BBS JULY 18

BUSINESS SUPPLEMENT
SOUTHEAST ASIAN BUSINESS ROUNDUP
Singapore
Singapore has built a mini town which
is being used to deploy driverless public
transport. The two-hectare complex, which
opened last November, has intersections,
traffic lights, bus stops and pedestrian crossings,
all built to the specifications that Singapore
uses for its public roads. There’s a small
hill to check how well vehicle sensors perform
when they can’t see directly ahead, mock skyscrapers
to mimic the radio interference from
tall buildings and a rain machine to simulate
the frequent tropical downpours.
The advantage for the city-state is that the
test circuit, and the information provided by
companies vying to put driverless buses on
Singapore’s streets, is helping it build an unrivaled
database of information on the challenges
and solutions that would allow the government
to introduce the technology safely.
The data being gathered should allow the
government to draft regulations for autonomous
vehicles by the second half of this year.
Indonesia
Go-Jek has been offered the equivalent
of around US$1 billion of new funding
from existing investors eager to accelerate its
overseas expansion. Current backers including
Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s biggest
internet firm, and Warburg Pincus have informally
discussed providing more funding to
ensure Go-Jek’s first forays outside its home
market are successful.
The Jakarta-based startup recently raised
funds from investors including Google, Singapore
state investment company Temasek
Holdings Pte and Chinese online shopping giant
JD.com Inc. Go-Jek’s latest funding round
brought in about $1.5 billion of new capital
and valued the company at roughly $5 billion.
Go-Jek said it will invest $500 million to expand
its ride-hailing and other services to
Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines,
taking advantage of Uber Technologies
Inc.’s pullout from Southeast Asia. Go-Jek
started as an app to book motorbike taxis. It’s
since added services that allow users to pay
bills, order food and buy movie tickets.
Vietnam
CyberAgent-backed Jupviec.vn, a
Vietnam-based household service startup,
has raised an undisclosed investment from
San Francisco-based impact investor Patamar
Capital. This is the second fundraising of
Jupviec.com since it snapped up a six-digit
seed funding from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures
in 2015. With the funding the company
will expand the model to other provinces, not
just Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Founded in
late 2012, Jupviec.vn, dubbed the “Uber for
maids” in Vietnam, currently serves more
than 10,000 customers in Hanoi through its
network of around 3,000 housemaids.
Myanmar
Mytel, Myanmar’s fourth telecom operator,
officially launched its services in the
country on 9 June and now offers 80 percent
of 2G and 4G network coverage in the
country. Telecom International Myanmar
Company Limited, the company behind Mytel,
is a joint venture between Myanmar government-owned
Star High Public Co Ltd, the
MTNH consortium comprising 11 Myanmar
companies, and Vietnamese telecom company
Viettel.
Viettel, which is backed by Vietnam’s defence
ministry, owns a 49 percent stake in the joint
venture while the Myanmar consortium holds
23 percent. Star High Public owns the remaining
28 percent. Star High Public is backed by
Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), a
conglomerate operated by the military.
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