Asia's tech news, weekly: Jan 17th 2023
In this edition: Overseas Indians access UPI; Hong Kong's Web3 play; YouTube and rural Indonesia; Japan joins US for cyber defense; private space launch in China...
• Taiwan in talks with domestic and int'l investors to establish satellite comm's provider, taking cue from Starlink’s Ukraine role and aiming to fortify the country against potential China assault
• India: Reserve Bank may soon allow Mastercard and Visa cards to be linked to national Unified Payments Interface
• Myanmar's government-in-exile raises $100M to topple military junta, with sights on initial coin offering and cryptocurrency at the centre of finance plan
AI, ChatGPT and education: "Australian universities to return to 'pen and paper' exams after students caught using AI to write essays..."
• Singapore: Protenga gains backing to grow insect-focused production platform for aquafeed and pet food, incorporating upcycling of palm oil industry by-products
• Singapore: ADDX digital securities platform in December fractionalized a SEA-focussed venture debt fund, making it available on ADDX blockchain-backed exchange
• Hong Kong: Gov't reportedly to issue tokenized green bonds for institutional investors, moving further into virtual assets and Web3-focused revival as 'financial hub'
• Taiwan lawmakers pass Act allowing local chip firms to turn 25% of R&D expenses into tax credits in bid to keep semiconductor technologies and maintain the country's technology leadership
• Indonesia's Grab adds Vietnam’s ZaloPay mobile payments and financial services firm as latest cashless solution in Vietnam, gaining bank networks and 71M messaging app users
• Japan: Foreign Ministry to launch AI-run system to collect and analyze fake info on online platforms to track how foreign actors try to influence public opinion
• Hong Kong Web3.0 Hub accelerator sets sights on attracting and developing 1000 Web3 businesses over 3 years
• India: Gov't is considering regulatory framework to govern 'live commerce', with Bureau of Indian Standards to assess the need for guidelines
"...in Australia, 87% of current jobs require digital literacy skills, and by 2025, the country will need another 156,000 digital technology workers according to recent research by Deloitte."
• Indonesia: "A former retail worker taught his neighbors the art of content creation. Now, his hamlet is the unlikely heart of the country’s growing YouTube community."
• Japan's NTT Corp enters US Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative to boost cyber defense and reduce risk to critical infrastructure
• Twitter employees in Singapore, Asia-Pacific HQ for the company, told to vacate building and work remotely, reportedly due to Musk's continued cost-cutting
• Singapore: LionsBot cleaning robotics firm lands $17M Series A, seeing projected market potential of $25.9BN globally by 2027
• Indonesia: FLIK secures $1.1M pre-seed funding with unified checkout solution, combining fintech infrastructure and shopper experience management systems
• China: Galactic Energy launched 5 satellites for 'telecommunication, weather forecasts and scientific research for government agencies', with sights on being China's SpaceX
TikTok's baseline advantage: "...1000 impressions from video advertising on TikTok is almost half the price of Instagram Reels, a third cheaper than Twitter and 62% cheaper than advertising on Snapchat."
• Thailand Institute of Nuclear Tech to commence operation of Thailand Tokamak-1 in March, country's first experimental fusion energy machine, provided by China
• Mobike Australia liquidated: "More than 1600 bikes with a total value of around $1.3M built by China’s Mobike have been left in warehouses and on the streets..."
• Major startup event, Slush, to hold spin-off Slush'D gathering in South Korea with Korea Startup Forum selected as on-site organizer
Non-resident Indians living abroad in 10 countries and with bank accounts in India will soon be able to use Unified Payments Interface platforms with international mobile numbers
• Qualcomm Innovate in Taiwan Challenge opens for applications from firms in 5G, cellular-connected IoT, machine learning, smart cities technologies and multimedia
• Thai Union Ventures, investment arm of Thai seafood major, backs France's Algama for sustainable algae-based alternatives for animal products including eggs, salmon and tuna
• Hong Kong: Jumppoint secures $6.5M Series A to grow one-stop e-commerce logistics platform, with cold-chain delivery, warehousing, fulfillment and cross-border services
• Samsung launches Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF in Hong Kong, with hopes for further products as regulations develop
• India: Mastercard onboards 1 million smallhold Indian farmers to Farm Pass platform, connecting farmers with consumers to streamline processes and lower costs
• Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission to propose a subset of tokens it would allow for trading by retail investors
• 1.3M Japanese customers of Aflac and Zurich insurance companies had personal information leaked following hack of a third-party service provider
In other news…
» L'Oreal takes minority investment in Digital Village metaverse platform and NFT marketplace, marking inaugural investment and the first under Female Founders initiative
» ‘Illicit Cryptocurrency Volumes Reach All-Time Highs Amid Surge in Sanctions Designations and Hacking' via Chainalysis
» UK's Beazley insurance company to launch the first 'cyber catastrophe bond' as industry concerns grow around the increasing financial fallout from cyberattacks
» CTIA Wireless Foundation Catalyst competition's 4th edition now open for applications, seeking social entrepreneurs using 5G and leading-edge wireless tech
» Download: Metaverse Virtual Real Estate Report, Q3 2022, via Parcel
