Slack raises US$250 million, Foxconn to open its first factory in the US, while TunaiKita launches its mobile app

WeWork China launches with US$500 million investment

Coworking space chain WeWork launched the formation of its stand-alone China business entity WeWork China, TechCrunch reported.

Existing investors SoftBank, Hony Capital, and other undisclosed investors invested US$500 million for the company’s entry to China; sources had confirmed that this investment is not tied to the US$760 million funding round that WeWork had recently closed.

WeWork currently operates in eight locations across China, particularly in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. The company stated that the new funding will be used to expands its presence in the three cities while also expanding to more parts of China.

It partners with Tech Temple to launch its first entry to the Chinese market in June 2016.

Slack is raising US$250 million co-led by SoftBank Group, Accel

Messaging app Slack is raising US$250 million in funding round co-led by SoftBank Group and Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel, Bloomberg reported.

Citing anonymous sources, the report said that Slack is expected to be valued more than US$5 billion after the funding round. The company will also let employees and other shareholders to sell equity to shareholders as part of the deal.

No information yet on what the company is planning with the new funding, and it has declined to comment.

Also Read: Indonesian hybrid media startup kumparan raises funding

Foxconn to open first major US factory

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that Taiwanese electronics company Foxconn, which is known for being the supplier to many global tech giants such as Apple, is going to open its first factory in the US.

Set to be located in the state of Wisconsin, Bloomberg reported that the factory will produce LCD display monitors.

Foxconn will invest US$10 billion for the factory; it will start by employing 3,000 employees, though the factory is said to be able to provide 13,000 jobs.

The investment is part of President Trump’s programme to bolster domestics manufacturing.

TunaiKita debuts in Indonesia with launch of mobile app

TunaiKita, the Indonesia-focussed arm of Chinese fintech startup WeCash, has launched a “lending robot” mobile app to facilitate peer-to-peer (P2P) lending in the market.

The beta version of the app was launched in May, and the startup said that it has secured more than 30,000 downloads.

The service is currently only available for users in Greater Jakarta Area, though the company aims to expand their presence into other cities.

WeCash entered the Indonesian market in January through a joint venture with PT Kresna Usaha Kreatif and PT JAS Kapital; TunaiKita is the result of this partnership.

The company aims to facilitate IDR40 billion (US$3 million) of loan in Indonesia by end of 2017.

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The post Captain’s Log, July 27: WeWork launches dedicated business entity in China with US$500M appeared first on e27.