Author: Aiko Akihiro

Chubb, a leading publicly traded property and casualty insurance company, has announced its expansion of marine insurance business in the Philippines and Malaysia, according to a statement carried by Media Outreach on April 3. This expansion will increase its marine insurance footprint to 10 markets in Asia, which includes Singapore, China, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In the Philippines, Chubb is rolling out a full suite of insurance products and services, led by Jeanette Cebeda, Property and Casualty Technical Lines Marine and Surety Underwriter. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Chubb has appointed Owen Poh as…

Aqua Cultured Foods has secured $5.5 million in seed funding to bring its ultra-realistic seafood alternatives to market. The investment round was led by Stray Dog Capital, with participation from H Venture Partners, Aztec Capital Management, and Amplifica Capital. Existing investors including Supply Change Capital, Big Idea Ventures, HPA, Aera VC, Kingfisher Family Investments, and Swiss Pampa also participated, as did CJ CheilJedang, a South Korea-based global food and bio company. Aqua will use the funds to equip its new facility, scale up production, bring products to market, add key talent, and expand its roster of restaurant and foodservice outlets…

Huddle01, a US and India-based company, has raised $2.8M in a Seed Round led by Hivemind, a leading digital asset investment firm. This brings Huddle01’s total raised funds to $4.5M. Other participants in the round include Superscrypt, M31 Capital, Protocol Labs, East Ventures, Longhash Ventures, Good News Ventures, and notable angel investors such as Balaji Srinivasan, Stani Kulechov, Dan Romero, and Juan Benet. Huddle01 aims to build the world’s first decentralized real-time communication (dRTC) network using blockchain technology. The company has taken a three-pronged approach to make audio/video communication more efficient, reliable, and secure, which includes a video meeting platform,…

Fresh Factory, an Indonesian startup that provides an end-to-end hyperlocal cold chain fulfilment and logistics service, has raised $4.15 million in pre-Series A funding. The investment was led by SBI Ven Capital through its joint fund with Kyobo Securities and NTUitive, with participation from existing investors East Ventures and Trihill Capital, as well as new investor PT Tap Applied Agri Services. Fresh Factory plans to use the funds to expand to over 100 fulfilment centres in 50 Indonesian cities by the end of 2023, including highly populated cities in Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and secondary cities in Java. The investment will…

Felix&Fido, a startup dedicated to revolutionizing pet care through technology-driven veterinary services, has announced the completion of a $4 million pre-seed funding round. PSL Ventures led the investment, which will be used to launch premium membership-based pet care plans. These plans offer personalized and convenient pet healthcare through in-clinic, at-home, and telemedicine services. The company aims to bring innovation to the veterinary care sector, which has been stagnant due to outdated delivery models and traditional veterinary methods. With a continuous care model, Felix&Fido offers flexible and tailored care to pet parents, while also supporting an in-demand virtual model to improve…

Progressive groups are demanding proper compensation for tens of thousands of fisherfolk affected by the recent oil spill in Oriental Mindoro. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Saturday that the number of affected residents has increased to 147,293, including 196 injured, 13,658 affected fisherfolk/farmers, 117,067 MIMAROPA residents, and 30,226 Western Visayas residents due to the sunken MT Princess Empress. The agricultural sector has incurred damages worth around P3.85 million, with 10 cities and municipalities declaring a state of calamity. Assistance worth P47.69 million has been provided to affected communities in MIMAROPA and Region VI, including…

Are you planning to start investing in the stock market? It is not as simple as buying and selling stocks. You need to study a lot of things to make your stock market investment worthwhile. Here are some tips to consider when investing in the stock market as a beginner: Invest in companies with strong fundamentals: Look for companies with a proven track record of financial stability and growth. Analyze their financial statements, revenue growth, earnings per share, and debt-to-equity ratios to determine their financial strength. Diversify your portfolio: Diversification is key to reducing risk. Invest in a mix of…

The Globe Group closed the year with all-time high consolidated service revenues reaching ₱158.0 billion, up 4% year-on-year. Corporate data and mobile services, complemented by the continuous growth from non-telco services, mainly drove the topline expansion as more Filipinos adopt the digital lifestyle. Total data revenues as a percentage of total consolidated service revenues increased to 1% from 80% last year. The mobile business sustained its upward performance, ending the year with ₱107.5 billion compared to ₱104.4 billion reported the previous year and the second highest in company history. The revenue improvement came mostly from prepaid with greater public mobility…

WeMo Corp, a pioneer in urban mobility technologies, today announced the completion of a US$15 million Series A+ round of financing led by AppWorks, with participation from Taiwan National Development Fund. With this round of financing, WeMo plans to expand its service to Southeast Asia, with an emphasis on Indonesia and Thailand. In anticipation of rapidly growing demand for electric vehicles and alternative transportation solutions, the company is building partnerships with governments, investors, businesses, and transportation providers throughout Southeast Asia to offer green transportation and fleet management services to support the region’s transition to zero emission. With its mission to…

Globe, together with Eastern Communications and Japan-affiliated telco InfiniVAN Inc, has commissioned NTT World Engineering Marine Corp. (NTT WE Marine) of Japan for the last leg of the $150-million Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network (PDSCN) project. NTT WE Marine will land and lay cables in the project’s nine remaining segments covering 13 sites until April this year through cable ship Subaru. In 2021, PDSCN tapped state-of-the-art ship Cable Infinity from Japanese vendor Kokusai Cable Ship Co. Ltd. to connect 15 segments across the country via fiber. “With the final phase of the PDSCN in motion, we are excited to take…

