Top-funded startups in Indonesia

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Hello readers,

Welcome to another work week! In today’s edition, we look at:

• The startups in Indonesia with the comfiest cash cushions
• How e-wallets can be key to Grab and Gojek’s profitability
• A Tencent-partnered startup’s newly raised funds

But first, your quick bytes for today:

1️⃣ “Hong Kong or Shanghai?” is a question that ByteDance has been mulling over as it looks to list its China business. Rumor has it, though, that it prefers the former. The Beijing-based company was valued at up to US$140 billion earlier this year.

2️⃣ Meanwhile, in the far west, TikTok is reportedly in talks to sell itself to Microsoft and other companies after US president Donald Trump vowed to ban the short-video app in the country. To save TikTok’s US ambition, sources say that parent company ByteDance has agreed to divest its US operations.

3️⃣ Vietnamese ecommerce marketplace Sendo has spoken: The much-anticipated merger with its rival Tiki is likely not happening at this point. Instead, Sendo is looking to start its series D fundraising.

If the Tiki-Sendo merger had gone through, it would have shaken up Vietnam’s US$35 billion ecommerce sector.

4️⃣ Apple has a brand-new title, and that’s “the world’s most valuable publicly listed company.” Thanks to last quarter’s performance, Apple’s stocks surged over 10%, adding US$172 billion in market capitalization. FYI, that amount is greater than the entire stock market value of Oracle Corp.

5️⃣ Chinese electric-car maker Li Auto also had a pretty good week, debuting on Nasdaq last Thursday and promptly raising US$1.1 billion in its US initial public offering.

6️⃣ Step aside, YouTube: Facebook is bringing in music videos from the likes of T-Series Music, Zee Music Company, and Yash Raj Films onto Facebook Watch in India.

The Indonesian startups with the comfiest cash cushions

Grab and Gojek want you to put your money where your e-wallet is

The startup that acts as the pipes connecting different countries