A happy enough ending to the Cake Group saga

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Hello reader,

Everyone loves a happy ending, and this was a key element in the stories of my childhood. The Power Rangers defeat the monster of the week, Ash and Pikachu send Team Rocket blasting off again, Ariel the Little Mermaid gets her man and her voice back, Road Runner thwarts Wile E. Coyote’s attempts at capture, as usual … you get the gist.

Of course, now that I’m an adult who has experienced the realities of the world, I realize that happy endings aren’t always happy. Also, happy endings can take on many forms, and sometimes we’re content with an ending that’s happy enough.

That seems to be the case with the legal saga at crypto firm Cake Group, which appears to have finally drawn to a close. We find out more in today’s premium story.

Today we look at:

• The conclusion to the legal battle between Cake Group’s founders
• A startup in the Philippines that’s automating accounting and tax compliance
• Other newsy highlights such as China’s “Big Fund” for the semiconductor sector and Adani Group’s fintech and ecommerce plans

Premium summary

All’s well that ends well, or something like that

Image credit: Timmy Loen

U-Zyn Chua, the co-founder and former CTO of the Cake Group, has sold his remaining shares in the crypto company to CEO Julian Hosp. This ends a six-month legal battle for control of Cake Group, the parent firm of Bake.io, a hybrid decentralized finance (DeFi) crypto exchange based in Singapore.

• Background context: Chua filed a lawsuit to liquidate Cake Group in December 2023, after the company was forced to lay off about 30% of its employees amid falling revenues. This winding-up application was dismissed in April 2024.
• What was settled on: The terms of the sale were not disclosed. However, Chua told Tech in Asia that the amount was “much lower than the original deal” that he and Hosp had tentatively agreed to in November 2023. In a previous deal that fell through, Hosp had agreed to a price of S$32 million for Chua’s shares, which represented half of the voting shares in the company.
• No bad blood: Chua now plans to take a break, but he wants to work on a few things. He also wishes Cake Group all the best and expects that it will do well in the current market. Hosp said he would talk about Cake Group’s current state and plans for the future on Twitter Spaces this week, and made no other statements regarding the deal.

Read more: Cake Group CEO buys ex-CTO’s stake, ending legal feud

Startup spotlight

SOS, I need an accountant

Image credit: Timmy Loen

The passing rate of the accountancy licensure exam in the Philippines remains below 25%, leading to a dearth of accountants and problems across industries in the country. Local fintech startup Beppo wants to plug these gaps, and it’s just raised a pre-seed round to power its efforts.

• Beppo to the rescue: The startup automates accounting and tax compliance of SMEs through its optical character recognition (OCR) software, which captures data from receipts and other printed documents. Beppo says it helps businesses categorize transactions and reduce bookkeeping errors.
• Big moves: The pre-seed round was led by Wavemaker Partners and other angel investors. The funds enabled Beppo to snap up JuanTax, a similar platform based in the Philippines, and five bookkeeping firms.
• What else: The new funding will also help Beppo expand in the Philippines through partnerships with other similar service providers. It aims to break into the international market in the next two to three years.

See also: Vietnam, Philippines attract VCs deterred by pricey Indonesian market

Tech in Asia’s Founders Meetup: Vietnam on May 30

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Founders Meetup is headed to Vietnam this evening as part of the official closing party of Saigon Summit! Unwind and connect with founders, startup leaders, and investors from across Southeast Asia – Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and beyond – at this premier networking mixer. Hurry, get your ticket now and enjoy a 10% discount with the code VNTIASPECIAL10 – see you there!

Quick bytes

1️⃣ Powering AI
Inspeq AI operates a full-stack large language model platform that allows its users to speed up the development of generative AI apps. The startup raised US$1.1 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Sure Valley Ventures. The fresh funds will go towards expanding Inspeq AI’s product development team and boosting its marketing and sales efforts in India, Ireland, and the UK.

2️⃣ Big money
China has launched a new fund with US$47.5 billion in registered capital to boost its semiconductor sector amid rising US export restrictions. This is the third fund under the country’s “Big Fund” for the industry, and it will focus mainly on chip production equipment. China is the world’s largest consumer of semiconductors, accounting for over 50% of global consumption. It is also the world’s fifth-largest semiconductor manufacturer.

3️⃣ A better lion
IBM will use its business-centered generative AI platform, Watsonx, to help evaluate and improve Sea-Lion, AI Singapore’s (AISG) large language model (LLM), as part of a new partnership between the company and the national program. Sea-Lion will be added to IBM’s digital self-serve co-create experience library while the US-based tech titan will get access to an LLM trained in Southeast Asia’s local languages and nuances.

4️⃣ Taking on the big boys
India-based BlueSmart aims to secure US$300 million over the next three years to expand its electric vehicle fleet to 25,000 – a move that can help it compete with rivals like Uber and Ola. A portion of the funds will be allocated to expanding the mobility firm’s operations beyond Delhi and Bengaluru. BluSmart is scheduled to launch in Dubai in June.

5️⃣ It’s getting crowded
Indian conglomerate Adani Group is preparing to enter the ecommerce and payments spaces, competing with giants like Amazon, Google-backed Reliance, as well as Flipkart and its spinoff PhonePe. Adani Group will reportedly launch these offerings through its travel-booking app Adani One, potentially creating its own super app.