Jakarta to ban e-scooters following the death of two young boys in an accident- Jakarta Post
Jakarta’s Transportation Agency is set to regulate the use of e-scooters in the capital city of Indonesia, following an accident on Monday. Two 18-year-old users of Grab’s e-scooter line GrabWheels died after being hit by a car near the FX Sudirman area in Central Jakarta, local media The Jakarta Post reported.
The new regulation says that e-scooters will only be allowed on the bicycle lane and will be prohibited on crossing roads for motorized vehicles. E-scooters will also be banned from sidewalks, pedestrian bridges, and car-free day areas. Regulators are also reviewing E-scooters operational time limitations in the city.
The regulation is expected to be completed in December, but the operational time is being reviewed. The new rules will be enforced for the safety of e-scooter users, regulators said.
The victims identified as Wisnu and Ammar, rented three e-scooters near FX Sudirman mall in Jakarta together with four friends, who were also harmed in the collision. Local media reports said Grab will compensate the families.
Singapore banned e-scooters from footpaths in the city-state from November 5, with offenders facing fines of up to S$2,000 (US$1,467) and the risk of imprisonment for up to three months from 2020.
Alibaba launches the most expensive share sale in Hong Kong- Bloomberg
The largest Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group priced the retail portion of its Hong Kong share sale on Friday, to appeal to individual investors after months of violent pro-democracy protests, according to a Bloomberg article.
They capped the 12.5 million shares available to individual investors at HK$188 apiece — an auspicious number in Chinese culture — making it the most expensive first-time share sale in Hong Kong. Alibaba said it may price the remainder of its 500 million-share offering above that ceiling, signaling that it aims to raise at least US$12 billion in what would be one of the world’s largest sales of stock this year. The company will price the rest of its international offering by Nov. 20.
Asia’s largest corporation is proceeding with what could be Hong Kong’s biggest share sale since 2010. Slated for late November, it’ll be the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut’s official Asian coming-out party — half a decade after snubbing the financial hub for a record Wall Street debut. If the deal goes through, Alibaba will challenge Tencent Holdings Ltd. for the title of the largest Hong Kong-listed corporation.
Video commerce app SimSim in India raises series A from Accel, Shunwei Capital- VCCircle
SimSim, a video commerce app founded by former Paytm, McKinsey and Foodpanda executives, has raised INR43.49 crore (about US$6 million) in a Series A funding round jointly led by Accel India and China-based Shunwei Capital, VCCircle reported.
Accel and Shunwei invested INR17.91 crore each in SimSim, with both taking a 12.5% stake in the company, digital media platform Entrackr reported, citing filings with the Registrar of Companies.
Good Capital also participated in the round, investing Rs 7.16 crore, while high net-worth individuals Sunil Kalra and Samarth Bedi invested Rs 20.4 lakh each in the startup, according to the report.
SimSim, operated by SZS Tech Pvt. Ltd, was founded by Amit Bagaria, Kunal Suri and Saurabh Vashishtha.
This is Shunwei’s second investment in a social commerce platform. In November last year, it took part in a $50 million Series C funding round in the Bengaluru- and California-based Meesho.
SoftBank plans to merge Yahoo Japan with Line- Japan Times
SoftBank Group Corp. is considering a plan to consolidate its Yahoo Japan internet business with the messaging service Line Corp. Z Holdings Corp., a unit of SoftBank’s telecom arm formerly known as Yahoo Japan, confirmed Thursday that it’s in talks with Tokyo-based Line about a possible merger but said no final decision on a deal had been made, as quoted by a Japan Times report.
Line said separately it is considering such a merger along with other opportunities to increase value.
SoftBank Corp., the domestic telecom arm of Masayoshi Son’s business empire, holds a 44 percent stake in Z Holdings, while Line is controlled by South Korea’s Naver Corp. It is considering setting up a new company with Naver, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. They may reach an agreement as early as this month, one of the people said.
SoftBank and Line have increasingly competed in fields such as digital payments, and an alliance may allow them to save money on expenses such as subsidies. Both companies have also been investing in artificial intelligence to improve their services.
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