e27

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Captain's Log, Aug 24: Jack Ma is Indonesia’s e-commerce adviser; UC Web under scrutiny over data theft in India

Also in the news is the fundraise of Circledoo, a social network skills-sharing online platform in Indonesia

[e27today-blog]

Singapore-based AI startup Taiger raises US$5.9M to roll out "humanistic" virtual assistants

Tembusu ICT Fund I and SGInnovate participated in Taiger’s funding round

[e27today-blog]

SK Planet reportedly exits Elevenia, selling stakes to Salim Group

Elevenia is considered successful in terms of transaction volume, but the e-commerce platform fails to contribute revenue

Though Elevenia is considered successful in terms of transaction volume –as the company is claimed to be in the top three e-commerce companies list in the country– the success does not translate to revenue for the parent company.

[e27today-blog]

e27 AMA with Manish Singhal, Founding Partner of pi Ventures

Singhal will be online at 1:30 pm SGT (11 am IST) on August 29 to answer all your questions on IoT, Machine Learning, robotics, investment

[e27today-blog]

Jonathan Soros's VC fund, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures join Ezetap's new US$16M funding

Ezetap is a SaaS payments system that allows merchants to accept any digital transaction including physical cards, e-payments, and m-wallets

Ezetap will use the financing to continue innovating and expanding its payments platform that lets any business accept any form of payment, as well as to grow its sales and operations across India and abroad.

[e27today-blog]

SparkLabs launches US$50M early-stage fund for South Korea and Southeast Asia

The fund will be led by a number of C-suite executives including Chris Koh, Co-founder of South Korean e-commerce platform Coupang

SparkLab Ventures will focus on Series A and Series B rounds and will target primarily Korean startups. Its secondary focus will be startups in Southeast Asia.

[e27today-blog]

JD reportedly in talks with Thailand's Central Group to set up US$500M e-commerce JV

As the negotiation to acquire stakes in Indonesia's Tokopedia failed to come through, JD is looking toward Thailand as its new focus

[e27today-blog]

Indonesian fashion e-commerce startup SaleStock raises US$27M Series B+ round

Gobi Partners, Alpha JWC Ventures, Convergence Ventures, KIP, MNC, and SMDV have invested into SaleStock

Known as a relatively media shy company, Sale Stock has never made any public announcement about their fundraising until today

[e27today-blog]

Hinterland Guizhou to advance Apple's first data centre in China

Environmental and sociological conditions in Guizhou are perfect to build a data centre

[e27today-blog]

How raising money for a fund is different from raising as a startup

Four lessons that can make your fundraising less challenging from Sean Johnson, partner at Founder Equity and Digital Intent

Fundraising is a slog.

[e27today-blog]

Temasek Holdings sells off Snap shares valued at US$6.76M: FT

Other prominent Snap investors such as Jana Partners and Third Point have also pulled out of the company

[e27today-blog]

In video, how AI can enhance our memory, work, and social lives

Siri co-creator talks about “humanistic AI” and why it shouldn’t be AI vs humans.

[e27today-blog]

We have a US$65B big data opportunity in Asia Pacific, and the trends point to big benefits

It is undeniable that businesses must rely on data as a decision-making factor to enhance competitiveness

[e27today-blog]

Investors looking for high growth opportunities should look toward SMEs

SMEs are here to stay whether the economy is growing or slowing

“SMEs, by nature, are more attuned to the movement of the market than bigger corporations. Because of this, they are able to adapt and learn about newer technologies faster than MNCs. The savvy entrepreneur would know how to minimise the impact of a failed product and move onto the next project without much fuss. This also means that the investor would not lose much of their initial capital should the first project in a small company fail to take off.”

[e27today-blog]

An effective email gives a distinct reminder of your brand, delivers the intended message, and compels you to click

What’s the secret to writing great emails?

[e27today-blog]

Buzzwords create inaccurate views about innovation, plus thoughts on APAC and government support from Paycelerate CEO

We talked to Rajah Chaudhry about Paycelerate, launching in Hong Kong, and the struggles of finance innovation.

“I think that a lot of people are just using buzzword. Fintech is being used a lot but I don’t think it really means anything. Large finance and banking institutions, for example, are getting in on it – or so they say. There are some who actually get involved, like DBS who I think are doing a lot for the region, as well as HSBC who do have some programmes for innovation. But I think a lot of these large institutions are talking about finance innovation for PR purposes.”  

[e27today-blog]

"Our curse will always be on you and your ill-gotten gains will come to light," employees tell Snapdeal founders

In a letter to its founders and the government, a group of current and former employees also demanded an inquiry into Snapdeal's affairs