Also Kedia Sayur, Vntrip and Duang Captial raise money
ByteDance has eyes for a mobile phone — [Financial Times]
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is said to working towards building its own smartphone, according to the Financial Times.
The phones will be pre-loaded with ByteDance properties, which also includes Toutiao.
ByteDance has one major attribute working for it — a large user base outside of China — and one factor working against it — a long history of software/consumer companies trying and failing to launch a mobile phone. Google has been relatively successful with its phone, but Amazon, Facebook and even ESPN all attempted, and failed, to tie a phone to their core product.
Currently ByteDance is valued at US$75 billion.
Kedai Sayur raises money to help connect farmers and vegetable consumers — [e27]
Indonesia-based Kedai Sayur, a startup that empowers vegetable hawkers utilising technology, announced that it has secured US$1.3 million seed funding led by East Ventures.
Kedai Sayur said that the investment will be used to accelerate its mission, which is to onboard more vegetable hawkers as their partner.
Kedai Sayur translates to “Vegetable Kiosk” in Indonesian and just established in late 2018, founded by former Deputy Director for Business Process and IT of Triputra Group, Adrian Hernanto, along with Ahmad Supriyadi and Rizki Novian.
It aims to provide vegetable hawkers the quality and price of fresh commodities for their selling products such as vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish, that are the daily main staples of Indonesian households.
Duang Capital raises Series A with valuation at US$12 million — [e27]
Daung Capital, Myanmar-based micro-credit loan provider, announced that it has closed its Series A round a valuation of S$16.5 million (US$12 million).
Daung Capital managed to grab investment from Singapore-based venture capital firm Majuven. This is Majuven’s first investment into Myanmar.
According to the data shared in Daung Capital’s official statement, Myanmar’s rural nature, coupled with conservative family-owned banks, results in only 26 per cent of the population having a bank account while less than 1 per cent owning a credit card.
Jubilee Capital Management injects funds into Vntrip — [DealStreetAsia]
China and Singapore VC firm Jubilee Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in VnTrip as part of the startup’s ongoing Series C round, according to DealStreetAsia.
Vntrip is an online travel startup and plays in an established sector in Southeast Asia. But, Vietnam’s online travel industry is further behind its regional neighbors.
The company is hoping to close the round in 2019.
LINE and iPrice Group launch shopping platform based in Indonesia — [e27]
LINE messaging platform today announced a partnership with iPrice Group to launch LINE SHOPPING, an online shopping experience launched for its users in Indonesia.
The feature enables users to find deals on electronics, fashion as well as health and beauty products on the LINE SHOPPING tab in the platform.
iPrice Group will be working closely with LINE to provide updates and content for the feature.
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Photo by Filip Mishevski on Unsplash
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