm and investor SoftBank to bring digital payments solution to Japanese market (India/Japan). After weeks of rumors, the two companies have confirmed that the service will launch in Japan – a country that has been slow to take up new digital payments methods compared to its regional neighbors – later this year. Yahoo Japan will also participate in the joint venture, alongside the Indian payments firm and its Japanese backer. (Reuters)

Bilibili disappears from app stores after being slammed on state TV (China). The video-sharing app has come in for heavy criticism from the Chinese authorities, which have accused it of hosting supposedly inappropriate content. Bilibili – which is listed on the US Nasdaq stock exchange – previously said that it was in “deep self-review and reflection” following a meeting with government officials and that it would double the size of its content review team to ease their concerns. (South China Morning Post)

Other news

Vokal scores US$5 million in series A funding (India). The “Q&A” social app netted the capital in a round led by 500 Startups and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun’s Shunwei Capital. Accel India and Blume Ventures also invested. Describing itself as a “vernacular knowledge-sharing platform” aimed at non-English speakers, Vokal is already available in Hindi, with launches in other Indian languages slated for later this year. (Vokal)

Atlassian sells chat platforms to Slack in return for stake (Australia/US). The Australian software company has divested its workplace messaging apps Hipchat and Stride to the US firm. Atlassian has acquired a stake in Slack, which the latter’s CEO Stewart Butterfield described as “nominal” in financial terms but important strategically. (Bloomberg)

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