DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Breakingviews: FTX affords a turning point in venture governance
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The new chief executive of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, insolvency veteran John Ray, uncovered giant financial gaps and signs of looting. Ray’s first in-depth account, submitted to the court on Thursday, reveals a brazen lack of controls and governance. Financial statements dated to Sept. 30, when founder Sam Bankman-Fried was in charge, contain no record of customer liabilities at either the U.S. subsidiary or the international division. Many of the FTX corporate entities never had board meetings. Ray also criticised his predecessor and FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried for making “erratic and misleading public statements”.

☆ FTX affords a turning point in venture governance
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

☆ Special Report: FTX's Bankman-Fried begged for a rescue even as he revealed huge holes in firm's books
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Angus Berwick Anirban Sen Elizabeth Howcroft Lawrence Delevingne | Angus Berwick | Anirban Sen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +22 min

Sequoia was shocked at the amount of money Bankman-Fried needed to save FTX, according to the sources, while Apollo first asked for more information, only to later decline. The booklet flagged the risks of crypto trading, particularly how sudden sales of tokens could trigger a "domino effect" that would lead to a "cascading set of liquidity failures." Using profits from Alameda, Bankman-Fried launched FTX in 2019. From almost nothing in 2019, FTX handled about 10% of global crypto trading this year, a September document shows. At one point, he lived in a penthouse overlooking the Caribbean, valued at almost $40 million, according to two people who worked with FTX.

☆ As FTX collapses, Temasek becomes latest backer to write down $275 mln funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said it would write down the value of its entire investment of $275 million in collapsed crypto currency exchange FTX, in the latest move by FTX's investors. "In view of FTX's financial position, we have decided to write down our full investment in FTX, irrespective of the outcome of FTX's bankruptcy protection filing," Temasek said in a detailed statement on Thursday. "The cost of our investment in FTX was 0.09% of our net portfolio value of S$403 billion ($294.3 billion) as of 31 March 2022," it said. Temasek said its early stage investments made up about 6% of its total portfolio. ($1 = 1.3693 Singapore dollars)Reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore; Additional reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Canada's largest pension fund CPPIB among the investors indirectly hit by FTX blowup
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Danielle Walker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had an indirect exposure to FTX through a Sequoia private-equity fund it was invested in. Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said last week that it had invested a total of $95 million in FTX International and its US entity since October 2021. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, one of the world's largest pension funds, can be counted among the investors now impacted, either directly or indirectly, by the blowup of crypto exchange FTX. Toronto-based CPPIB has an indirect exposure to FTX through its investment in a Sequoia Capital private-equity fund. Sequoia's other impacted fund, SCGE Fund, L.P. had $63.5 million invested in FTX and FTX US, according to the firm's letter to clients.

Two investment banks have been tapped to launch a sale process for Singapore-headquartered MedTech, which could be valued at roughly $1 billion, two of the sources said. All the sources declined to be named as news of the sale process has not been made public. A Temasek spokesperson declined comment, while there was no immediate comment from an external spokesperson for Advanced MedTech. Advanced MedTech, which earns the majority of its business from the United States, is one of the few companies that is fully-owned by Temasek, which ranks among the world's biggest investors. The sources expect private equity firms, healthcare-focused funds and strategic investors to put in bids for Advanced MedTech.

The firm's founder Sam Bankman-Fried had transferred $10 billion of customer funds to his trading company, Alameda Research, the sources said. Blockchain analytics firm Nansen said it saw $659 million in outflows from FTX International and FTX U.S. in the last 24 hours. In January, FTX had raised $400 million from investors at a $32 billion valuation. "Over four years, FTX raised $1.8 billion from venture capital and pension funds. In its bankruptcy petition, FTX Trading said it has $10 billion to $50 billion in assets, $10 billion to $50 billion in liabilities, and more than 100,000 creditors.

☆ Before his epic fall, Sam Bankman-Fried was hailed as a crypto genius. Some clients saw smoke and mirrors.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Gretchen Morgenson | Gretchen Morgenson Is The Senior Financial Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. A Former Stockbroker | She Won The Pulitzer Prize In For Her | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +14 min

Until a few days ago, Sam Bankman-Fried was the king of crypto. “I’m sorry I didn’t do better,” Bankman-Fried said Tuesday in a message to investors reviewed by NBC News. The contentions of the people who spoke with NBC News are echoed in a 2019 lawsuit brought in federal court against FTX Alameda, Bankman-Fried and other executives. But the crypto market does not have the protections or price transparency found in listed stock markets, for example. FTX and Alameda, as a major crypto exchange and market maker, attracted crypto developers to list their projects for trading.

☆ Factbox: What are FTX's investors saying?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here's what investors in FTX are saying now:SOFTBANKThe total investment of SoftBank Group Corp's (9984.T) Vision Fund in the U.S. and international operations of FTX is less than $100 million, a source close to SoftBank said on Friday. The complications at FTX mark the latest difficulty for the Vision Fund, which has been hit in recent quarters by a global tech rout. SEQUOIA CAPITALSequoia Capital said on Wednesday that it would mark down its total investments in FTX to $0. ONTARIO TEACHERS PENSION PLANThe Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) said on Thursday it had invested a total of $95 million in FTX. CIRCLEFintech company Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a tweet on Wednesday that "Circle is a tiny equity holder of FTX, and FTX is a tiny equity holder of Circle."

