Revving up for a bigger ecosystem

• Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform is growing even bigger! 500-backed Malaysian startup Carsome has acquired a 51% stake in CarTimes, one of the largest auto companies in Singapore.
• CarTimes, an award-winning company offering a full suite of auto solutions including financing and insurance, has built a strong brand since 2001.
• Carsome co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng said, “This partnership will enable us to deepen our footprint in the Singapore auto market, and augment our ability in bringing trust, choice, and transparency to customers together.”
• This move will strengthen Carsome’s market leadership in the region and reinforce their commitment to expanding the automotive ecosystem.
• Read the full announcement here.

Boosting financial services in Asia

• The team at 500-backed EMQ has been busy delivering and enhancing its global payments services across Asia.
• At the beginning of this month, it launched real-time payments to Pakistan to make financial services more affordable, transparent, and accessible. Users can remit payments to mobile wallets, bank accounts, or opt for cash pick-up.
• “In South Asia, remittances play a vital role in contributing to the region’s economic growth and yet the cost of sending money remains high,” said Steven Liu, Global Head of Networks and Expansion.
• EMQ has also expanded its services to South Korea, enabling real-time payouts to all bank accounts.
• In Japan, the company enhanced its payment capabilities by launching high transaction value cross-border payments into the country.
• Get the full list of recent updates from EMQ here.

Bringing drone tech to new heights

• 500-backed drone services startup Aerodyne joined forces with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), a government organization established to drive the development of Malaysia’s 5G infrastructure.
• Together, the two companies will explore the development of 5G in Malaysia, with a special focus on drone and data technologies. For the past 18 months, Aerodyne has been testing and developing drone 5G solutions in other countries.
• This collaboration presents opportunities to evaluate and co-develop innovative 5G use cases, as well as to identify strategic market needs for those use cases.
• Founder and Group CEO of Aerodyne, Kamarul A. Muhamed said, “5G is a game-changer in the world of connected drones. Our low-latency 4G-connected drones will be elevated to new heights on the 5G network. This opens up a virtually unlimited range of industrial applications and will contribute to the accelerated digitalization of Malaysia’s industries.”
• Read the full story on Digital News Asia.