It's a quiet post CNY week with no major shifts really. Go-Jek gears up plans to add payment partners in the region, the ongoing Didi~OYO chemistry, DBS warming up to startups for fresh new growth, PayPal office closure in Malaysia, Huawei's security concern and impact to 5G rollouts are just a few things to highlight this week.
That's all for this week and wishing everyone a belated CNY!
Go-Jek adds Coins.ph as Payment Partner
The battle to win ride hailing leadership in the region continues, with Go-Jek making several moves to progress in the past weeks. After completing alliance agreements with VietinBank with Go-Viet and Singapore's DBS last year, Go-Jek adds another fintech partner this week, called Coins.ph to mobilise things in the Philippines market despite some brush offs with regulators there, last year.
Go-Jek, considers payment as the core of its super-app play and intend to complete payments gaps in every market. The Indonesian unicorn is currently backed by investors including Google, Tencent Holdings and JD.com and is pushing valuation to $9 billion.
The Didi ~ OYO Chemistry
"Ride comfortably with Didi and Stay comfortably with OYO"! The Didi ~ OYO chemistry is catching on naturally with riders and travelers in China, that the Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is investing $100 million in Indian hospitality chain Oyo despite cut backs in the Chinese market.
OYO is currently expanding actively in markets such as Southeast Asia, Europe and China apart from home market adopting similar campaigns with ride-hailing partners.
DBS is Open to investing in Startups
As more service sectors converge and customers turn to mobile app for all of their daily service needs, banks such as DBS too are eying the the app and super-app economy to realise new customer segments and growth engines.
In a recent interview with the Nikkei Asian Review, Mr. Piyush Gupta stated that the bank is open to investing in Startups where the bank's products and services can be distributed to whole new segments. As stated before, DBS recently entered into a strategic partnership with Go-Jek for facilitating payment services but it's unclear if this will this result in new customer flow for the bank.
Huawei, 5G Rollout, Security Concerns - It's business as usual in Southeast Asia
In the backdrop of an intense US-China trade war, are claims made by US intelligence community that Huawei products (particularly the 5G base stations and mobile phones) may contain serious security vulnerabilities that empowers the Chinese vendor with capabilities to conduct undetected espionage.
This has lead global communication network operators, including long standing business partners such as BT, Vodafone, Dutch Telecom, Orange, LG U+ and others to temporarily suspend and reconsider Huawei agreements pertaining to 5G rollout. LG U+ also made a press statement recently, that the aforementioned equipment source code and various other materials have been sent to an international common criteria (CC) verification institution in Spain for security verification and the report is expected to be out in August or September this year. In the meantime LG U+ intends to rollout base stations for 5G in major city areas. Other Korean network operators such as SK Telecom and KT have suspended Huawei deals for the moment.
In the meantime, Huawei released a media statement informing clients that the company will work along customers with any additional security requirements or compliance towards meeting sufficient cybersecurity standards. The company has also set up a comprehensive FAQ Page to address accusations and correct misinformation.
In the meantime, it's business as usual in Southeast Asia with operators in countries like Philippine, Thailand and Malaysia affirming continued allegiance to Huawei. Many have openly stated that it will be a tremendous effort to build the next 5G network without Huawei. Top executives further stressed the fact, that 5G is a non stand alone network, as it needs to integrate to LTE and other networks Installed previously, many of which use Huawei's equipments. As for Southeast Asian operators, rebuilding means undoing work accomplished in the last two decades, apart from acquiring huge losses and working forward with Huawei to patch any security concerns if valid, is the sensable way forward.
PayPal closes Malaysian Operation Office
Media reports this week that PayPal has offered VSS to all employees in Malaysia and is closing its operation office there. PayPal has been in Malaysia since 2011 and has offices in other Asian locations such as Philippines, China and Singapore. Reasons for closing the office is unclear but observers are pointing to competitive landscape and a weak business team as the contributing factors. The company however reaffirmed that the internal reorganisation will not affect customers in Malaysia.
aCommerce in Trouble?
aCommerce just released the upgraded BrandIQ line of products and services late last year. A relentless startup when it comes to helping clients accelerate online sales with many leading brands such as Unilever, Samsung, Nestle, Philips and L'Oreal in customer portfolio, the company like many other growing startups did change direction from purely an enabler of e-commerce to distribution of products. Operating in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore, the Google Premier Partner Award winner provide services including logistics, fulfilment, delivery and digital areas like marketing.
But a recent report by Dealstreet Asia is indicating that the company might be in trouble with key executives leaving the operation including in country offices. aCommerce was planning IPO in 2020.
That's all for this week and wishing everyone a belated CNY!
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