The exterior of Leased, RedDoorz’s fully leased and operated hotel
Japan-based Digital Wallet Corporation acquires Speed Money Transfer Philippines, rebranding as Digital Wallet Philippines [DealStreetAsia]
Digital Wallet Corporation (DWC), a Japan-based fintech company, announces that it has acquired remittance and foreign exchange firm Speed Money Transfer Philippines (SMTP) for an undisclosed amount.
SMTP operates in the Philippines and Australia, and following the acquisition will be renamed as Digital Wallet Philippines. The report by DealStreetAsia said that the deal and the name change have been approved by the country’s central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
With the Philippines placing fourth as the highest remittance recipient globally in 2018 at US$34 billion (according to the World Bank), the acquisition is timely. Eiji Miyakawa, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DWC said the company’s Philippines business aims to allow unbanked customers to benefit from financial services such as remittance, foreign exchange, and payments through their mobile devices.
“The Philippines acquisition is the first step in DWC’s global expansion strategy to deploy our mobile wallet services, Smiles Mobile Remittance (Smiles), to Asia and Europe,” Miyakawa added.
Doctor Anywhere joins forces with ViettelPay, providing online healthcare services in Vietnam [MobiHealthNews]
Singapore-headquartered telehealth startup Doctor Anywhere has joined forces with ViettelPay, a part of Vietnam’s mobile carrier Viettel, in signing a strategic cooperation agreement to bring a full suite of online healthcare services to ViettelPay’s registered users throughout Vietnam.
Following the agreement, ViettelPay’s customers will be allowed to connect to Doctor Anywhere’s virtual clinic and consult a locally registered doctor, as well as access a range of wellness services directly on the ViettelPay App, as reported by MobiHealthNews.
Doctor Anywhere continues its expansion plan in Vietnam with its latest strategic cooperation with ViettelPay after the startup signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Bao Minh Insurance, one of the largest insurance groups in Vietnam back in September.
Meet the AR startup that has attracted celebs of Katy Perry’s caliber [Forbes]
Sandbox VR, a free roam location-based entertainment venue, announces that it has received US$11 million round of financing from notable celebrities such as Katy Perry, led by a16z and Craft Ventures, founded in 2017 by David O. Sacks and Bill Lee and backers of Oculus, AirBnb, Lyft, Pinterest, and Slack.
Sandbox VR puts up to eight players wearing backpack PCs and VR headsets literally inside the game together. It was founded by game developer Steve Zhao.
Prior to this funding, Sandbox VR secured a whopping US$68 million from Andressen Horowitz, The celebrity presence was rounded out by actors Will Smith, Orlando Bloom, athletes Kevin Durant, and Honda Keisuke, and former superagent, and CAA co-founder, Michel Ovitz.
Also Read: RedDoorz makes US$70M first close of Series C round, to launch tech hub in Vietnam
As reported by Forbes, the company is currently in the process of an expansive rollout across the U.S. with a location recently opened in Los Angeles, and is coming soon to New York, Austin, San Diego, and Chicago with a total of 16 total locations planned by the end of 2019, and fifty by the end of 2020.
RedDoorz is looking at IPO by 2022, stating a logical way to get funded [Business World Online]
Hotel management and booking platform RedDoorz is reportedly contemplating an initial public offering (IPO) in the country by 2022, Business World Online has learned.
“I think, overall, the business goal of RedDoorz is to conduct an IPO. By 2022 or 2023, we should be on our way to creating our business which is publicly listed. That is the general vision,” said RedDoorz founder and chief executive officer Amit Saberwal.
He added that the company targets to earn US$500 million by 2020. By December, Saberwal said RedDoorz will be earning approximately $200 million.
RedDoorz announced last August that it closed US$70 million for the first part of its Series C funding, with participation from growth equity firm Asia Partners, Rakuten Capital, and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, adding to its existing investors Qiming Venture Partners and International Finance Corporation.
–
The post Today’s top tech news: Digital Wallet Corporation acquires Philippine-based remittance firm Speed Money Transfer appeared first on e27.