All eyes on Vietnam’s $370m ‘new retail’ group

More: Reliance Retail could plow ahead with Future Group deal [Read from your browser]( Daily Newsletter Hello {NAME} If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught me, it’s adapting to uncertainty - whether to new working arrangements, the sudden loss of income, or something else. The recently concluded Tech in Asia Conference marked our first hybrid event - other businesses, too, have revisited their business models to maintain an edge. In Vietnam, a “new retail” group called Ficus has been quietly making waves, and one Alibaba-backed fund is listening. Today we look at, - How this Vietnam retail group [attracted an Alibaba-backed fund’s interest]( - Why Tencent is backing a Chinese esports startup for US$100 million - Other newsy highlights such as Reliance Retail’s plans to plow ahead in acquiring Future Group and Ant Group’s goal to raise a record US$34.5 billion in its dual IPO  ---------------------------------------------------------------  PREMIUM SUMMARY  Alibaba-backed fund bets US$50 million on this “new retail” group You may not have heard of Ficus, but [an Alibaba-backed fund has](. Ficus is a Vietnam-owned, Singapore-registered company which holds interests across retail, logistics, and technology ventures. It’s also a “new retail” group, a term coined by Jack Ma to describe how the online and offline shopping experience has merged for consumers. So why does this Alibaba-backed fund think the company holds such promise? - A calculated venture: Ficus’ inception was far from a shot in the dark. The company is headed by chairman Anh Huan Dinh - the brains behind Vietnam’s leading electronics retailer Thegioididong (Mobile World) - and CEO Hoanh Tien Nguyen, who previously served as vice president of operations and ecommerce at VNG, Vietnam’s first unicorn. - Smart money: Ficus’ estimated worth stands at US$370 million. And, according to filings seen by Tech in Asia, it recently bagged US$50 million courtesy of Redefine Capital Fund. The latter is the Singapore entity of EWTP Capital, an Alibaba- and Ant Financial-backed fund whose chief financial officer is Dawei Jiang. Jiang happens to also be a director at Ficus. - Everything’s coming up Alibaba: The ties only get more complex: EWTP shares its name with eWTP (electronic world trading platform), an initiative proposed by Jack Ma in 2016 to hasten the inclusion of small enterprises in digital cross-border trade. EWTP Capital is chaired by Alibaba veteran Yongfu Yu, the founder of mobile internet browser company UCWeb. Read more: [Alibaba-backed fund bets $50m on Vietnam ‘new retail’ group](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUP SPOTLIGHT Esports’ unstoppable growth in China Chinese esports startup VSPN (Versus Programming Network) [has won big]( banking almost US$100 million in a series B funding round led by Tencent. Other investors include Tiantu Capital, Susquehanna International Group, and Kuaishou, with Lighthouse Capital acting as a financial advisor for VSPN. - An esports pioneer: The Shanghai-based platform was founded in 2016, making it one of the pioneers in the esports scene. Beyond its ventures in esports commercialization and offline venue operation, VSPN allows gamers to hold and join esports tournaments and build an audience through content creation. - Vote of confidence: Tencent hopes to organize more esports competitions in conjunction with tournament organizers like VSPN. That’s according to Mark Ren, chief operating officer at the video game conglomerate. - Room for growth: With the fresh boost of capital, VSPN plans to establish an esports research institution and expand globally. It’s also looking to build an esports short-form video ecosystem, improve its content creation capabilities, and reach more gamers through different channels. Read more: [Chinese esports startup VSPN bags $100m in Tencent-led round](  --------------------------------------------------------------- IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Winning that pitch game in the virtual world “Presenting in front of a screen is the most fun experience!” said no one ever. Talking to a screen is lonely and you can’t gauge your audience’s response. Heck, you don’t even know if they’re listening or playing Among Us on their phones. But when your startup’s growth is dependent on that online pitch, you just have to make it work. That said, how can you succeed when you don’t know what works or what captures an investor’s attention? Gavin Teo, general partner of Altara Ventures, will teach you in Tech in Asia’s [first-ever interactive workshop]( where he shares the art of pitching in this digital world. You will learn the secret to VC financing for all funding stages as well as bring home a downloadable sheet with all the most important information. Check out [Pitching to VCs in a virtual world]( that’s happening next Friday, November 6, and see how it can help you level up your online pitch game.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  QUICK BITES  1️⃣ Reliance Retail could plow ahead with Future Group deal [In a statement]( released on October 25, Reliance Retail shared its plans to acquire Future Group for US$3.4 billion, saying the deal is fully enforceable under Indian law. This follows ecommerce giant Amazon’s brief victory in the Singapore arbitration court that ordered for a temporary stop to the proposed deal between the two Indian retail companies.  2️⃣ SoftBank-backed biotech firm eyes Southeast Asia market Guardant Health, a SoftBank-backed biotech firm, will open its first lab in Japan in early 2021, marking its expansion into Asia. The company [has developed]( a diagnostic platform that can detect the mutations behind a patient’s cancer within a week. The tool uses machine learning to analyze data and could open doors to personalized treatment and medicine for the disease.  3️⃣ Genesia Ventures closes new US$75 million fund Genesia Ventures has reached the [final closing]( of its second fund at US$75 million, which will be used to invest in seed- and early-stage startups in Japan and Southeast Asia. This follows the VC firm’s first close of its second fund in January 2019, which raised a total of US$45 million out of its US$80 million target.  4️⃣ US maintains the need to ban TikTok The Trump administration is pressing on in its [plans to ban]( social network TikTok, citing national security concerns. This emerged in a new court filing requesting that the Chinese-owned app be blocked in the US from November 12. TikTok maintains that its servers store user information in the US and Singapore and that no data transfers are made to the Chinese government.  5️⃣ Samsung Group shares jump, following its chairman’s death Shares of companies under the Samsung Group climbed, amid speculation that the family-controlled conglomerate [may increase dividends]( in order to help the heirs of Lee Kun-hee, the late chairman, cope with inheritance taxes.  6️⃣ Ant Group on track to set record IPO Ant Group is set to raise US$34.5 billion in November, in what would be the [world’s biggest initial public offering](. If successful, the move would put the Chinese fintech giant ahead of state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, which raised a then-record US$29.4 billion in January this year. Ant Group intends to equally split its stock issuance between Shanghai and Hong Kong, with roughly 1.7 billion shares in each location.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING - 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]( - The Best Practices in Fintech Security and Compliance That You Can’t Ignore on Thursday, November 5 Are you on top of current fintech regulations and compliance rules? To learn how to navigate this challenging landscape, join experts from Amazon Web Services and leading fintech company 2C2P in a guided panel discussion on November 5. [RSVP today]( - Pitching to VCs in a virtual world on Friday, November 6 In today’s landscape, we will see more meetings, events and VC pitches going online. How do you nail that pitch when you’re actually talking to a screen? [Join us]( to learn about the Art of Pitching in this digital world, by Gavin Teo, General Partner of Altara Ventures.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  WHO'S HIRING - [Account/ Project Manager (Digital)]( at AiChat (Singapore, Singapore) - [Transport Management]( at Ritase (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [Product Researcher]( at Ruangguru.com (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 kopi. Today’s edition is written by Rebecca Liew, with contributions from Terence Lee and Miguel Cordon. 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