Is this Bangladeshi startup a moonshot?

Every day, 100k+ smart people read our newsletter. You can sign up here.

Hello readers,

Your 11.11 exclusive starts now: “A Bangladeshi startup is aiming to become the next Tencent, and it has found opportunities in the messaging, payments, news, and other verticals in the country.” Up to 20% of the article is already within this newsletter. Free delivery to your inbox.

So we decided to try our hands on a Singles Day’s ad copy. Not feeling it? Don’t worry, it’s back to regular programming below.

Today we look at:

• The little-known Bangladeshi startup that’s building a super app
• Southeast Asia’s economic growth despite the pandemic
• Other newsy highlights, such as Grab’s investment into payments and 99 Group’s latest acquisition

PREMIUM SUMMARY

The Tencent of Bangladesh?

Data Bird, an internet startup based in Dhaka, is aiming high to build a super app. While most people may not have heard of the company before, Data Bird is certainly not small: It already has millions of users under its wings.

• 22 million: That’s the number of monthly active users who are using Data Bird’s first and flagship app Ridmik Keyboard. On average, the Bengali-language tool has been among the top 10 apps in the country on the Google Play Store to date.
• US$1.2 million: That’s the volume of gross bookings made on online travel agency ShareTrip in September. Also operated by Data Bird, ShareTrip claims to have captured 80% of the total business-to-consumer online market share in the country.
• That’s not all: Other products by Data Bird include a news aggregator app, a Bengali e-book reader, and a dating app. It is also planning to launch a messenger app that will incorporate various services including a digital content feed, local news, and financial services.

Dive deeper into all of this startup’s verticals and its plan to win the markets: This Bangladeshi startup wants to be the Tencent of the country

NEWS SPOTLIGHT

Against all odds, Southeast Asia’s internet economy grew