Also, Joseph Tsai buys a stake in the Brooklyn Nets and Nintendo is killing it

Whoolala raises US$1 million from brand builder Bluebell

Whoolala, a Shenzhen e-commerce store that jumped early on China’s shift to allow wholly foreign-owned companies, announced today it has raised US$1 million from Bluebell. Bluebell is a company that helps market and promote products being imported into China.

Whoolala is a marketplace that aims to connect Chinese consumers with other Asian brands. The company says its average cart size is about US$120 and the cheapest goods run about US$20. The company has 109 Asian brands on the platform and says 20 per cent of them are exclusive partnerships.

The startup was enthusiastic about the partnership in large part because of their expertise in brand-building and marketing.

Singapore Monetary Authority lays out plan to add thousands of more jobs in finance

The Monetary Authority of Singapore today released a roadmap to “turn Singapore into a leading global financial center”. For e27 readers, the important bullet points are as follows:

Facilitate innovative business models using the regulatory sandbox model
Adapt technology to strengthen and simplify regulatory compliance
Expand the talent pool, specifically highlighting IT
Turn Singapore into an Asian centre for raising capital

The goal is to create 4,000 new jobs, with 1,000 of those coming in the fintech sector.

Alibaba Co-founder Joseph Tsai buys large stake in Brooklyn Nets

Joseph Tsai, the Co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman for Alibaba, has bought a 49 per cent stake in the Brooklyn Nets, a National Basketball Association franchise, according to ESPN.

Also Read: Malaysia partners with global ecosystem partners to boost tech ambitions

Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire, will remain in charge of the team until at least 2021, at which point a clause in the deal gives Tsai the option to take a controlling stake. Tsai will not oversee any basketball operations until Prokhorov sells his majority stake.

The financial details of the deal were not released, but Tsai paid a pretty-penny for his share in the team. The deal was based on a company valuation of US$2.3 billion.

The Prokhorov tenure in Brooklyn has been defined by an all-in dice roll in 2013 that resulted in moderate success but ultimately mortgaged the future and turned the Nets into one of the NBA’s worst teams over the past few years.

Nintendo boosts profit projections on solid Switch sales

Nintendo today said it anticipates to profit US$1.06 billion over the year from March 2017 – March 2018 in large part thanks to strong demand for its mobile gaming console the Switch. The estimation is nearly double what it had originally projected in August (JPY65 billion or US$571 million), according to Reuters.

The company also said that it is catching up with the demand and supply shortages are starting to relax. The company expects to sell 14 million units.

Also Read: India-based startup Cashfree raises funding from Y Combinator to automate bank transfers

The holiday season is always a peak period for console sales and the Switch will go face-to-face with with the upcoming Xbox One X.

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The post Captain’s Log, October 30: MAS releases new roadmap, Shenzhen e-commerce startup nabs US$1M appeared first on e27.