Overseas:
1. Amazon announced that it was raising its minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour.
2. Amazon’s IMDB tipped in plan to launch free video streaming service
4. Kraft Heinz starts a food-technology vc fund with 100 million, called Evolv Ventures
5. Microsoft suspends Windows 10 update, citing data loss reports
6. Facebook Messenger internally tests voice commands for chat, calls
7. Magic Leap buys mesh-computing startup Computes
8. Siilo injects $5.1M to try to transplant WhatsApp use in hospitals
9. Forward Health, the healthcare messaging app, scores $3.9M led by Stride.VC
10. Instagram launches scannable Nametags, tests school networks for teen growth
11. ZipRecruiter picks up $156M, now at a $1B valuation, for its AI-based job-finding marketplace
12. Upwork, an online marketplace connecting freelancers with clients, made its stock market debut.
13. Sequoia Capital led a $9.5 million Series A round in automated translation platform Lilt.
14. Amazon quietly launched a new ‘accelerator’ program to create more exclusive brands for its website
15. Toyota, SoftBank to partner in future car technologies
China:
1. Tencent Music, China’s largest streaming service with 800M users, files for US IPO
2. Tencent confirmed that they would invest USD 318million in bilibili
3. Tencent partner Dmall.com opens new offline digital retail site Wumart (物美) in Beijing
4. AI platform Yun Cong Technology 云从科技 closed B+ round, paving the way for IPO
Cross-border:
1. SoftBank close to pouring $500m into Grab
2. Tencent backs fintech firm Voyager to set up battle with Alibaba in the Philippines
3. Uber pedals into Europe’s bike-sharing market, as Ofo and Mobike pull out after vandalism issues
4. Indonesia becomes Google’s eight cloud region in APAC
5. Creative Ventures closes US$50 million to link Silicon Valley and Southeast Asia
Blockchain:
1. Overstock’s investment arm funded blockchain for wine
2. Blockchain VCs got together to invest US$20M in Singaporean AI Grid Foundation
Emerging Market:
Indonesia’s KinerjaPay to acquire digital payments firm Mitra Distribusi Utama
Cover picture credits from TechCrunch