Scam registration

Melita BreenPress Releases

The SIM Card Registration Act isn’t working. You, me and perhaps everyone we know continue to get text messages and random calls from unidentified numbers. The scammers, it seems, have even gone international. There are now so many calls from international numbers, offering this and that. So while the online gaming and cockfighting messages have eased, other types of messages …

Vietnam grapples with shrinking exports, power crunch

Janette BarraPress Releases

HO CHI MINH CITY — The Vietnamese economy is facing multiple headwinds, including shrinking exports and frequent blackouts, raising concerns over the outlook for Southeast Asia’s rising manufacturing hub. One of Asia’s fastest-growing economies in recent years, Vietnam’s gross domestic product expanded 8% in 2022, with global companies investing in the country as an alternative production base to China. It …

Investor worries tagged as net FDI drops 30.7%

Melita BreenPress Releases

NET foreign direct investments (FDI) plunged in March, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Tuesday, dropping by 30.7 percent to $548 million from $792 million a year earlier. The central bank attributed the decline to “lower net inflows across all major FDI components amid investor concerns over subdued global growth prospects.” Net investments in debt instruments, which accounted for …

Spotlight Singapore to connect startups in Singapore, Vietnam through arts and culture

Janette BarraPress Releases

THE eighth edition of Singapore’s cultural diplomacy platform, Spotlight Singapore, is set to take place in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from Oct 19 to Oct 23 this year. Spotlight Singapore was launched in 2006, as a means of fostering mutual understanding and business exchanges between Singapore and the world’s growth-leading economies through arts and culture. Past editions have …

PHL needs more investment in IT training, open business ecosystem — experts

Melita BreenPress Releases

THE PHILIPPINES needs to invest more in enhanced educational programs, an open business ecosystem, and digital infrastructure to become a more competitive regional hub for information technology (IT) talent, according to experts. Japanese technology firm Sansan, Inc. said that the Philippines is actively attracting and supporting global IT companies through its high-level IT education and a large pool of talented …

East Ventures backs SG microbiome firm bound for Indonesia

Janette BarraPress Releases

Amili, a Singapore-based gut microbiome company, has raised an undisclosed sum from East Ventures in a new funding round. The fresh funds will be used for its expansion to Indonesia, focusing on addressing gut health issues specific to the local context. Funding details Funding amount: Undisclosed Lead investor: East Ventures Stage: Bridge Source Amili’s current offerings include gut microbiome sequencing …

Asian startups are rising to the financing challenge

Janette BarraPress Releases

Just when it looked like the largest of Southeast Asia’s internet firms was yet another poster child of cheap money, a bubbly startup that had grown too much too fast, Sea Ltd.’s top executives took an ax to costs. They closed down some Latin American operations, cut jobs, sacrificed their own salaries and squeezed nearly $500 million out of the …

Crypto startup co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman raises US$115 million

Janette BarraPress Releases

A CRYPTO startup co-founded by OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman has raised new funding to further its mission of providing a digital ID for everyone on the planet. Tools for Humanity, the company behind the cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, said on Thursday (May 25) that it had raised US$115 million from investors. The startup aims to create separate IDs for …

SG launches program to nurture AI talent in finance

Janette BarraPress Releases

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched a talent development program for the financial sector, involving artificial intelligence and data analytics (AIDA). The initiative is aimed at increasing “the supply of AIDA talent to build deep AI capabilities” in finance, the authority said in a statement on Monday. The government has set up a consortium where financial and training …

Former investor darling GLP is now sliding into distress in Asia

Janette BarraPress Releases

MAJOR Asian logistics operator GLP was for years sought after by investors, both when it first went public over a decade ago and then when the company was for sale. But sentiment has darkened more recently, with its investment-grade dollar bonds the worst performers in Asia this year and the firm at risk of being downgraded to junk territory. Of …