Philippines’s fintech and online payments company PayMongo has secured US$31m in funding from their series B funding, which they aim to serve local SMEs more. Said investment round participants include Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund, Philippine VC firms ICCP-SBI Venture Partners and Lisa Gokongwei’s Kaya Founders, together with existing investors Global Founders Capital and SOMA Capital.
China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group discussed raising at least $1 billion for its Southeast Asian arm Lazada before calling off negotiations with potential investors when talks bogged down over Lazada’s valuation, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, quoting people familiar with the matter.
Shopee, Sea Limited‘s e-commerce behemoth based in Singapore, reported a 600% leap in the number of local sellers in Brazil – today, Shopee has more than 1 million Brazilian sellers registered in its marketplace. This means that more than 85% of Shopee’s sales in the country are local. Shopee’s strategy of investing in local sellers is justified: to remain competitive and grow in Latin America, more and more international platforms are betting on a hybrid strategy that combines the operational efficiencies of a global brand with local sellers, such as Amazon and AliExpress.
CX management platform Sprinklr is introducing “digital twins.” Not your average chatbot, a Sprinklr digital twin is more like an AI-powered employee, able to plan actions, create workflows and make decisions, but at speed and at scale. They are said to be more easily trained than chatbots and can operate within brand policies and guardrails.