A Midas-listed VC is bullish about “payments highway”

More: Lalamove heads to the West and the Vision Fund may evolve into a SPAC [Read from your browser]( Daily Newsletter Hello {NAME} Once upon a time, transferring money from country to country was a pain. Today, with the rise of mobile wallets and banking apps, cross-border payments have...continued to be a pain. But here comes the good part: Singapore-based Thunes is solving this problem, and its clients already include Grab and Singtel. Today we look at, - The startup that’s unifying the [world’s payments systems]( - The ecommerce fight between Amazon vs. Reliance Retail - Other newsy highlights such as Lalamove making its entry in the West and SoftBank going SPAC  ---------------------------------------------------------------  PREMIUM SUMMARY  Pay attention to this payments startup Linking up every e-wallet and bank sounds good for us consumers. But for financial organizations, it’s a lot of work - it’s expensive, takes up a lot of resources, and requires a bunch of government licences. So fintech startup Thunes is [taking up this responsibility]( instead. - Thunes’ special power: The company helps customers to carry out cross-border business payments, send mass payouts to global partners, process remittances, and issue virtual accounts in various countries. It is reported to have made US$8.9 million and lost US$6.9 million in 2019 while doing so. - On board the cross-payment train: The company has roughly 400 partners in its network to date. One of them being Grab, which uses Thunes’ application programming interface to send mass payouts to its drivers in Indonesia through banks, mobile wallets, and cash-out options. - Making payment easy is not easy: To make all the above a reality, convincing regulators is crucial. But conversations with these parties can be unpredictable, and cross-border money transfers are vulnerable to money laundering and terrorism financing risks to boot. Read more: [Thunes is building a superhighway to unify the world’s payments systems](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUP SPOTLIGHT The ecommerce fight between Amazon and Reliance Retail One and a half months ago, India's largest retailer Reliance Retail announced that it was going to acquire Future Group — a conglomerate that owns popular supermarket chains like Big Bazaar and other lifestyle stores — in a deal worth over US$3.3 billion. This would give Reliance a major boost in the ecommerce space. But Amazon has cried foul: It sent a legal notice to Future Group [calling a halt]( to the deal. - What’s up with the deal? The acquisition is one of the biggest in India this year — it would give Reliance Retail access to over 1,800 stores spread across over 420 cities. The deal also includes Future Group’s own retail and wholesale business, as well as its logistics and warehousing arm. - Amazon has the right to refuse: The US based ecommerce giant actually holds a 3.58% stake in Future Retail, the flagship brand of Future Group. Last year, Amazon had spent US$205 million to acquire a 49% stake in Future Coupons which gives it a hold of the 3.58% stake in Future Retail, giving it the right of first refusal to buy more stakes in the unit. - A piece of the pie, please? Amazon’s legal notice could also be its way to acquire a stake in Reliance Retail. Just last month, the US giant had expressed interest to [acquire a 40% stake]( in Reliance Retail. That said, no deal was concluded. Read more: [Amazon vs. Reliance Retail: First shots fired in the Indian ecommerce battle](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  QUICK BITES  1️⃣ Lalamove’s journey to the West The Hong Kong-based on-demand delivery service provider has [launched its services]( in the US. Lalamove claims that it offers one of the lowest starting prices in the market for an intracity same-day delivery service at US$8.90.  2️⃣ The US$11 billion game-streaming merger Chinese game-streaming platform Huya [will be acquiring]( all the outstanding shares of its rival Douyu to create a new game-streaming giant. This will give China’s tech giant Tencent a 67.5% stake over the new entity, as it is the biggest shareholder of Huya and also owns portions of Douyu stock.  3️⃣ SoftBank’s Vision Fund goes SPAC A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), also known as a blank-check company, is the new thing in the investor space. The model, which sees companies formed for the sole purpose of raising an IPO and acquiring other firms, has caught SoftBank's attention. The Japanese investment giant may be getting outside funds and contributing out of its own pocket to [set up this unusual fundraising vehicle](.  4️⃣ A new player in Vietnam’s crowded e-wallet space Established in 2015, AppotaPay has recently [received a license]( from the State Bank of Vietnam. With this, there are now a total of 39 licensed e-wallet players in the country. The fintech startup claims to have 55 million users which would make it a competitor against VNG’s popular messaging app Zalo which has [52 million]( monthly active users.  5️⃣ US pension fund backs Tencent’s early investor The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System will be [allocating]( US$50 million to Asia Alternatives Capital Partners VI, as well as up to US$75 million to Hillhouse Fund V and the Hillhouse Focused Growth Fund. Hillhouse, the parent firm of these funds, is the early backer of tech giant Tencent, ecommerce giant JD.com, and search engine Baidu.  6️⃣ Ninjacart gets more money The Indian fresh produce supply chain startup will be receiving its [second round of joint investment]( from ecommerce startup Flipkart and its US-based parent Walmart. The joint investment amounts to US$30 million. This comes after Ninjacart’s [US$10 million investment]( from Flipkart and Singapore-based GEC3 last December.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Behind the founders who kept on building through the pandemic 2020 has not been the best year for startups. Some have [succeeded]( but many have [shuttered](. And despite the region’s startups raking in a total of over [US$1.7 billion in funding]( last week, most of this has gone to big players like India’s Reliance Retail. So how do founders deal with all these challenges? We talk to two founders to find out. Join us on Wednesday, October 14 at our [Tech in Asia Conference]( session. There, Willson Cuaca, co-founder and managing partner of East Ventures, will have one-on-one conversations with these founders to find out their stories - from the businesses they are building to the challenges they have faced. Psst, by the way, the crew is giving out S$15 meal vouchers for the first 150 attendees who join for the entirety of Office Hour, so don't miss out! So get [your tickets today]( or if you’re already a Core or Live subscriber, you can [join the event]( for free. ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING - Tech in Asia Virtual Conference from October 19 to 22. Our biggest annual event has everything you need to prepare for Southeast Asia’s golden age: Expert panel discussions with founders, decision-makers, and investors, startup-investor speed dating, and networking sessions to connect with those who matter. [RSVP here]( or if you’re already a Core or Live subscriber, you can [join the event]( for free. - Meet the Fintech Firms Shaping the Future of Finance on Wednesday, October 28 The future of finance seems to be in the hands of the fintech innovators, though this lead wasn’t exactly handed to them. Hear from the chief technology officers defining this future as we explore fintech trends over the next 12 to 18 months and the infrastructure required to make them a reality. [RSVP now.]( - CTO Forum - Smart Growth: Best Practices for Rapid-Scaling on Thursday, October 29 Engineering leaders, you’re in luck! We’ve brought in engineering leaders from Sequoia Capital India, TradeGecko, and Amazon Web Services to share their best practices in scaling their engineering teams. You can [sign up to attend here](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  WHO'S HIRING - [Senior Solutions Architect]( at Yojee (Singapore, Singapore) - [Data Engineer]( at Pintek (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [Product ManagerÂ]( Stockbit (Jakarta, Indonesia)  --------------------------------------------------------------- Don’t leave your co-workers behind! Share this with them so that they can keep up with what’s going on in the region’s tech scene. Feel free to [drop us feedback]( if our newsletter today got you feeling smarter (or if it didn’t). Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good coffee. Today’s edition is written by Betty Chum, with contributions from Katrina Balmaceda and Collin Furtado. It’s edited by Jaclyn Teng. To ensure that you don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis, add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](. ---------------------------------------------------------------  Copyright © 2020 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 51 Bras Basah Rd, #05-5061, Singapore 189554