CDP Institute

UserTesting, a video-based human insight, released the 2022 CX Industry Report that reveals a strong demand for actionable human understanding in the APAC region across every industry and organisations of all sizes. The report found that more than 57% of APAC respondents noted that CX is a top investment area.

Bank Negara Malaysia announced the five successful applicants for the digital bank licenses as approved by the Minister of Finance Malaysia. The country will have three digital banks licensed under the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA) and two Islamic digital banks licensed under Islamic Financial Services Act 2014 (IFSA).

In the midst of the wave of brand platforms jumping into the metaverse, Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) in Indonesia, which is entering its 15th year, will hold its first fashion show in the metaverse.

Latin America is the world’s most rapidly growing region when it comes to the funding of startup companies. According to Crunchbase, a leading business information company, venture capital investors poured a record $19.5 billion into startups based in Latin America last year. That was more than triple the amount invested in the region’s startups in 2020 and  in just the first two weeks of 2022, Latin American startups pulled in more than $450 million.

The company’s goal is to connect the world’s balances through the web using shared, connected ledgers. The project in Colombia has proven this is possible and has become one of the fastest-growing real-time payments networks in the region, enabling previously slow money to move instantly and with minimal cost. The Bogotá-based company announced the closing of a Series A for US$24 million.

Kenyan startup, Phindor has launched a next generation shop assistant system that employs artificial intelligence (AI) to help local businesses digitize record management, data collection and storage.

Cape Town-based ed-tech startup Mindjoy aims to make coding skills accessible for kids – and grownups – on any internet-enabled device. Making use of Replit, a browser-based development environment that doesn’t require specific hardware or software, Mindjoy provides live, small-group, virtual coding classes to kids aged eight or above.

South Africa-based VC firm HAVAÍC has announced the third and final close of the HAVAÍC Universum Core African Fund, a US$20 million fund that will invest in early-stage technology companies in South, East, and West Africa.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) initially launched legal proceedings against Trivago in 2018, alleging the site’s hotel comparison service had been misleading consumers for nearly four years. The highlighted prices were often not the cheapest, but instead those Trivago was prioritising for advertisers willing to pay the best cost-per-click rates for promotion.

The ABC has been asked to clarify whether iview users are being informed about the extent to which their data is being shared with commercial entities or whether they are in the dark about it altogether. The question was posed by the Australian Privacy Foundation on Friday.

Omnichat, a Hong Kong-based omni-channel chat commerce solution provider has raised $1.8 million in Pre-A round funding and announced its business expansion plan to Southeast Asia. Omnichat said in a statement that the funding will finance Omnichat to further expand the business to Southeast Asia (SEA) markets, and the first stop will be Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Malaysian used car marketplace Carsome is going public on New York’s Nasdaq and the Singapore Stock Exchange with a company valuation amounting to US$2 billion. Reports by financial news outlets familiar with the move have said that the company had already confidentially filed for the initial public offering (IPO) with Nasdaq earlier, with the target being US$400 million in funds raised.