Lazada mafia’s nascent but growing network

Check out our top articles for the week [Read from your browser]( Top Stories of The Week Hello {NAME} , I’m not a sports fan, but I’ve dabbled in startups long enough to know that business is a team sport. And as with any team sport, not every player is going to stay when management changes hands. Some may depart because of a conflict of beliefs and egos. Others, whose contracts are about to expire, have more practical reasons to up and leave. Many in the Lazada mafia would likely resonate with these reasons. Although members of the company’s alumni network were behind several high-profile startups as early as 2012, the scale of the group truly skyrocketed after Alibaba’s acquisition of Lazada in 2016. Several characteristics distinguish the Lazada mafia from others. For one, the companies in the network are very young. Our analysis found that 73% of Lazada alumni startups were founded after the Alibaba acquisition. Most of them are also in the pre-series and series A stages. Second, the group is striking out on its own path. Unlike the Alibaba mafia which rode the same waves as the Chinese tech giant, most Lazada alumni startups are venturing into industries that Lazada does not have a presence in. These proteges may no longer play for team Lazada, but that doesn’t mean they’ve shaken off all ties with the ecommerce major. Some, like Una Brands and Branded Group, are leveling the ecommerce playing field for Lazada-affiliated merchants, and others may help realize the ecommerce firm’s bigger aspirations yet. -- Tay Tian Wen, journalist at Tech in Asia --------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES THIS WEEK 1. [A closer look at the Lazada mafia]( Lazada alumni have founded hundreds of startups, but it’s questionable how well the ecommerce firm can tap into this network. 2. [Sea could be massive in the metaverse if it wants to be]( Sea’s dominance in gaming and ecommerce, its big bet on finance and payments, and its wager on crypto make it a potentially formidable metaverse player. 3. [Mapping the key players in Indonesian proptech]( Many leading players are subsidiaries of larger regional companies, but a number of homegrown startups are coming up. 4. [The hidden alliances between SEA’s VCs, uncovered (2021 edition)]( Southeast Asian VCs are buddying up more, but newcomers look set to disrupt their relationships. 5. [The Amazon-Visa stand-off: What’s the endgame?]( Amazon’s ban on Visa credit cards in the UK is a sign that the power balance between merchants, banks, and payment firms is shifting. 6. [Can JD.com make a splash in SEA?]( As China’s JD.com ramps up its regional push, its first-party logistics play could be a game changer. 7. [This deck raised $9m for ex-BBC strategist’s news audio startup]( Curio includes content from the likes of The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Financial Times. 8. [Visual: The hefty cost of credit card payments]( Ever wondered what goes behind the three seconds it takes for your card transaction to be approved? 9. [Grab settles with ex-staffers in Vietnam as shares drop]( Grab says that it has reached a settlement with most ex-staffers in Vietnam following a dispute over their shares in the company. 10. [This deck got emoji startup a 👍from investors for $1.5m seed money]( MojiLaLa is backed by 500 Global (formerly 500 Startups) and was part of the VC's Batch 19 cohort in 2016. --------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS HAPPENING You can check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- WHO'S HIRING [logo] [Software Engineer (Front End)]( at Tech in Asia Singapore, Singapore SGD 4,000 – 6,000 [logo] [Senior Data Analyst]( at JAC Recruitment Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia IDR 20,000,000 – 25,000,000 [logo] [Head of Marketing]( at DataOn Corp Tangerang, Indonesia IDR 15,000,000 – 25,000,000 [logo] [UI/UX Designer]( at Deliveree Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia IDR 7,000,000 – 8,000,000 [logo] [Android Developer]( at Laku6 (Rebonics) Jakarta, Indonesia [logo] [Agile Product Owner]( at Komodo Jakarta, Indonesia IDR 8,000,000 – 14,000,000 [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. 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. Too many emails? Switch to a different frequency or get new content through our [preference center]( or [unsubscribe](. You can also break our hearts and remove yourself from all Tech in Asia emails over [here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good kopi. Copyright © 2021 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894