Today’s tech news had award-winners, new OTT shows and Bitcoin continues to dominate

Southeast Asian action

Local startup Hector wins top prize in Switzerland [Press Release]

Hector, a Singaporean startup that helps young people get started in personal wealth management, won the award for Best WealthTech Startup at the Geneva WealthTech Forum 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland. The startup is based on behavioral science and it is an alumni of Startupbootcamp Fintech.

The competition shortlisted 10 startups from all over the world and were judged on innovation, applicability in the market and the presentation.

“It’s a great distinction and honor to be awarded at such an event. It serves as a strong validation of what we at Hektor are doing, the core platform and unique value proposition, from a distinguished gathering of financial services and fintech experts from all over the world,” said Vidur Malik, the Co-founder of Hector, after the win.

Viu launches new original show [Press Release]
The OTT platform owned by PCCW announced today it has released a new original production called I AM WOMAN. The Malaysian production was shot, edited and produced entirely in-house and marks a continuing trend by regional OTT platforms to produce their own content (following the model pioneered by Netflix).

Also Read: What does patent registration tell us about the race for autonomous driving software?

The series is about modern-day heroines and celebrates women who have found success in male-dominated industries. For example, it profiles a stuntwoman a motorsports athlete a firefighter and a long-haul truck driver. The goal of the series is to inspire the Viu audience.

Singtel, NRF and NTU to establish US$31.3M AI lab in Singapore [e27]

Singapore is set to welcome a new corporate artificial intelligence lab courtesy of Nanyang Technical Univeristy, Singtel and A*Star. At a cost of S$42.2 million (US$31.3 million) the lab will focus on developing technologies in fields such as AI, advanced data analytics, robotics and smart computing. The lab is hoping it can produce technologies that will help Singapore’s drive towards becoming a Smart Nation.

Some of the products are automation systems, robotics and Internet of Things (IoT) applications and even robotics for biohazard management.

Johor sees launch of 8,000 sq. ft. co-working space [e27]

Called IskanderSpace, the new co-working space wants to help incentivise entrepreneurs to move to the Iskander Puteri development region. The cheapest rate is MYR150 (S$50) per month.

e27 launches new-and-improved TOP100 programme [e27]

The e27 team will be scouring 23 countries across the world to find the best 100 startups in the world. The best of the best will then pitch it out at Echelon in June and one champion will emerge.

More information can be found here.

Other happenings

Amidst IPO rumours, Xiaomi reveals latest RedMi smartphones [Twitter]

Xiaomi is reportedly seeking an IPO and hopes to raise US$50 billion through the public offering. In the meantime, the company released a sneak-peak look at the newest edition of its all-important Redmi phones.

The phones are an affordable alternative and the Redmi line has helped Xiaomi take off in India. For example, the Redmi 4 costs about US$108 in India.

The full-specs will be revealed on December 7th.

Singtel and Mobike sign MOU [Channel News Asia]

The Singaporean telecommunications company Singtel and the Chinese bike-sharing startup Mobike announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to “work together to explore mobile payments for bike rides as part of the deal,” reports CNA.

The point of the agreement is to allow Singtel customers to pay for Mobike rides using the Singtel Open Platform, a payment gateway.

They also are exploring avenues by which the bikes the location of the bikes will be more accurate.

Bitcoin over US$11,300

While the price of Bitcoin today saw a slight dip, it still remains an unbelievable story as the price remains over US$11,300 as of publishing. Volatility last Wednesday-Friday led to some hang-wringing, but as is happened throughout 2017, the price of Bitcoin kept on chugging and gained about 17 per cent week-on-week.

Also Read: From Korea to Kazakhstan, e27 will search 23 countries to find TOP100 startups

Ethereum continues to hover in the high US$400 dollar range.

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