Real reason for Alibaba’s US$2.9 billion investment in offline retailer
Alibaba Group today announced that it is making a US$2.87 billion investment into Sun & Art Group, a retail group in China that operates...
The bizarre event that ruined a US$150m company
So the rumours that have been spreading for months have finally authenticated: Bluegogo, once China’s 3rd biggest shared bicycles operator, folded.
There are many...
The failure that defined Alipay’s success
In case you have been living under a rock (or a pile of paperwork) these last few years, here’s an introduction of Alipay (支付宝)...
Stop striving to be productive, think more and embrace change
Many leaders know that they are on a different lane, but still want to put themselves in their employees’ shoes. Somehow, the notion of teamwork...
Will Grab & Uber merge, with Softbank now a shareholder of...
By now you always know what is happening: Uber’s board is allowing Softbank to become a shareholder.
Probably a huge relief for early investors...
Fashion ecommerce in SEA, and why Zalora is struggling
Last month, Pomelo, a Bangkok-based online fashion brand, confirmed US$19 million funding led by JD.com, China’s second biggest ecommerce platform.
This is shortly after Zilingo,...
Ripe time for food tech in SEA, but not your usual...
We Southeast Asians are probably obsessed with our food: we not only instagram the hell out of it, but also debate with our friendly...
Global internet giants – Only American, Chinese, and maybe Indian –...
In the first part of this article, we examined why global internet giants almost all hail from US and China. In this second installment,...
Global internet giants – Only American, Chinese, and maybe Indian –...
In a recent chat with a leading figure in one of the global internet giants, he threw me this thought:
“To be a global player,...
Why fintech companies in China avoid SMEs
While all the governments are encouraging P2P to be primarily helping SMEs with credit for growth, the founder of one of China’s largest fintech...