Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator closing China unit- Reuters
Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley incubator of start-ups, said in a Reuters report it would close YC China, a Chinese version of its US program.
The move comes as tensions rise between the United States and China over trade and intellectual property in the technology sector. Y Combinator said the decision was a change in strategy unrelated to problems between the two countries.
YC China was created in 2018 under the leadership of Qi Lu, a computer scientist who was an executive in Microsoft Corp and Chinese search engine Baidu Inc.
Y Combinator said in a blog post that the incubator had changed its strategy to supporting local and international startups from its Silicon Valley headquarters.
“As a result, we decided that now is not the right time to run a new, country-specific version of Y Combinator,” it said.
Incubators typically run programs for start-up founders to develop ideas and turn them into businesses. Notable Y Combinator program graduates include Airbnb, DoorDash and Dropbox.
Qi will now fund companies under his own program called MiraclePlus, according to the blog. He was not immediately available to comment. Y Combinator said it will continue to support and fund Chinese companies interested in applying to its US program.
Nexus Frontier raising fund to expand to Asia- Press Release
London-based AI solutions firm Nexus FrontierTech has closed a US$3.8M seed round to propel its R&D and global expansion. The funding round was led by a family office based in Geneva, Switzerland, followed by a number of private investors, which include Nick Fry, former CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, Jennifer Lewis, former Managing Director of GIC, Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund, and Tom Yoritaka, former Managing Director of Cisco Global Ventures.
A number of these investors are also on the firm’s Advisory Board and heavily involved in the company’s expansion and
growth strategies. Founded in 2015 Nexus specialises in modernising data-intensive processes within the regulatory and compliance realm (RegTech). It builds configurable, scalable solutions to help businesses streamline operations and tackle the issues of inefficiency and data waste.
Also read: This 4-month-old Y Combinator startup wants to be the Stripe for the Philippines
With investment secured, Nexus is more ready than ever to grow their footprint in the UK and US markets and now tap into the immense business opportunities in Asia. They currently have their eyes set on Singapore as a business hub alongside its technology hub in Vietnam, where the company was established in its founding days.
BigGo search engine raises US$5M Series A for international expansion- Press release
BigGo, the product search engine, and price comparison platform have completed the first close of its Series A round at US$5M. The first closing is led by Silicon Valley-headquartered venture capital firm SOSV, Uni-President Group, and Kyber Capital.
For Uni-President Group, the giant Taiwanese food conglomerate company, BigGo is its second internet investment after the investment in Sea Group, Shopee’s parent company, in 2017.
BigGo graduated from MOX Batch 3, an SOSV accelerator for cross-border mobile internet and the reinvestment will help BigGo expand internationally in markets such as Thailand, Japan, and the European Union. “In 2020, we expect to see a 300% increase in revenue from this year. We also expect a substantial increase in users from 11 million to 25 million users,” says Kevin Yen, CEO of BigGo.
BigGo currently sells more than 4,500 Shopee orders per day, with a record high of more than 10,000 orders in a single day. Many e-commerce companies experience substantial increases in conversions and revenue growth of their products on the BigGo platform.
BigGo business includes price comparison, cashback, offline price comparison, price history tracking, and extension services. The platform is available in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai.
Indonesia’s Tokopedia in talks to raise up to US$1.5 Billion- Bloomberg
Indonesia’s online marketplace Tokopedia, backed by the SoftBank Vision Fund and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is in talks to raise as much as US$1.5 billion for a final private funding round before an IPP, according to an article by Bloomberg.
U.S. internet companies, as well as existing investors, are considering contributing to the round, which could bring in US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. No final decisions have been made and the value of the round could change, they said.
CEO William Tanuwijaya is hoping to attract new investors and raise the 10-year-old, Jakarta-based company’s profile overseas when he lists the firm’s shares locally and in another as-yet undecided market, he said in an interview last month. He declined to specify a timetable for the IPO because of uncertainty about how the trade war between the U.S. and China will affect markets.
WeWork to lay off 2,400 employees globally- DealStreetAsia
Layoffs at WeWork have begun as a part of the struggling office-sharing company’s plan to cut costs after staggering losses. WeWork said in a DealStreetAsia news that the recent reductions will affect 2,400 employees globally. Staff reductions began weeks ago in regions around the world and continued this week in the US. At the company’s Manhattan headquarters, there was an enhanced security presence on Thursday, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
They will receive severance and continued benefits and other forms of assistance, according to an emailed statement. The job cuts represent almost 20% of the company’s global workforce, which totaled 12,500 as of June 30.
WeWork, co-founded by former CEO and chairman Adam Neumann, is seeking to stabilize its business and show a path to profitability. The New York-based company scrapped an initial public offering in September, and its valuation has plummeted from $47 billion as recently as January to about $8 billion. The company reported a net loss of US$1.25 billion in the third quarter, eclipsing its sales and more than doubling its loss from the same period last year.
Image credit: Chastagner Thierry on Unsplash
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