TOP NEWS
* Tencent Holdings Ltd. has agreed to pay US$200 million for a 5% stake in Brazilian financial technology company Nubank, according to a report from The Information. Tencent might have a limited influence on Nubank's management, given the minority stake, although it could share its technology to the Brazilian startup to help it grow.
* Singaporean sports media company ONE Championship closed a US$166 million series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital, Deal Street Asia reports. Other investors included Temasek Holdings Ltd., Greenoaks Capital Partners LLC and other institutional investors. The funding round values the company at close to US$1 billion.
JAPAN
* Japan Display Inc. said that it developed an artificial intelligence-based dynamic pricing solution to assist store owners in calculating product pricing, The Nikkei reports. The company plans to mount the pricing solution in stores.
* Japanese software developer Silicon Studio Corp. appointed Shinichiro Kajitani as its new president, The Nikkei reports.
SOUTH KOREA
* Kakao Corp.'s blockchain subsidiary, Ground X will launch a testnet version of its blockchain platform, Klaytn, which focuses on enhancing user experiences by shortening the block interval to one second.
* In other Kakao news, its taxi hailing service Kakao Mobility inked a deal with local car company EnGIS Technologies Inc. to develop a navigation software and an in-vehicle infotainment service, Yonhap News Agency reports. Kakao Mobility has invested 1.5 billion won in EnGIS.
* Google LLC's news app will be pre-installed in LG Electronics Inc.'s V40 ThinQ smartphone, News 1 reports. The AI-powered app will recommend news articles based on user preferences.
* SK Telecom Co. Ltd. will release a duet song by John Legend and Wendy from girl band Red Velvet on Oct. 19 through its joint music project titled "Station X 0" with S.M. Entertainment Co. Ltd.
CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN
* U.S.-based tech startup Faraday Future filed to the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre to dissolve all agreements between the company and its biggest investor, China's Evergrande Health Industry Group Ltd. Evergrande said the filing came after Faraday Future refused to pay the US$700 million which it had agreed to pay to Evergrande.
* CloudWalk Technology Co. Ltd., a Guangzhou-based AI startup, raised about 1 billion yuan through a series B+ funding, JRJ reports. The money raised will be used for the expansion of the company's AI platform, big data research and building a research center.
* Taiwanese telco Chunghwa Telecom developed a facial recognition system for government and corporate clients, UDN reports.
* China Mobile Ltd. selected six companies to be its cable box suppliers, ESMChina reports. The companies are Unionman Technology Co. Ltd., Fiberhome Telecommunication Technologies Co. Ltd., ZTE Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Skyworth Digital Holdings Ltd. and China Mobile's own device company.
INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA
* The Indian arm of Amazon.com Inc. has opened over 50,000 seasonal roles across its fulfillment centers ahead of the festive season sale, the Press Trust of India reported Oct. 7, citing Amazon India Vice President Akhil Saxena. Some of the recruits will also be assigned to customer service sites, which support customers with pre- and post-service through telephone, e-mail, chat and social media.
* Vodafone Group PLC's Vodafone India launched a new prepaid plan to counter rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., Hindustan Times reports. The new data plan comes with a 56-day validity.
* Indian tech company HCL Technologies Ltd. will invest 7 billion Indian rupees to develop two facilities in Andhra Pradesh in phases, Financial Express reports.
* Xiaomi Corp. reached the milestone of selling 10 million "Redmi 5A" smartphones in nine months since its launch in India, The Economic Times (India) reports.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Singapore-carrier Singtel, its wholly owned subsidiary Singtel Optus Pty. Ltd. and regional associates Bharti Airtel Ltd. Advanced Info Service PCL, or AIS, Globe Telecom and Telkomsel have signed a memorandum of understanding to grow the gaming and e-sports market in Southeast Asia, Australia and India. The partnership will look at content creation and distribution, scaling up e-sports and collaborating with a broader gaming ecosystem.
* Thai telcos True Corporation and AIS will not take part in an upcoming 900 MHz auction, Manager reports, while telco Total Access Communication PCL said it will continue its feasibility study of the auction.
* In other AIS news, the Thai telco sent Alpha X, Thailand's national e-sports team, to Singapore to compete in the PVP Esports Championship, Prachachat reports.
* Hooq Digital PTE. Ltd. formed a partnership with Indian video streaming platform STAR India Pvt. Ltd.'s Hotstar, Variety reports. The partnership will allow HOOQ to expand its reach in the Indian market while providing Hotstar with a significant upscaling of its Hollywood content.
* Singaporean cybersecurity company Ensign InfoSecurity appointed Yeoh Keat Chuan as its interim CEO, The Business Times reports.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* U.S.-based private equity firm KKR & Co. made an unsolicited, nonbinding bid to acquire MYOB Group Ltd. for A$3.70 per share in cash after increasing its stake in the Australia-based accounting software company to 19.9%.
* Telecom software and services provider MNF Group Ltd. entered into an agreement to acquire the wholesale and enablement business from Inabox Group Ltd. for a price between A$30.5 million to A$33.5 million in cash.
* Sky and Space Global Ltd. won a research and development grant worth approximately A$500,000 to initiate a project into machine to machine device innovation with experts at Wroclaw University, Poland, according to a press release. The nano-satellite technology company also signed binding MoU's with telecom operators Briskcom Business Technology, SkyX Systems Corp., Penteon, Surge Telecom and Unizen Technologies.
* Crowd Mobile Ltd. said it has been added as a certified partner for the creation of unique brand experiences by California-based Snap Inc. for its messaging app Snapchat.
FEATURED NEWS
The week in fintech: Square pushes new point-of-sale lending for big purchases: Square has launched a payment method that lets businesses and individuals pay for large purchases in fixed monthly installments via a point-of-sale loan. The move comes as competition between Square and PayPal for small business services heats up.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Multichannel Trends: Pricing & packaging: Comcast joins operators bundling Gig internet tiers: With the increasing importance of reliable and fast broadband, it is interesting to note that the fastest Internet tiers are not yet part of all bundle offerings.
Nozomi Ibayashi, Nicole Kim, Frances Wang, Patrick Tibke and Ed Eduardo contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.