Asia tech news roundup – Nov 7

ShopBack’s head of international expansion, Josephine Chow.

ShopBack, DocTalk, and AnchorDX are among the startups that secured funding in Asia today.

Ecommerce

ShopBack gets US$25 million in latest funding round (Singapore). Japanese credit card issuer Credit Saison led the round, with SoftBank, Singtel, and Intouch joining in, among others. The startup, which provides a range of special offers for online shoppers, will use the funds to hire personnel and launch new features. (Tech in Asia)

Gaming

Razer aims for US$528 million IPO (Singapore/Hong Kong). The gaming peripherals maker, which recently unveiled its first smartphone, will float on the Hong Kong stock exchange next week. (Reuters)

Razer CEO Tan Min-Liang on stage at Tech in Asia Singapore 2017. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

Life sciences

AnchorDX closes US$28 million series B round (China). Local firms 6 Dimensions Capital and Sijia Jianxin Fund led the investment in the precision medicine startup, which develops DNA sequencing technology for use in cancer diagnoses. (China Money Network)

Healthcare

DocTalk raises US$5 million in first institutional round (India). The Y Combinator-backed startup has developed an app that allows doctors to keep in touch with patients, avoiding the need for follow-up appointments, which are often unnecessary and resource-intensive. The round was led by Khosla Ventures and Matrix Partners. (The Times of India)

Internet

Photo credit: Luis.

Indonesia drops WhatsApp ban threat (Indonesia). The country’s communications ministry threatened yesterday to ban the Facebook-owned messaging app within 48 hours if it didn’t block what it deemed to be “obscene” GIFs from third-party sources such as Giphy and Tenor. However, the ministry said today it has withdrawn the ultimatum after receiving a response from Facebook. (Reuters)

Investors, accelerators, and incubators

Broadcom bids US$130 billion for Qualcomm (Singapore/US). If the acquisition goes through, it would almost certainly be the biggest tech industry deal in history. However, it needs to gain regulatory approval from governments around the world before it can be completed. Singapore-based Broadcom has already stated its intention to domicile in the US, partly to overcome regulatory issues there relating to one of its pending transactions. (Bloomberg)