Asia news roundup: Ola revenue jumps 70 percent, Alibaba eyes agriculture, and more

Photo credit: Ola

Ola reports a 70 percent annual revenue jump, Alibaba rolls out its AI program for farming, and WeChat plans to replace travel documents.

Transportation

Ola announces 70 percent jump in 2016-17 revenue (India). The cab-hailing giant posted an annual revenue of around US$192 million in the last year, according to recent regulatory filings, but it it didn’t disclose profits or losses. Ola has been in a fierce war with Uber since the latter pushed into the Indian market nearly five years ago. Both parties have claimed that they earn a bigger market share than their competitor. (Livemint)

Enterprise software and services

Alibaba deploys AI to farmers (China). The ecommerce titan’s cloud computing arm has rolled out its ET Agriculture Brain initiative to improve agricultural productivity through machine learning algorithms. The project is part of Alibaba Cloud’s ET Brain ambition to apply artificial intelligence to several of China’s traditional industries. (Tech in Asia)

WeChat to enable paperless border crossings (China). The messaging app is in talks with the government to create an electronic crossing system between Hong Kong, Macau, and the southern province of Guangdong. Called E-Card, the scheme will link users’ IDs to WeChat, doing away with the need for travel permits on crossings between the regions. (Bloomberg)

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies

Huobi to be 100 percent blockchain-based (China). The crypto exchange company has unveiled a project to put its entire organization on the blockchain. Called Huobi Chain, the initiative is due in 18 months and is being funded by the company with an equivalent of US$170 million or 30 million Huobi tokens. The move is part of an effort across the world to decentralize financial infrastructures. (Tech in Asia)

Gordon Chen, Project Director of Huobi Eco speaking at the launch of the project

Blockchain esports company banks US$1 million in iCandy (Malaysia). Germany’s eSports.com, which has users across Europe, Asia, and North and South America, will extend its blockchain products and services to iCandy’s gamers. Southeast Asia-focused iCandy is a mobile games and entertainment group that invests in studios across the region. (iCandy)

Fintech

Local startup partners with UnionPay for QR code scheme (Singapore). LiquidPay is working with China’s UnionPay to enable QR code payments with the latter’s merchants throughout the city-state. The scheme follows Singapore’s nationwide QR standard and will start at hawker centers. The full rollout is expected to be completed by third quarter of this year. (Liquid Group)

Ecommerce

Secondhand car platform lands US$100 million (China). Tiantianpaiche, which operates more than 40 brick-and-mortar shops across China, has received a strategic investment from online platform Autohome. This comes a day after the startup’s rival Chezhibao secured a US$125 million series D round. (China Money Network)

Y Combinator alum Meesho closes US$11.5 million series B (India). The social ecommerce startup raised the money from a round led by Sequoia India. Existing investors SAIF Partners, Y Combinator, and Venture Highway also participated. (TechCrunch)

See: Previous Asia tech news roundups