RocketInternet

With a lack of engineering talent, entrepreneurial mindset and smart VC, there’s still a long way to go for Gulf states develop a thriving startup ecosystem.

A month after Easy Taxi launched in Hong Kong, Rocket Internet’s taxi booking app is now available in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok. Prior to this launch, the company has been working

The FoodPanda app allows users to filter restaurants by location and order food using their mobile phones.

Taiwan is just the latest destination in VanityTrove’s aggressive expansion phase. Starting out of Singapore in December 2011, the company has expanded to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Lazada has been raising funds at a furious clip.

Glossybox has had some missteps. Namely, it entered Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia, only to withdraw after realizing the markets aren’t as plump as it thought they would be.

Rocket Internet is a Berlin headquartered company that is well-known for cloning successful online startups (usually from the US), replicating them elsewhere, and turning them into large, profitable businesses. It is active in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Myanmar, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, India, and Pakistan.

Lazada, which is Rocket Internet’s version of Amazon, claims to be the largest online department store in Southeast Asia.

Taking into account the earlier JP Morgan investment — said to be worth between USD50M and USD100M — Lazada now has a huge war chest to play with.

This comes despite persistent rumors that Rocket Internet’s Zalora is struggling to gain firm footing in Asia. The investment is pegged to be in the tens of millions.