Asia
The latest startup and technology news coming out of Asia.
CoinDCX, India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, is expanding internationally through the acquisition of BitOasis, a digital asset platform in the Middle East and North Africa, the companies said Wednesday. The Bengaluru-based…
Unacademy is slashing another 250 jobs in latest round of cuts as Indian edtech sector continues to struggle.Q
Japan’s SmartHR raises $140M Series E as strong demand for HR tech boosts its ARR to $100M
The round was led by KKR and Teachers’ Ventures Growth, an investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
India’s top AI startups include those building LLMs and setting up the stage for AGI as well as bringing AI to cooking and serving farmers.
Reliance Jio, Airtel kick off Indian telecom price hike
Reliance Jio and Airtel, the two largest telecom operators in India, have initiated what analysts expect to be an industrywide increase in tariffs in the world’s second largest wireless market,…
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son announced on Thursday that the Japanese tech giant has set up a joint venture in the country with Chicago-based health tech company Tempus. Together, the…
A hacker claims to be selling an extensive database associated with an Indian government portal meant for blue-collar workforce emigrating from the country.
Flipkart Group launches payments app, Super.money, in fintech push
Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has quietly started rolling out a payments app, dubbed Super.money, as it broadens its fintech ambitions.
Accel, India’s most successful e-commerce investor, is making a contrarian move by turning its focus to smaller towns and villages.
k-ID wins $45M to help game devs speedrun the child safety compliance puzzle
k-ID’s platform makes it easy for game devs to comply with child safety and data privacy regulations.
Snapchat introduces new safety features to limit bad actors from contacting users
Snapchat on Tuesday announced a new suite of safety features, including updates to its account blocking functionality and enhanced friending safeguards, making it difficult for strangers to contact users on…
Rocketlane snags $24M to bring AI-led experiences for professional services teams
Rocketlane initially aimed to support customer onboarding. However, it has broadened its scope and doubled down on addressing the needs of professional services teams.
India’s Zyod raises $18M to expand its tech-enabled fashion manufacturing to more countries
The Gurugram-based startup works with Indian factories to help them manufacture fashion wear for global brands.
Prosus, the largest external investor in Byju’s, has written off its 9.6% stake in Indian edtech firm.
Zepto, a 10-minute delivery app, raises $665M at $3.6B valuation
Zepto, an Indian quick commerce startup, has more than doubled its valuation to $3.6 billion in a new funding round of $665 million.
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General Catalyst merges with Venture Highway in India push
General Catalyst is linking up with Venture Highway to make a deeper push into India, where it plans to invest over $500 million in coming years.
Bitsensing raises $25M for its high-resolution radar in autonomous driving
Self-driving vehicles rely on many sensors to detect objects and the world around them. The conventional approach is to work with cameras and lidars. But some tech companies and startups…
Google brings Gemini mobile app to India with support for 9 Indian languages
Google has released its dedicated AI mobile app Gemini in India — over four months after its debut in the U.S. — with support for nine Indian languages alongside English. The…
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Can quick commerce leapfrog e-commerce in India?
Even as quick commerce startups are retreating, consolidating or shutting down in many parts of the world, the model is showing encouraging signs in India. Consumers in urban cities are embracing the convenience of having groceries delivered to their doorstep in just 10 minutes. The companies making those deliveries —…
Autify launches Zenes, an AI agent for software quality assurance
With the advent of generative AI, AI applications are transforming and reshaping various industries and changing how people work. Software development is no exception. San Francisco- and Tokyo-based startup Autify…
After announcing a strategic partnership with SoftBank in April, Perplexity — the AI search engine that has ambitions to take on Google — is now using the deal to expand…
There has been a lot of bad news about social media startups lately. Multiple companies, including Twitter alternative Post News, and IRL have shut down. And ShareChat’s valuation has dropped…
Court halts Byju’s second rights issue as $200M fundraise falters
An Indian court has restrained Byju’s from proceeding with its second rights issue amid allegations of oppression and mismanagement by its shareholders.
India’s largest wealth manager focused on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, 360 One WAM, has agreed to acquire popular Indian mutual fund investment app ET Money for about $44 million. Earlier called IIFL…
Fabless AI chip makers Rebellions and Sapeon to merge as competition heats up in global AI hardware industry
South Korea’s fabless AI chip industry saw a slew of fundraising events over the last couple of years as demand for hardware to power AI applications skyrocketed, and it seems…
Linq raises $6.6M to use AI to make research easier for financial analysts
When generative AI tools started making waves in late 2022 after the launch of ChatGPT, the finance industry was one of the first to recognize these tools’ potential for speeding…
How Urvashi Barooah broke into venture after everyone told her she couldn’t
When Urvashi Barooah applied to MBA programs in 2015, she focused her applications around her dream of becoming a venture capitalist. She got rejected from every school, and was told…
BlackRock has slashed the value of stake in Byju’s, once worth $22B, to zero
HSBC and BlackRock estimate that the Indian edtech giant Byju’s, once valued at $22 billion, is now worth nothing.
Sirion, now valued around $1B, acquires Eigen as consolidation comes to enterprise AI tooling
There’s a lot of buzz about generative AI and what impact it might have on businesses. But look beyond the hype and high-profile deals like the one between OpenAI and…
Google’s updated AI-powered NotebookLM expands to India, UK and over 200 other countries
Google on Thursday said it is rolling out NotebookLM, its AI-powered note-taking assistant, to over 200 new countries, nearly six months after opening its access in the U.S. The platform,…
