Also, Spotify is now available in Thailand, Common Ground to open three new co-working spaces in Malaysia, and more
Alipay to roll out in more locations in Singapore
Alipay, the digital payments platform for Chinese tech giant Ant Financial, will roll out in more locations in Singapore, according to a report by The Straits Times.
Currently, Alipay is already accepted at 20,000 payment terminals in Singapore. But they are mostly concentrated in tourist hotspots such as Orchard Road, Sentosa and Chinatown.
Also Read: Alipay vs WeChat: Challenges and strategies of two payment giants going global
Singapore startup CC Financial Services is helping local merchants to integrate Alipay. So far over 600 merchants have adopted the solution; CC wants to grow this number tenfold and expand Alipay acceptance points to other touristy areas such as Geylang and Bugis, as well as housing towns, such as Clementi.
Earlier this year, Ant Financial acquired helloPay Group, which runs the helloPay payment platform on leading Southeast Asian online shopping and selling platform Lazada. The merger enables users to pay for items on Lazada using Alipay.
Common Ground to launch three new co-working spaces in Malaysia
Malaysia-based co-working space Common Ground plans to open three new venues in the country, after launching its first one in March this year.
The three co-working spaces will be located in Mont Kiara, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and the Kuala Lumpur City Centre and will take up over 76,000 square feet and offer over 12,000 seats, said an official press release. Common Ground expects to achieve this goal within three months.
“The response we experienced with our first venue was tremendous, further validating our belief that there is demand for this new way of working. We’ve been experiencing significant traction, enabling us to fast track our growth plans and capitalize on the huge opportunity before us,” said Co-founder of Common Ground, Juhn Teo.
Spotify launches in Thailand
Global music streaming giant Spotify has officially launched its service in Thailand. Users can pay THB 129 (US$4) per month to subscribe to its premium service.
“We are now officially available in 61 countries and we believe that our huge music catalogue of over 30 million songs, personalised recommendations and the best playlists curated by music experts and fans, will resonate well amongst music lovers in Thailand,” said Sunita Kaur, Spotify’s Managing Director, Asia, in an official press release.
Spotify claimed to have over 60 million subscribers, and over 140 million active users. In May this year, Reuters reported that the company was mulling a direct listing on the NYSE. It was last valued at around US$14 billion.
Spotify’s growth rate has been rapid but is sustaining heavy losses in the process; it accrued US$601 million in losses last year, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Paytm Mall to invest US$35 million in logistics network
Paytm Mall, the m-commerce arm of Noida-based Paytm Ecommerce, will be investing US$35 million to grow its logistics network, according to a report by the Economic Times.
It is also looking to launch same-day deliveries and next-day deliveries for its electronics and appliances categories across 25 cities.
Paytm Mall said that by building its own logistics operations it will be able to help merchants save up to 50 per cent in logistics costs.
Also Read: Will Amazon still emerge in the lead even if Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Paytm team up?
Last month, the SoftBank-backed firm overhauled its marketplace by delisting over 85,000 sellers and their products for failing to meet its strict quality standards.
Paytm Mall has now made it mandatory for sellers to furnish brand authorisation letters. They will undergo strict quality and service audits that will include their registration number, shop location, and shop photos, among others in order to list.
Ctrlshift launches private marketplace for digital advertising
Malaysian marketing solutions company CtrlShift has partnered with seven publishers to launch “AMP”, a digital advertising marketplace, reported the Marketing Interactive.
These seven publishers are MediaPrimaDigital, Star Media Group Berhad, RevAsia, MalayMail Online, SinChew Online, Tantannews.com and Cari.my. This marketplace will offer marketers premium ad inventory and brand ads targetted at specific audience segments.
The seven publishers offer marketers the opportunity to reach over 11 million monthly users in Malaysia. AMP plans to expand to Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand in the future.
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