☆ Wall Street pushed into digital assets. Now investors are paying the price as FTX's crisis raises questions of a ripple effect in cryptoworld.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | Danielle Walker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

FTX, the crypto exchange in crisis, found backers in BlackRock, VanEck, and Ontario Teachers. The solvency crisis facing the exchange and its famous CEO raises questions of a ripple effect. Now, in the middle of crypto winter, FTX is in the middle of a solvency crisis. Binance, a rival crypto exchange that was initially going to buy FTX, backed out. "What we like about it is that we're not really speculating on whether prices of crypto assets, bitcoin or otherwise, are going up or down.

☆ Crypto: What's next as FTX collapse triggers 'Lehman moment'?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And can the beaten-down crypto industry bounce back? What’s clear is that the fallout from the FTX crisis injects significant volatility into the crypto ecosystem. “Thank God!”Can the crypto industry survive? “In the short term, this is going to be really, really bad for the crypto industry,” said Jog of Sei Labs. Fok said he expects the FTX collapse will push institutional investors away from the crypto space just as they had been warming up to it.

☆ Rise and fall of crypto exchange FTX
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency exchange FTX stood on the brink of failure on Thursday after a bailout from larger rival Binance collapsed. September - FTX signed a sponsorship deal with Mercedes' Formula 1 team. June 4 - FTX signed a reportedly $135 million sponsorship deal for naming rights of the Miami Heat's home court. July 1 - FTX signed a deal with an option to buy embattled crypto lender BlockFi for up to $240 million. Aug. 19 - A U.S. bank regulator ordered crypto exchange FTX to halt "false and misleading" claims it had made about whether funds at the company are insured by the government.

A representative for FTX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the deal or the SEC investigation. FTX and Binance did not disclose the terms of their agreement, and markets face fresh uncertainty over whether it will proceed. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration 1 2Prior to the Binance proposed deal, Bankman-Fried approached cryptocurrency exchange OKX on Monday morning about a deal, but the exchange declined to move forward. "It has been a truly a devastating year for the industry," said Ryan Wong, a senior researcher at crypto exchange Huobi. "This could be a major source of risk to crypto markets," Lai wrote.

☆ Snyk: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

As more companies write their own code to power digital operations, they need to bolster and modernize their online security. It's a "cloud-native" technology, engineered by Snyk to speed up production and help enterprises prevent future security issues. Developers at AWS, Google , Atlassian , Comcast , Twilio , CVS , Overstock, Manulife and Revolut are among the millions in DevOps across sectors of the economy that are using Snyk. Investors include venture arms of Atlassian and Salesforce, Tiger Global, Baillie Gifford, T. Rowe Price, Accel, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Geodesic Capital and Temasek. The 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise list is powered and inspired by the members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council (TEC).

☆ Youth was no barrier to success for this founder of a multimillion-dollar startup. She shares 3 tips
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But that didn't stop Chrisanti Indiana — who was just 24 years old when she co-founded Social Bella. "You have nothing to lose, that's actually the benefit of starting young," said Chrisanti Indiana, who launched her startup Social Bella when she was 24 years old. Social Bella started out as an e-commerce platform called Sociolla. Social Bella was founded in 2015 by Chrisanti Indiana, her brother and president Christopher Madiam (left) and CEO John Rasjid (right). Social Bella

☆ This millennial took a gamble during the pandemic. Now her startup has raised over $225 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"A lot of people actually told us that it's a very bold move to actually open an offline presence, while everybody was closing their offline stores [during the pandemic]," she added. But that was a "well-calculated" move for Social Bella, which operates Sociolla. Indiana, the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Social Bella, tells CNBC Make It how she took her Jakarta-based startup to the next level. The makeup junkie realized that in Australia, she had easy access to a wide range of beauty products from international brands. On top of that, the business also operates Soco, which Social Bella says is Indonesia's largest online review service for beauty products.

☆ Southeast Asia's digital economy could reach $200 billion in gross merchandise value in 2022: Report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSoutheast Asia's digital economy could reach $200 billion in gross merchandise value in 2022: ReportStephanie Davis, vice president of Google Southeast Asia, and Temasek's technology and consumer deputy head Fock Wai Hoong, discuss the findings from a new report by Google, Temasek, and Bain and Company.

