Asia

Facebook is expanding its focus on payments with a new trial in Southeast Asia that allows users to pay for products listed on Facebook Pages with just a few clicks. The social network is running a trial in Thailand which allows users to make a payment to a Page owner without leaving the social network. Qwik, a product powered by Southeast Asia-based fintech company 2C2P, which raised a $7 million Series C last year, allows users to make payment via a credit card, debit card or bank transfer online, according to numerous sources with knowledge of the trial. Facebook and 2C2P both declined to comment. The test might sound a little bizarre to anyone in the West, where the dominance of Facebook is under question thanks to the emergence of companies like Snapchat, but in Asia — China aside — the social network is an internet staple for most people. Indeed, Asia Pacific is its largest region with 566 million monthly users, according to Facebook’s latest … [Read more...] about Facebook is testing social commerce payments in Southeast Asia

Facebook and Twitter both have introduced ‘buy’ buttons this summer, but social commerce has been around far longer than that. Southeast Asia is one hotspot, and it’s there that Softbaked, the company behind Thailand’s Page365, has raised a $420,000 seed round. The service started two years ago latching on to a trend that saw Facebook used to market and sell products in Thailand. The clumsy solution was far from organized, with buyers using bank transfers to overcome payments issues, the postal service/meeting in person tapped for delivery, and no system for managing stock, orders, and more. Page365 aims to make things more professional with its platform that plugs into Facebook and Line, the chat app with 20 million registered users in Thailand, to provide a central point for managing communications, payment, stock, etc. There’s plenty of demand: Page365 estimates that social media commerce niche is worth $510 … [Read more...] about Page365 Grabs $420K To Professionalize Social Commerce In Southeast Asia, Starting In Thailand

Payments continue to be a huge issue in many parts of Asia and emerging markets. That’s why 2C2P, a Singapore-headquartered startup, has closed a $7 million Series C round to help solve the complexities across Southeast Asia. The round was provided by Hong Kong-based Amun Capital and GMO Venture Partners from Japan. It takes the startup at $40 million pre-money, and takes it to $10 million from investors to date. 2C2P is not one of the most prominent startups in Asia. You are unlikely to find CEO Aung Kyaw Moe on the regional event circuit — he’s “busy running a business.” Yet his story and the rise of the company itself is not your average one. The business began in 2003 when Moe, who is from Myanmar but lives in Bangkok, tired of his programming job at a corporate bank. Having excelled and won prizes at regional coding events, he figured he could pursue … [Read more...] about 2C2P Raises $7M To Bridge The Payment Gap In Southeast Asia

Crank it up Including Indonesia, the fourth most populated country in the world. Jason England 6 Nov 2019 0 Source: Joe Maring / Android CentralWhat you need to know YouTube Premium and Music are expanding to seven new regions in Asia this month. The new regions include Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. With YouTube Premium, you get access to ad-free videos, offline playback, and background play. Google is continuing its expansion of YouTube Premium and Music this month by adding seven new regions in Asia. That's one less than its last expansion back in September when eight new countries joined the list — making the service available in over 70 countries in total. This month's expansion adds some of Asia's most prominent locations, including Indonesia which is the fourth most populated country in the world. To put that in perspective, the U.S. is currently ranked third, making Indonesia a prime new market for YouTube … [Read more...] about YouTube Premium and Music expand to seven new regions in Asia

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will create a central registry to monitor digitalpayments related frauds on a real-time basis to improve consumer confidence in the digital channel, helping achieve New Delhi’s objective of building a less-cash economy. The proposed registry, apart from improving monitoring standards and analysis of the frauds, would also help the central bank collate periodic data for customer awareness, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said. “In order to carry forward these efforts and ensure quick and systemic responses, it is proposed to facilitate the creation of a Central Payment Fraud Registry that will track these frauds,” Das said. “Payment system participants will be provided access to this registry for near-real time fraud monitoring. The aggregated fraud data will be published to educate customers on emerging risks.” A detailed framework on the proposed registry would be released by the regulators in October, the governor … [Read more...] about RBI has a new ‘plan’ to counter online banking frauds