Messaging service Snapchat is now valued at $15 billion, a $5 billion increase over its last funding round in 2014, which was led by Kleiner Perkins and Yahoo! and which left the startup with a valuation around $10 billion. China’s e-commerce powerhouse has dropped $200...
For all its explosive growth, especially in Southeast Asia and other emerging markets, not everything Rocket Internet touches turns to gold. On Wednesday (March 11), Rocket said it will shut down its consumer-to-consumer marketplace Lamido and merge its 2,500-plus merchants into a larger Rocket e-commerce...
Samsung has gotten some much needed good news after the disappointing sales run of the Galaxy 5 phone, according to Shin Jong-Kyun, Samsung’s Chief of Mobile. “Pre-orders of the two Galaxy variants from our major clients are really huge,” Jong-Kyun told reporters. While Samsung didn’t get...
China is one step closer to launching its international cross-border yuan payments system, reported Reuters, which cited unnamed sources who indicated the move could occur as soon as September or October. China International Payment System (CIPS as it’s referred to) is currently ready, according to the...
Samsung won’t be charging anyone for Samsung Pay when it rolls out the mobile payment service in Korea — not card issuing banks and not payment processors, Business Korea reported on Monday (March 9). That could set the stage for a fee-free U.S. version of...
South Korea has officially cut off the use of magnetic-stripe payment cards for getting cash at ATMs, according to English-language newspaper, The Korea Herald. However, in reality there will still be at least one ATM at every banking center that can handle mag-stripe cards until...
Amazon is pushing its expansion into China through a somewhat unexpected channel. The U.S.’s biggest e-commerce player has opened a flagship store in an online market of its Chinese counterpart – Alibaba Group Holding’s online marketplace. Located in Tmall, Amazon’s new offering is so far...
Alibaba has got its hands into another investment — and this time it’s putting $316 million into a startup that helps Taiwanese entrepreneurs get their business up and running, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Chinese e-commerce leader announced Monday (March 2) that it was banking the...
While Westerners celebrated the New Year in early January and are now a month and a half in to failing to live up to their various resolutions, the Chinese are just getting started. Last night kicked off Chinese New Year, meaning across the planet’s most...