Read this or die: Top stories from November 22
Because we know we’d die a little inside if we missed these top stories
On fundings and expansions
MyRepublic raises US$52M [e27]
Singapore broadbrand provider MyRepublic has raised funds to scale its business regionally. The investment came from Makara Innovation Fund, a US$718 million joint venture between the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and Makara Capital Partners.
Airbnb now has more Experiences in Asia Pacific [Press Release]
One year after the global launch of Experiences, Airbnb has announced the expansion of the service to three new Asia Pacific cities, namely Melbourne, Bali, and HongKong. Airbnb Experiences are curated activities guided by locals, which now has over 3,000 activities offered in over 40 cities worldwide. The 3 new markets will add over 120 new Experiences to the platform’s portfolio.
Airbnb Experiences focus on unique activities such as Kimono making, Kangaroo Quest, and food recycling to feed 50 households, to name a few. “There is the desire among travellers to destinations such as Bali and Melbourne to enjoy their destination through the eyes of a local. Experiences is also a great way to unleash economic opportunity for locals.” explained Parin Mehta, APAC Trips Director for Airbnb.
On that Uber breach
57M riders and drivers [TechCrunch]
Uber data breach in 2016 affected 57 million riders and drivers, revealing important details lie names, email addresses, and phone numbers, as well as driver’s license number for some 600,000 United States drivers. Uber was aware of the attack as early as November 2016, but did not report it to regulators and affected customers, and instead paid off the hackers to get rid of the data.
Singapore phantom rides not related [Channel News Asia]
Uber has “no reason to believe” that the 2016 breach is related to the “phantom” rides that some Singapore users have been reporting. News of the breach came one day after several Uber users in Singapore have complained of being charged for trips that they did not take.
On moves by the institutions
Driverless buses in Singapore by 2022 [e27]
The Land Transportation Authority has announced that it will be rolling out driverless buses to test in 3 town in Singapore. More details in the link above.
Malaysia hits back on terrorism financing, to regulate cryptocurrencies [e27]
Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia’s central bank, is working on a new regulatory structure for digital currencies. BNM Governor Muhammad bin Ibrahim said that the move is to “prevent the abuse of the system for criminal and unlawful activities and ensuring the stability and integrity of the financial system.” More details in the link above.
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