You dream about opening a new bar in your city. Restaurant business requires some work and professional skills to be involved. The biggest challenge is the highly competitive market you have to deal with. You want to achieve success with your new bar, so you should read the following recommendations to increase your chances to make maximum profit and recognition. Figuring Out How To Open a Bar Everybody would like to know a secret on how to open a new successful bar. You should know that restaurant business is no different from any other. In order to start, you need…

Philippine-listed property giant Megaworld Corporation is investing P15-billion to build a new integrated lifestyle community in the City of Manila. Located just beside the historic Chinatown on a property within the San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park, the three-hectare Winford Resort will feature a mix of residential condominiums, hotels, and commercial developments with a casino complex. The development will be inspired by ‘Old Manila’ with structural designs reminiscent of the pre-war era. The buildings will be characterized by rich aesthetics, with intricate details of French Renaissance, Neo-Classical, and Art Deco architecture. “This commitment to revive the old beauty of Manila…

Globally, the demand for lab-grown gemstones is growing at a rapid rate. This surge in demand is set to change the jewellery industry forever as manufacturers and retailers are compelled to change their approach in sourcing gemstones. Industry experts believe that there will be a very noticeable deficit in the global demand for mined gemstones in 2022, which will, in turn, lead to an increase in demand for lab-grown ones. The Growth of Conscious Consumerism Perhaps, you have heard about mindless consumption and conscious consumerism. Both can be seen as opposites of each other. Conscious consumerism is the next big…

You consider yourself to be a respectable homeowner in your area. You believe in having the best conveniences and comforts of the modern world for you and your family to enjoy. That’s why you’ve decided to move forward with installing solar panels for your home. For many reasons, investing in a solar panel system installation can be a wise choice. Not only are you ahead of the game and participating in a more sustainable way of living. In addition, there are energy savings you can enjoy within just the first year after installing them. Perhaps that’s why the global solar…

Rubix Blockchain Pte Ltd (Rubix) announced today it has secured a $100 million investment from LDA Capital Ltd to grow global operations, support the transition to Web3, and expand its green blockchain community. This investment will allow Rubix to optimize growth in the Web3 space, expanding education opportunities, policy development, and Web2 to Web3 transition – enabling partners to build various apps on the platform including those that address social and environmental issues. The funds will also be used to increase internal operations including hiring of employees from around the globe to support the extension of Rubix’s ecosystem. “We’re thrilled…

Hong Kong has maintained its position as the most expensive location in the world, bolstered by higher prices and a stronger currency over the past year. This was one of the findings of the latest cost of living research published by ECA International, the world’s leading provider of knowledge, information and software for the management and assignment of employees around the world. “Although Hong Kong has been impacted by rising global inflation less than other regional and global locations in the past year, it nonetheless remains the most expensive location in the world” said Lee Quane, Regional Director – Asia at ECA…

BitKeep, a Singapore-based Web3.0 cross-chain wallet, saw its valuation increased to $100 million after it raised $15 million in a Series A funding round, according to a report by AsiaTechDesk.com The funding round was led by Dragonfly Capital, a crypto-focused investment firm, and participated by crypto investors KuCoin Ventures, A&T Capital, Foresight Ventures, SevenX, Matrixport, Bixin Capital, Danhua Capital, Peak Capital, and YM Capital. Founded in 2018, BitKeep claimed to serve more than four million verified users across 168 countries. Its decentralised multi-chain crypto wallet provides digital asset management services to global users. Read full story: Singapore cross-chain wallet BitKeep scores…

Leading Philippine finance app GCash remains unfazed over its closest competitor’s move to offer digital banking and cryptocurrency trading, according to a Philippines Today report. “We don’t believe that having a digital banking license is a silver bullet or magic. It’s not like a signboard that you just turn on then expect everyone to come in. There’s real work to acquire users and educate them on more complex financial services,” said Martha Sazon, GCash President and CEO. At present, one in every five banked Filipinos has a GSave account. GSave was created by GCash and CIMB Bank, one of Southeast…

De Beers Group is deploying the Tracr™ blockchain platform at scale for its diamond production. Tracr™ is the world’s only distributed diamond blockchain that starts at the source and provides tamper-proof source assurance at scale, enabling Sightholders to provide an immutable record of a diamond’s provenance, and empowering jewellery retailers to have confidence in the origin of the diamonds they purchase. With more end clients wanting to know the source of the products they buy, the deep meaning associated with a diamond purchase requires a technological step-change to meet their expectations. The introduction of Tracr™ at scale delivers immutable information…

International Finance Forum (IFF) is urging countries and regions to work better together to fight against worsening global inflation, in a bid to bring recovery of the global economy back on track. On April 27 at the IFF spring meetings, world leaders and industry experts teased out the main economic challenges faced by the global community at the moment and discussed potential solutions as to how countries could cooperate to introduce policy adjustments amid the ongoing pandemic. In a keynote speech, Domenico Siniscalco, IFF Vice President and Former Minister of Economy and Finance of Italy, said most countries injected a…