- Briefing Your roundup of Asian tech and startup news that matter
Angela Teng · · 2 min readIn brief: Ola sets its sights on Europe, starting with the UK
Photo credit: Ola
Ola outlines Europe expansion strategy (UK/India). Ride-hailing company Ola unveiled plans to launch in the UK, and said it will start licensed taxi and private hire services in Wales and Manchester soon. The firm intends to take those services nationwide this year, before considering other European countries, it added.
In June, Ola launched in Australia – its first market outside India – and is now operating in seven cities there. The company – valued at as much as US$7 billion according to some reports – recently indicated that it expects to achieve profitability by the end of 2018. (TechCrunch)
Other news
Alibaba said to be merging its food-delivery units to take on Meituan-Dianping (China). Alibaba is reported to be combining its food-delivery businesses, Ele.me and Koubei. If the restructuring happens, the merged entity could be worth up to US$25 billion. (Reuters)
Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital gets US$2.5 billion (China). A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows the Shanghai-headquartered private equity firm has netted the new funds, though it doesn’t specify if the fund held a final close. Founded in 2010, Yunfeng has investments in various companies, including China’s largest house sharing portal Xiaozhu. (The Wall Street Journal)
ClassPass arrives in Asia (Singapore). ClassPass’ mobile app is now live in Singapore, and is available for download. The New York-based fitness booking app – which banked US$85 million in its Temasek-led series D round last month – charges users a monthly flat-rate subscription fee for access to fitness classes. (ClassPass)
Editing by Jack Ellis
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