- Briefing Your roundup of Asian tech and startup news that matter
Jack Ellis · · 2 min readIn brief: Google rebrands Tez payments app; Amazon acquires Sequoia-backed Tapzo
Photo credit: Ben Nuttall
Amazon’s India payments business acquires Sequoia-backed Tapzo (India). Amazon Pay India has purchased Bangalore-based Tapzo – an app aggregator that allows users to access the likes of Flipkart, Ola, Uber, and Amazon – in a cash and stock deal valuing the startup at as much as US$40 million. Tapzo previously raised a total of around US$20 million from investors including Sequoia Capital and American Express. (Livemint)
Google rebrands “made in India” payments app, partners with local banks (India/US). The tech giant has changed the name of Tez, its payments app for the Indian market, to Google Pay. The company has also unveiled partnerships with Indian banks HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, and Federal Bank to offer their customers instant, pre-approved loans via the Google Pay app. (The Economic Times)
Other news
Didi Chuxing issues public apology following second passenger murder in three months (China). In an open letter, Didi chairman Cheng Wei And president Jean Liu said the ride-hailing company “will stop using scale and growth as our measurement of success […] We shall prioritize safety as the single most important performance indicator.” The Chinese government had earlier rebuked Didi, saying that the company holds “unshirkable responsibility” for the reported rape and murder of a passenger by one of its carpool drivers last week. (Bloomberg)
Editing by Eileen C. Ang
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