Asia news roundup: Ele.me to begin drone deliveries, Youxin in $500m US IPO, and more

Photo credit: fotogigi85 / 123RF

Here’s a wrap of the day’s news.

Delivery and logistics

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s your food, courtesy of Ele.me (China). The food-delivery firm has been granted permission to begin dropping off its orders by drone, with 17 air routes gaining approval in Shanghai. A human courier picks up food from vendors as usual, taking orders to a distribution center. The orders are then loaded onto drones that fly them to another courier, who delivers the food to the customer. According to Ele.me – which was acquired by Alibaba in April – drone delivery will cost less than human labor, as the flying machines will cover about 70 percent of the entire delivery distance, and will cut average delivery times from 30 minutes to 20 minutes. (TechNode)

Meanwhile, Ele.me-owned Baidu Waimai is said to be letting go of many workers. Media reports have suggested that the food-delivery platform – which Ele.me acquired from tech giant Baidu last August – is laying off staff across multiple departments. Several former Baidu Waimai personnel have since joined fast-food restaurant giant Yum China, which is launching its own on-demand food-delivery service headed by former Baidu Waimai COO Chen Qing. (TechNode)

Transportation

Youxin seeks US$500 million from US IPO (China). The used-car marketplace – also known as Uxin – has filed for a Nasdaq listing. In addition to its B2B and B2C trading platforms, Youxin also offers services such as vehicle detection, secure payment, and car financing. It reported total revenue growth of 137 percent last year, though its net loss also widened.
(KrAsia)

Ecommerce

Qtrove bags US$51.6 million investment (India). Qtrove, a “curated marketplace” for artisanal products, secured the funding from Springboard Ventures-Brand Capital. The startup claims to host over 600 vendors, with 6,000 products across more than 40 categories. It said it will use the capital for marketing, customer acquisition, and growing its vendor network. (The Times of India)

Winery.ph gets funding (The Philippines). The online wine marketplace raised the undisclosed amount of funding from a consortium of high-net-worth individuals. The startup claimed to have a “seven-dollar digit” post-money valuation, and said it will use the money for sales and marketing activities as well as to boost operational capacity. (e27)

Fintech

ToneTag parent raises over US$8 million from Amazon, others (India). Naffa Innovations, which operates the digital payments platform, reportedly secured the backing from a clutch of strategic investors, including Amazon and Mastercard. The startup enables contactless payments using mobile phones and other devices and claims to work with more than 300,000 merchants across India. (Livemint)

Media and entertainment

Former LeEco employees get US$5 million for blockchain-based entertainment app (China). A team comprising former employees of LeSports, LeEco’s sports content-streaming business, raised the funding from the investment arm of Chinese media company Xinpai Media. They’re developing an app called Zhuafan, which will offer live streaming and short videos featuring social media celebrities. These influencers will be able to earn digital tokens issued by Zhuafan as an incentive to produce more – and better – content. (China Money Network)

Investors, incubators, and accelerators

From L to R: Ting Yan Leck, director, CoderSchool Vietnam; Yi Ming Ng, partner, Trive; Christopher
Quek, partner, Trive; JH Kim, foundation council member, Icon; Jay Kim, foundation council
member, Icon; Henry Hyunil Lee, head of global business, Icon / Photo credit: Trive

Tri5 Ventures rebrands to Trive, partners with Icon Foundation (Singapore). The VC firm is joining forces with blockchain network Icon to develop blockchain-focused courses to be taught at Trive’s programming school partners, Upcode Academy Singapore and Coder School Vietnam. Trive will also assess startups for Icon and determine if they can avail of the foundation’s support. Icon’s objective is unify various blockchain assets and projects to allow them to easily interact and transact with one another. (Trive)

See: Previous Asia tech news roundups