The other big news from Asia is Ant Financial’s opening of its  first staff-less retail store at its headquarters in Hangzhou

Uber CEO to visit Japan, India in Feb on charm offensive [Reuters]

Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi will make his first visit to Asia next month as the new head looks to improve the image of the controversial ride-sharing firm in the region.

Khosrowshahi will visit Japan and India in the week of Feb. 19 to meet with high-ranking government officials, regulators, business partners and employees, an Uber spokesman said.

“Asia is an important region for Uber, and a focus for our investment in 2018 and beyond,” the spokesman said, adding that Khosrowshahi plans to discuss “ways Uber can better serve riders, drivers and cities”.

tryb Group, a Singaporean fintech platform, raises US$30M to invest in companies [e27]

tryb Group, a Singapore-based fintech platform to help connect capital markets, announced today it has raised a US$30 million round from Makara Innovation Fund, a private equity firm also based in the city.

tryb is a tech-based finance company that plans to use the money to either acquire or invest in startups with the end goal of connecting lending, micro-credit and trade finance companies with global capital funds (large investment institutions).

Alibaba’s Ant Financial Opens Unmanned Store in Hangzhou [Yicai Global]

Alibaba Group’s fintech arm Ant Financial Services has opened its first staffless retail store at its headquarters in Hangzhou, just a few days after its counterpart Tencent Holdings Ltd. debuted an unmanned outlet in Shanghai.

Ant Financial is using the outlet, dubbed WithAnt, as a testing lab for new unstaffed retail technology, online news outlet TechWeb reported.

Visitors to Ant Financial’s shop, which sells branded company merchandise, scan a QR code linked to mobile payment system Alipay when entering. Sensors on shelves records prices of items that visitors choose and automatically charges the amount when they leave the store.

Malaysian startup StoreHub raises US$5.1M in Series A round led by Vertex Ventures [e27]

Malaysia-based retail solutions startup StoreHub has raised a US$5.1 million funding in a Series A round led by Vertex Ventures. Participating investors include Cradle Seed Ventures, Accord Ventures and Fintonia.

StoreHub will use the newly-raised money to expand its presence in Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, as well as reach into new markets across the region.

In addition, it intends to double its team — currently 80 — by the end of the year, spend more on marketing as well as develop new product feature to help brick-and-mortar retailers expand their online presence.

Cirtek acquires 49% in payment solutions firm Multipay [DealStreetAsia]

Listed technology firm Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp.has concluded the purchase of a 49 percent stake in Multipay Corporation, a provider of back-end and front-end payment solutions, Cirtek told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Cirtek paid Php100 million (US$1.96 million) to acquire 441,000 shares or equivalent to 49 per cent of the total issued and outstanding capital stock of Multipay. The share purchase agreement was signed on Wednesday.
Cirtek Group President and Vice Chairman Roberto Jaunchito Dispo said the company’s investment in Multipay “signals our entry into the fast-growing ecommerce and fintech space.

Indonesia studying Bitcoin’s use in investment [The Jakarta Post]

Although Bitcoin has been declared an illegal payment and transaction instrument in the country, the government is still considering the cryptocurrency’s use as an investment instrument, the Trade Ministry’s Futures Exchange Supervisory Board (Bappebti) has said.

“Using Bitcoin as a payment instrument is prohibited, but how about using it as an investment instrument? Is this allowed or not?” Bappebti head Bachrul Chairi said on Tuesday in Jakarta, as reported by kompas.com.

You can now tie foreign credit cards to your WeChat Pay account [Medium.com]

Internet conglomerate Tencent has announced that you will finally be able to bind major international credit cards to China’s ultra-popular mobile payment system.

However, the catch is that this will only work for users who downloaded WeChat in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan. If you have that version of the app, then you’ll be able to link up credit cards — not debit cards — from MasterCard, Visa, and JCB to your WeChat Pay account.

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