The suspension will have no effect on full time employees at Honestbee Malaysia
Honestbee to suspend food and grocery delivery services in Malaysia from July 22 [The Star]
Honestbee has announced that it will be temporarily suspending both its food and grocery delivery services in Malaysia from July 22 onward, stating that no delivery slots will be available from then until further notice.
“After a strategic review of our company’s businesses, our headquarters in Singapore has made a firm decision to temporarily suspend our operations in Malaysia. This is to ensure we can meet our financial commitments to our merchants, partners and suppliers as we carefully review the future of our operations,” Honestbee Malaysia said in a press statement to The Star.
The suspension will have no effect on full time employees at Honestbee Malaysia, while riders and shopper Bees “currently working with us will have the option to pursue other career paths when the opportunity arises, but most certainly be welcomed to rejoin the course of our business when we restore operations”, the company stated.
Indonesia’s Astra launches JV with Go-Jek to revive languishing car sales [DealStreetAsia]
Astra International, Indonesia’s largest automobile distributor, on Thursday launched a joint venture with Go-Jek to provide cars to the ride-hailing firm.
The move, which comes on the heels of an overall US$250 million investment in Go-Jek, is aimed at boosting Astra’s already-strong market dominance, despite a dismal full-year outlook for countrywide car sales.
“The outlook for the country’s overall car sales is between 1.05 million and 1.1 million units for 2019,” Astra President and Director Prijono Sugiarto told reporters, a dive from 1.5 million units sold in 2018.
EBay picks up over 5% stake in Paytm Mall [The Economic Times]
Ebay has picked up a 5.5 per cent stake in Paytm Mall, as the San Jose-based online marketplace makes another attempt to get a slice of the Indian e-commerce market.
Ebay said its global inventory will be available to over 130 million active users on Paytm Mall and Paytm’s app ecosystem as part of the deal.
The companies did not disclose the investment amount, but sources close to the transaction said the financing round is about US$150 million.
Japan to lead development of SWIFT network for cryptocurrency: source [Reuters]
Japan’s government is leading a global push to set up an international network for cryptocurrency payments, similar to the SWIFT network used by banks, in an effort to fight money laundering, a person familiar with the plan said on Thursday.
Tokyo aims to have the network in place in the next few years, the person said, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public.
A team related to the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will monitor its development and Japan will cooperate with other countries, the source said.
Hong-Kong based adtech startup OneOneDay launches in India [press release]
OneOneDay, a Hong Kong-based adtech startup, has recently launched the Oodies app in India. This app allows users to earn cash rewards and donate part of it to social causes by watching advertisements of their choice.
The app is available in India for Android users nation-wide.
On Oodies, users choose the ads they want to watch, and get rewarded in cash for their time and attention.
Every time an ad is watched, a portion of the advertising revenue goes to fund a social cause. For its launch in India, Oodies has chosen to tackle the issue of women’s safety by providing safe last-mile rides to women in Delhi.
The post Today’s top tech news, July 18: Honestbee to suspend services in Malaysia; Ebay picks over 5% stake in Paytm Mall appeared first on e27.