☆ Southeast Asia internet economy forecast cut on economic headwinds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Chen Lin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File PhotoSINGAPORE, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Southeast Asia's internet economy is expected to be worth $330 billion by 2025, though this a downgrade from a previous forecast due to economic uncertainty and more pressure on tech companies to make a profit, an industry report said on Thursday. "Amidst global macroeconomic headwinds, reduced disposable income, sky-rocketing prices, and lower product availability, there is tapering of demand from Southeast Asia consumers," the trio said in a joint release. The region of 11 countries is one of the world's fastest growing internet markets, due to a young population, widespread smartphone usage and urbanisation, and a growing middle class. All six countries are expected to post double-digit growth between now and 2025, with Vietnam having the fastest growing digital economy this year at 28%. "Universally investors generally expect deal activity to recover from 2024 onwards," said Fock Wai Hoong, Deputy Head of Technology & Consumer and Southeast Asia at Temasek.

☆ Southeast Asia's top digital economies expected to hit $200 billion in 2022, report shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE — South East Asia's top digital economies grew faster than expected in 2022 and is set to reach $200 billion in total value of transactions made this year, according to a new report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. An earlier report in 2016 estimated the internet economy in the region's six major countries will close in on $200 billion in GMV by 2025. The six major economies covered in the report are: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. "After years of acceleration, digital adoption growth is normalising," said the report released Thursday. Southeast Asia continues to see growth in the number of internet users — with 20 million new users added in 2022, raising the total number of users to 460 million.

☆ Temasek shifts president, CFO in management shuffle
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 26 (Reuters) - Singapore's Temasek Holdings said on Wednesday President Tan Chong Lee will resign to take up the role as chief executive officer at its fund management firm 65 Equity Partners. In a slew of management changes announced by the investment giant, Leong Wai Leng will step down as the chief financial officer after 16 years to lead the Singapore market team as president. The company's deputy CFO Png Chin Yee will replace Leng from Jan. 1, 2023, it said in a statement. It has in recent days seen stock markets tumble in the face of higher interest rates and inflation. Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Israel's Trigo raises $100 mln to expand autonomous shopping technology
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Israel’s Trigo said on Wednesday it raised $100 million in a private funding round to ramp up deployment for its technology that allows customers to shop without having to wait in line at a store’s checkout. The round was led by Singapore investment firm Temasek and 83North. Trigo said its technology transforms existing supermarkets into fully autonomous digital stores through the use of ceiling-mounted cameras that track customer movement and product choices, to make shopping “frictionless”. It said it would use the new funds to expand further into the United States and Europe, while developing an inventory management application suite. Trigo noted its technology is being used by Tesco PLC (TSCO.L) in Britain, ALDI (ALDIEI.UL) in the Netherlands, Wakefern in the United States and and Netto and REWE (REGRP.UL) in Germany.

☆ Temasek-backed Vertex set to raise nearly $500 mln for new China-focused fund
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING/HONG KONG, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Venture capital firm Vertex Ventures, backed by Singapore state investor Temasek, is set to raise nearly $500 million for a new fund that will invest in efforts to step up China's domestic tech development, a senior executive said. The new fund's size will exceed an initial target of $400 million, compare with an earlier, similar fund that raised $275 million, said Tay Choon Chong, managing partner at Vertex Ventures China. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"China is pivoting from relying on imported technologies to its own tech know-how," Tay said. The latest Vertex fund comes amid a slowdown this year in U.S. dollar-denominated fundraising by China-focused venture capital and private equity firms. While looking for investment opportunities involving companies developing advanced technologies, Vertex will also look for firms that have potential in reducing Beijing's reliance on foreign suppliers, Tay said.

☆ CEO of Singapore's multi-million dollar homecare start-up shares top tips for success
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's doing good, while doing well," said Gillian Tee, co-founder and CEO of Homage. After spending 15 years abroad, Singaporean entrepreneur Gillian Tee decided to return home in 2016 to be closer to her family. "I started off as a software developer and I was just very drawn to it because I liked building things. Gillian Tee Co-founder and CEO, HomageShe was referring to the book Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days, written by Jessica Livingston, who co-founded seed stage investment firm Y Combinator. Gillian Tee Co-founder and CEO, Homage"It's important to lean on specialists for clinical governance and compliance.

A helicopter flies over the downtown skyline, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, as seen from the Cleveland Clinic hospital in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, April 20, 2020. ADQ, the smallest of Abu Dhabi's three main sovereign wealth funds, began in 2018 as a vehicle for holding state assets. ADQ and the UAE foreign ministry did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Among recent deals, ADQ launched a $300 million technology fund in March with Turkey's sovereign wealth fund to invest in venture capital funds and opportunities inside Turkey. "They are the ones that promote UAE economic diplomacy, its regional and global influence," he said.

☆ Singapore air cargo deal elevates its hub status
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, Sept 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Singapore is boosting its hub status as global recession fears loom. Aviation services group SATS (SATS.SI) is acquiring the world’s largest air cargo logistics provider for $2.2 billion from U.S. buyout firm Cerberus. The deal could ultimately lift trade flows through Singapore where aviation contributes more than 5% of GDP. SATS is part of the city-state’s industry trinity that includes its former parent Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) and Changi Airport. As global cargo activity nears pre-pandemic levels, Singapore is providing a strategic home to an asset that’s passed through multiple financial owners.

Search resuls for: "Temasek"

25 mentions found