Asia tech news roundup – Nov 21

The Ho Chi Minh City skyline. Photo credit: quangpraha / 123RF.

In today’s headlines, Vietnam’s Tiki got a big injection of funds from JD as the Chinese company stakes its claim to a piece of the ecommerce pie in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, another big tech player from China passed a significant milestone.

Ecommerce

Tiki.vn gets US$44 million from JD (Vietnam). The investment in the Ho Chi Minh City-based ecommerce portal represents another big play from China’s JD as it faces off against Alibaba in Southeast Asia. Tiki previously raised US$17 million from Vietnamese internet company VNG last year. (e27)

Consumer tech

KaHa raises US$4.5 million for global expansion (Singapore). The wearables and connected devices firm has received funding from SPRING Seeds Capital, YourNest, and Tata Group affiliate Titan, among others. It will use the investment to expand its presence in Asia, Europe, and the US. (Tech in Asia)

Artificial intelligence

Fano Labs secures pre-series A funding (Hong Kong). Horizon Ventures led the investment in the startup, which has developed natural language processing technology for use in customer service call centers, that can understand Chinese regional languages and dialects. The amount raised was undisclosed. (Fano Labs)

Hong Kong. Photo credit: leungchopan / 123RF.

DataRobot commits US$11 million to set up regional headquarters (Singapore). The US startup, which is the first overseas company to be approved by the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Accreditation@SG Digital program, announced it will invest US$11 million in the Lion City to establish a regional office and boost its R&D effort. (Tech in Asia)

Media

IDN Media closes series B fundraise (Indonesia). The startup, which publishes a range of special interest news and entertainment sites, secured the funding from a group of investment firms including East Ventures and Capital Exchange. The funds will go towards IDN’s audience growth strategy. (East Ventures)

Fintech

MAS opens new consultation for proposed payments reform (Singapore). The city-state’s central bank is inviting public comments on its Payments Bill for the second time. Among the proposed changes under the draft law are the extension of the existing regulatory framework to domestic money transfers, online payments gateways, and the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. (MAS)

Big tech

Tencent overtakes Facebook (China). The Shenzhen-based internet giant is now the world’s fifth biggest tech company with a market value of US$531 billion, surpassing Facebook on US$519 billion. Tencent shares have more than doubled in value on the Hong Kong stock exchange this year. (Livemint)