Also, Grab maintains that it did not breach anti-competitive rules, and more

Chinese liquor trading platform Yijiupi raises US$200 million in round led by Tencent, Meituan Dianping – [DealStreetAsia]

Chinese B2B liquor trading platform Yijiupi has clinched US$200 million in a round led by Tencent and on-demand services portal Meituan Dianping, according to a report by DealStreetAsia.

China Everbright Limited and existing investor Source Code Capital also participated in the round.

The startup will use the newly-raised funding to expand its platform categories, launch in new markets as well as improve its warehouse system.

Yijiupi is now valued at US$1.1 billion. Its previous investors include Greenwoods Asset Management, Light House Capital, and HG Capital.

Dubai-based ride-hailing company Careem acquires India bus shuttle startup Commut – [Bloomberg]

Dubai ride-hailing platform Careem has acquired India bus shuttle startup Commut, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Careem’s plan is to leverage the Hyderabad-based platform to bring bus services to 100 cities. Commut’s tech and employees will be integrated into Careem while its passengers and drivers will be taken on by another India-based bus transportation platform, Shuttl.

Commut’s buses ply over 100 routes in Hyderabad. It has shuttled more than 70,000 passengers to date.

Careem is reportedly expanding into food and package delivery services and is in talks to be acquired by Uber.

Eight Roads Ventures launches in Singapore – [TechCrunch]

The investment arm of financial services company Fidelity International, Eight Roads Ventures, has opened an office in Singapore, where managing partner for Asia, Raj Dugar, will be relocated.

TechCrunch reported that the firm aims to cut checks of up to US$30 million and will focus on early-growth and growth stage companies raising Series B, Series B or Series D rounds.

Also Read: Silicon Valley’s Fenox VC is gearing up to invest in multiple Indonesian startups this year

Eight Roads Ventures will focus on verticals such as healthcare, consumer and fintech. It has already made three investments in Southeast Asia: virtual credit card startup Akulaku, pharmaceutical firm Eywa Pharma and QR-based payments company Silot.

Grab and Uber fined US$9.5 million over merger – [e27]

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) has slapped Grab and Uber with a S$13 million (US$9.5 million) penalty over their merger in March, a deal it said breached the country’s anti-competitive business laws; Uber was fined S$6.58 million (US$4.8 million) while Grab was fined S$6.42 million (US$4.7 million).

CCCS also ordered Grab to remove exclusivity arrangement with drivers and taxi fleets, as well as to maintain its pre-merger pricing algorithm and driver commission rates, following complaints from both drivers and customers.

Its investigation revealed that Grab has increased its trip fares and net of rider promotions between 10 to 15 per cent after the merger deal.

Lim Kell Jay, Head of Grab Singapore, said that Grab was glad that the investigation has been completed and there would be no unwinding of the deal. However, he continues to maintain that Grab did not “intentionally or negligently” breach competition laws.

Bangladesh ride-hailing startup Shohoz raises US$15 million – [e27]

Bangladeshi ride-hailing and online ticket booking platform Shohoz today announced that it has raised a US$15 million pre-Series B funding round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures.

Linear VC, 500 Startups, and Singaporean angel investor Koh Boon Hwee also participated in the funding round.

The startup plans to use the new funding — one of the largest tech financing deals in Bangladesh to date — to support customer acquisition and retention, as well as its expansion into other on-demand services.

Founded in 2014, Shohoz (which means “easy” in Bengali) enables users to book car and motorbike rides for daily commute, as well as reserve bus seats, ferry, and movie tickets.

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Image Credit: Yijiupi

The post Today’s top tech news, September 24: Chinese liquor trading platform Yijiupi raises US$200M, Careem acquires bus shuttle startup Commut appeared first on e27.