Monday, May 11, 2020
Apple's answer to Amazon, Google smart speakers now in India: 10 things to know
Iceland's contract tracing app has ~38% adoption, the highest in the world, among its population of 364,000, but its impact on containing COVID-19 seems small (Bobbie Johnson/MIT Technology Review)
Iceland's contract tracing app has ~38% adoption, the highest in the world, among its population of 364,000, but its impact on containing COVID-19 seems small — The country has the highest penetration of any automated contact tracing app in the world, but one senior figure says it “wasn't a game changer.”
Tesla's Elon Musk says ready for arrest as he reopens California plant against local order
Goa diagnostic company's tuberculosis device could help scale up Covid-19 testing
Honor 9X Pro Set to Launch in India Today: All You Need to Know
Poco F2 Pro Launch Today: Live Stream and Everything Else You Need to Know
Southeast Asian lending platform Validus raises $20 million for its Series B+ round
Small- to medium-sized businesses are one of the most important parts of Southeast Asia’s economy, but many have trouble securing growth capital from traditional financial institutions. Validus wants to fix the financing gap with its peer-to-peer lending platform, which connects accredited lenders with SMEs. The Singapore-based startup announced today that it has raised $20 million for its ongoing Series B+ round.
The funding was co-led by Vertex Growth fund and Kuok Group’s Orion Fund, which is managed by K3 Venture Partners. Returning investors in the round include FMO, the international development bank of the Netherlands; Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India; Openspace Ventures; AddVentures; and VinaCapital Ventures.
This brings Validus’ total raised to about $40 million since it was founded in 2015, including a $15.2 million Series B round announced last year.
After getting its capital markets services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in December 2017, Validus launched services in Indonesia and Vietnam and says it has lent over $315 million to businesses so far. Its plans for its Series B+ round include expanding into Thailand during the last quarter of this year. Validus’ credit risk model analyzes information from invoices, contracts and cash flow.
Co-founder and COO Nikhilesh Goel says that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has seen more demand for short-term financing, with a 50% year-over-year increase for credit-approved unsecured loans over the past few months.
Despite the impact of the pandemic on small businesses, loan performance has held steady, he added, because Validus focuses on corporate vendor financing for SMEs whose end-buyers are large corporations or government-linked entities.
Validus also plans to provide financing to SMEs that are on the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19, including working capital for SMEs in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, and logistics and cleaning services.
“Through working closely with corporate partners and investors on the platform, we also aim to support SMEs who are pivoting their businesses to adapt to services and products that are required in this time,” Goel said. “In the last month, we have disbursed multiple such loans averaging $250,000 to $500,000, to support SMEs’ efforts in meeting the demand for face masks and other protective gear in short supply.”
In a press statement, MX Kuok of K3 Ventures said, “We are highly impressed by the leadership and depth of credit management experience at Validus. The team has demonstrated the unique ability to capture critical data points, combined with comprehensive machine learning capabilities, to identify high-potential SMEs that may have fallen through the gaps of the traditional banking model.”
Big tech has crushed the news business. That's about to change
E-commerce policy put on hold
Airtel picks IBM, Red Hat to build 5G-ready cloud network
Twitter announces the appointment of Stanford professor and former Google AI chief Fei-Fei Li to its board as an independent director, effective immediately (Tyler Sonnemaker/Business Insider)
Twitter announces the appointment of Stanford professor and former Google AI chief Fei-Fei Li to its board as an independent director, effective immediately — - Twitter has added former Google AI chief Dr. Fei-Fei Li to its board of directors, the company announced in a press release Monday.
Redmi Note 9 Pro Max to Go on Sale for the First Time Today at 12 Noon
Elon Musk just put a new person in charge of production at Tesla’s Fremont factory
On the same day that Elon Musk defied local regulations and reopened Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, the CEO put a new person in charge of production.
Musk named Richard Miller, who was director of paint operations at Tesla, to head of production at the factory, according to an internal email sent to employees Monday and viewed by TechCrunch. It appears that Miller replaces Jatinder Dhillon, who was the company’s manufacturing director. CNBC reported in March that Dhillon had left the company, although his LinkedIn profile still shows he is at the company and in the same role.
An email has been sent to Musk and Tesla for comment.
“Due to excellent performance as head of paint operations in Fremont, Richard Miller is hereby promoted to overall head of Fremont Production. Congratulations!,” the email reads.
The promotion comes at a chaotic moment for Musk and Tesla. Production at the company’s Fremont factory — where its electric vehicles are assembled — has been suspended since March 23 due to stay-at-home orders issued by Alameda County and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Musk restarted production Monday in direct conflict with county orders.
Tesla had planned to bring back about 30% of its factory workers May 8 as part of its reopening plan, after Newsom issued new guidance that would allow manufacturers to resume operations. However, the governor’s guidance included a warning that local governments could keep more restrictive rules in place. Alameda County, along with several other Bay Area counties and cities, have extended the stay-at-home orders through the end of May. The orders were revised and did ease some of the restrictions. However, it did not lift the order for manufacturing.
Musk has been at war with Alameda County, specifically aiming his ire at health officials, ever since the order was extended. Over the weekend, he threatened to sue and pull operations out of California. Tesla filed a lawsuit later that day against Alameda County seeking injunctive relief.
On Monday, Musk escalated matters further and announced on Twitter that he had restarted production.
Musk wrote he would “be on the line,” a reference to the assembly line at the factory where Tesla makes the Model X, Model S, Model 3 and Model Y. He added “if anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.”
Alameda County issued a statement Monday noting
Equity management platform Carta is planning to launch CartaX, a private share trading platform to rival Nasdaq, this summer for companies worth $1B+ (Miles Kruppa/Financial Times)
Equity management platform Carta is planning to launch CartaX, a private share trading platform to rival Nasdaq, this summer for companies worth $1B+ — Silicon Valley start-up poised to launch exchange as tech companies delay IPOs — The Silicon Valley start-up Carta is planning to launch …
New brands widen distribution network, rejig product mix amid Covid-19
Netherlands-based ASM, whose deposition tools are used to make advanced chips, projects Q2 revenue of ~€980M, above €886.8M est., driven by AI demand (Sarah Jacob/Bloomberg)
Sarah Jacob / Bloomberg : Netherlands-based ASM, whose deposition tools are used to make advanced chips, projects Q2 revenue of ~€980M, a...
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The first project we remember working on together was drawing scenes from the picture books that our mom brought with her when she immigrate...
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Sohee Kim / Bloomberg : South Korean authorities are investigating a data leak at e-commerce giant Coupang that exposed ~33.7M accounts; ...
