From Baidu to Meituan, Chinese tech firms to donate millions to support the fight against coronavirus [South China Morning Post]
The recent outbreak of the mutated coronavirus in Wuhan, China has prompted many Chinese tech giants to pledge to donate the cause for fighting the virus.
Among the big guns are Qihoo 360, which pledged to donate US$2.2 million in medical resources while AI firm iFlyTek said it donated US$1.4 million and US$72,000 worth of medical supplies, as reported by South China Morning Post.
Search firm Baidu and food-delivery platform Meituan also have pledged millions of yuan towards medical research, supplies, and support for frontline health care workers in the battle against the coronavirus epidemic.
Baidu, specifically, said that it had established a US$43 million epidemic and public health security fund to “support efforts including screening and research and development (R&D) for cures of diseases such as the new coronavirus, as well as for longer-term efforts such as public health and safety information dissemination”.
Meituan also set up a separate US$29 million fund dedicated to caring for the nation’s medical staff. Initially, it will focus on assisting medical staff in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, with funds going toward medical resources, humanitarian help, and ensuring that medical staff is supported in their daily lives.
Alibaba Health, Alibaba’s health care arm, has made its telemedicine services available to residents of Hubei, the area most affected by the plague, encouraging patients who have minor illnesses to consult online doctors for free as hospitals in the area feel the strain.
Also Read: Together with Ping An, GrabHealth starts to show its teeth in Indonesia
Online healthcare Pingan Good Doctor also set up an antivirus command centre with access to free online consultations for all users in China.
After announcing a lockdown for a country-wide quarantine, battles to contain the spread of the virus continue, which has so far caused some 80 deaths with 2,800 confirmed cases in the country.
UK welcomes Huawei to build 5G network’s parts despite US security concerns [Wall Street Journal]
Chinese telecom company Huawei is given permission to build noncritical parts of the network in the UK, ignoring Trump’s call to boycott the telecom-equipment vendor stressing on security matters, as reported by Wall Street Journal.
The government has said that Huawei would be given permission to build noncritical parts of the country’s 5G network because Britain’s National Security Council concluded that the security risks the Chinese company presented could be managed.
The security matters in question are that the equipment provided by Huawei could be used by the Chinese state to spy on countries or incapacitate key infrastructure. Huawei denied the rumours.
“Nothing in this review affects this country’s ability to share highly sensitive intelligence data over highly secure networks, both within the U.K., and with our partners,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.
Many countries are expected to make a decision whether or not they will employ Huawei for its 5G network building, including Germany and Canada.
The UK’s way to contain every possible scenario with Huawei is by banning the company’s equipment from centralised parts of the 5G infrastructure that route data across the network, as well as sensitive locations such as near military and nuclear installations. Huawei will only be allowed to provide more peripheral equipment—such as base stations and antennae that connect the core to consumers’ devices—that is viewed as less of a security risk.
Singapore’s Temasek invests in French DIY home improvement startup ManoMano [SWF Institute]
Singapore’s Temasek Holdings announces that it has led a US$138 million Series E funding round in ManoMano, an e-commerce startup in France aimed at DIY (Do-it-yourself) home improvement and gardening products.
Also Read: The top Chinese smartphone brand, Huawei, just launched a mobile payment service
Other investors in the round are General Atlantic, Eurazeo, Piton Capital, Bpifrance, and Kismet Holdings.
Formed in 2013 by Philippe de Chanville and Christian Raisson, ManoMano has presences in markets other than France, such as in Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. ManoMano raised US$121 million on April 1, 2019. ManoMano Fulfillment is the company’s logistics platform based in Gretz, which was recently launched in November 2018.
Malaysian BigPay adds 3 new international remittance service corridors [Press Release]
BigPay, ASEAN-focussed fintech startup based in Malaysia announces that it has added three new corridors to its international remittance service: India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The company explained the decision to have access to the three countries is because these three countries have the highest number of foreign workers in Malaysia right after Indonesia, and the amount for some of the highest numbers of outbound remittances in the country.
BigPay’s mission is to democratise financial services across the region by offering a low-cost and accessible way of transferring money to and from these countries is a cornerstone of BigPay and its financial inclusion strategy.
Also Read: Temasek teams up with Swiss firm to launch a US$50M logistics fund in Singapore
BigPay launched its international remittance services in September 2019, enabling users to send money directly from Malaysia to bank accounts in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with fixed fees per corridor and competitive exchange rates.
The company said it is currently working on cash pickups in selected markets.
Singapore-based startup SynOption launches FX options trading venue [Press Release]
Singapore-based startup SynOption Pte. Ltd. launched its platform for electronic trading of FX Options this week. An institutional platform, it allows investors to execute FX Options trades by requesting quotes from multiple banks on a centralised venue.
SynOption claimed to be the first firm approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to establish and operate an organised market for a period of 9 months under the Sandbox express framework. The firm has also been awarded a grant by MAS Financial Sector Development Fund as a designated special project.
“SynOption attempts to build a fair platform for trade execution for all participants in the niche FX Options market. We provide an efficient workflow to clients, by getting involved in their entire investment process from idea to implementation while protecting liquidity for banks in an illiquid space,” said SynOption’s founder, Anchal Jain.
SynOption has started onboarding Institutional clients based in Singapore and has gained good traction. The platform has signed up top-tiered banks up as liquidity providers and is rapidly looking to expand its participant base in the next few months.
–
The post Today’s top tech news: Multiple Chinese tech firms rallies to donate the fight against coronavirus appeared first on e27.