A founder opens up on his startup going bankrupt

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News broke last week that Vietnam police had summoned the founder of luxury e-tailer Leflair after suppliers complained of the startup’s failure to pay for US$280k worth of goods. We did a deep dive to find out what happened (🔒).

Your quick bytes for today:

🚶‍♂️ TikTok is exiting Hong Kong after the country adopted a new national security law. Tech giants Google, Facebook, and Twitter have already stopped processing requests for user data from the Hong Kong government.

🍎 Similarly, Apple is also currently “assessing” the new Hong Kong security law.

🎥 Netflix, meanwhile, is probably partying because it’s finally unblocked in Indonesia after four long years of negotiations with the country’s Telkom Group.

🚫 The U.S. is looking at banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok.

💸 Digital tax is due this week, but U.S. technology giants in India are saying nope to making payment.

💴 It’s no longer just India: Indonesia is also imposing a 10% VAT on sales by Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and Google.

The startup that went from eight digits in revenue to bankruptcy

If you were a founder, what could be the worst way to close down your startup? Probably having the police knocking on your door.

Add to that some bad press: how the authorities didn’t find you in your home, complaints from customers about not receiving refunds, and employees voicing out about not getting paid.

That’s basically the tale of Vietnam-based ecommerce startup Leflair, which went from 100% year-on-year growth to bankruptcy after five years of operations (🔒).

The app that lends you friends who can pay your bills for you