CEO Jakob Angele says Foodpanda's focus on food deliveries gives it an advantage over super apps like Grab. (Photo by Kentaro Iwamoto)
Interview

Foodpanda sticks with Myanmar despite political unrest

Asia-focused operator builds 200 cloud supermarkets to counter Grab and Uber

19 May 2021
Great Deals founder and CEO Steve Sy, left, and Fast Group President William Chiongbian II: the Philippine startup has raised $30 million in a fundraising round led by Fast Group. (Photo courtesy of Great Deals) 
Startups

Philippine e-commerce startup Great Deals raises $30m

Online retail services provider to San Miguel and Unilever eyes expansion

19 May 2021
Sea's current businesses include online gaming, e-commerce, food delivery and digital payment.
Startups

Sea reports $422m loss in Q1 as ASEAN tech draws investors

Singapore group says it is 'in best position' in the region as rivals announce merger

18 May 2021
SiCepat offers warehousing and fulfilment, e-commerce-enabling services, online distribution and middle-mile logistics services. (Photo by Yuki Kohara)
DealStreetAsia

Indonesian startup SiCepat bets on web of affiliates to deliver the goods

Logistics company to invest further into its range of services and infrastructure

16 May 2021
My China Roots will offer free basic searches and creation of family trees but let subscribers save historical documents and get notified when others enter the same ancestor, plus offer premium custom packages like travel, in-depth research and translation. (Source photos by Reuters and screenshot from My China Roots' website) 
Startups

Startup helps ethnic Chinese connect with ancestors

My China Roots taps clan records to satisfy thirst for knowledge of past

15 May 2021
Zuoyebang, an online tutor backed by SoftBank and Alibaba, falsely claimed an association with the United Nations, according to Chinese authorities. (Photo by Shin Watanabe)
China tech

China fines SoftBank-backed ed-tech unicorn for false advertising

Zuoyebang among two industry startups slapped with $390,000 penalty

14 May 2021
Shenzhen Dianmao CEO Li Tianchi, a member of China's post-90s generation, intends to develop markets in Europe, where he was initially inspired to create his coding courses. (Photo by Yusuke Hinata)
Startups

Chinese coding course provider indulges global ambitions

Shenzhen Dianmao Technology teaches kids to use its simplified Kitten language

9 May 2021
Xnergy's wireless charger can charge any type of robot or battery, the company says. (Photo Courtesy of Xnergy)
36Kr/KrASIA

Singapore wireless charging startup Xnergy gets $10m war chest

Tech for autonomous industrial robots aims to raise production efficiency

8 May 2021
Grab Holdings plans to go public in the U.S. by merging with a listed SPAC called Altimeter Growth. (Source photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Comment

Grab and other IPOs highlight major opportunities and hidden risks

Southeast Asian tech boom is an important test of governance standards

7 May 2021
Vegetables cultivated by Infarm are sold at supermarkets run by JR East subsidiary Kinokuniya.
Agriculture

Train station lettuce: Japan railroad grows veggies indoors

Rail operator JR East looks to gain inside track in $22bn agritech business

7 May 2021
Qiniu offers cloud and analytics solutions featuring data collection, storage, distribution, livestreaming and data processing and analytics. (Photo by Shuhei Yamada)
DealStreetAsia

Alibaba-backed cloud service Qiniu files $100m IPO in US

Chinese startup earmarks Nasdaq listing for expansion in growing market

6 May 2021
Plug Power is increasing investments in green hydrogen as more companies globally are looking at hydrogen as a power source. (Source photos by Plug Power)
Climate Change

US hydrogen company, with partner SK, eyes China and Vietnam

Plug Power to make fuel cells in South Korea amid rising demand for green energy

5 May 2021
A person tries on Sony's PlayStation VR headset. The company hopes to strengthen the sense of community among users by integrating the Discord chat service into the PlayStation ecosystem.
Business deals

Sony takes aim at gamers with Discord stake

PlayStation and US chat service to come 'closer together' from early 2022

5 May 2021
Grab Holdings plans to go public in the U.S. by merging with a listed SPAC called Altimeter Growth. (Source photo by Ken Kobayashi)
IPO

The boom in SPAC deals -- five things to know

Pandemic-fueled uncertainty drives popularity of this shortcut to IPO

4 May 2021
 Competition is heating up in Cambodia's food-delivery market, with foreign and local players seizing upon pandemic-driven demand. (Photo by Bopha Phorn)
Coronavirus

Cambodia's COVID lockdown puts delivery drivers on the front line

Local apps see digital payments overtake cash for the first time as orders surge

4 May 2021
ANA trials a digital health passport at Haneda international airport in Tokyo in March. Asian startups are developing digital health IDs, including vaccine passports. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Startups

Asian startups jump into developing vaccine passports

While governments dither, companies in Indonesia and Japan get to work

3 May 2021
Zomato, the Indian online food delivery unicorn, has filed a draft IPO prospectus with India's securities regulator. Other tech companies could follow. (Photo by Rie Ishii)
Market Spotlight

India emerges as China's tech challenger with record unicorn run

Startup valuations soar as pandemic boosts online services

3 May 2021
China's Ant Group first invested in Zomato in 2018. It is not unusual for investors to sell stakes before a company goes public, especially when demand for shares is strong. (Source photos by Getty Images and AP)
Startups

Ant Group cuts stake in India's Zomato ahead of IPO

Prospectus shows Alibaba affiliate u-turned on plans to boost ownership

30 April 2021
Bringing down costs will be essential before microbial alternative seafood products take a place at the dinner table. (Photo Courtesy of New Singularity)
36Kr/KrASIA

Chinese vegan seafood startup secures New York seed money

New Singularity prepares to sell microbial fermented shrimp later this year

30 April 2021
An employee walks past a sign for Zalo, the division of tech unicorn VNG that made Vietnam one of the few countries in the world with its own chat app more popular than foreign rivals'.
Business Spotlight

Vietnam's first unicorn bets on AI and overseas growth

VNG built the country's answer to WeChat; now it is aiming even higher

30 April 2021
Zomato has around 11 million active users in India, ordering 3.6 times a month.
Startups

India's Zomato readies $1.1bn IPO amid COVID second wave

Food delivery unicorn's listing seen as catalyst for the country's start-ups

28 April 2021
Ola's charging stations will be installed in 400 cities in five years. (Photo courtesy of Ola)
Startups

SoftBank-backed Ola to roll out 100,000 scooter chargers in India

Sprawling network will power ride-hailing company's two-wheelers

28 April 2021
In China, Tencent's WeChat app is increasingly being used in financial marketing. (Photo courtesy of Shenzhen Tengyin Information Consulting)
36Kr/KrASIA

Tencent-backed financial marketing startup raises $15.3m

Shenzhen Tengyin grows by offering retail banks WeChat-based solutions

24 April 2021
Visional, which owns the executive job matching site Bizreach, raised $92 million in an IPO. (Source photos from Visional website and Kai Fujii)
Markets

Japan job site operator valued at $2.3bn in IPO

Visional sold 89% of shares to overseas investors in Tokyo listing

22 April 2021
The Nasdaq market continues to attract SPACs looking to go public.
Comment

SPAC boom prompts Asian stock markets to upgrade user experience

Homegrown unicorns look to US for listing as opposed to domestic exchanges

22 April 2021