In other news, robot dogs in Singapore.

#TetapBuka

• 500-backed Carousell’s umbrella of Covid-19-targeted initiatives continues to expand.
• The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and the classifieds marketplace have linked up to launch the #TetapBuka Carousell Business Grants initiative worth RM1 million (~$230,000) for local SMEs affected by the pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO), subsequently amended to the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).

• Carousell Malaysia’s country head Tang Siew Wai hopes the grants will especially help businesses under the non-essential sectors through strategic support including priority placement on Carousell’s website and app for enhanced visibility.

• The grants cover these items: Free access to CarouBiz lite package (worth RM500) with 5,000 coins that can be used to give listings more visibility safe & secure digital payment via Carousell Protection (zero fee for Sellers), opportunity for their business to be advertised in the main page of Carousell app & website.
• Open to all local retailers and SMEs registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia; SSM) who are not presently advertising on Carousell, you can find more details here.

ESPL collaborates with leading Malaysian telco

• Hot off the heels of announcing its Latin America expansion, 500-backed Esports Players League (ESPL) has secured yet a fresh partnership with Digi, a leading telecommunications group in Malaysia, which is also a subsidiary of Telenor.
• ESPL and Digi organized their first esports tournament together, called the ESPL-Digi #StayAtHome Cup. The tournament ran over 3 days from 8 May 2020 to 10 May 2020.
• Participating gamers registered on Republic.gg, an online gaming reload platform powered by Digi.

• Competing on the popular first-person title Call of Duty Mobile, an RM8,500 (~$1,955) prize pool was up for grabs.
• Moving forward, Digi will introduce ESPL’s unique, mobile and online-focused tournaments in Malaysia. In turn, ESPL will support Digi’s efforts by delivering the complete tech and esports solutions for competitive gaming tournaments.

Helping the unbanked migrants

• Mehedi Hasan, founder and CEO of 500-backed MyCash came to Malaysia at the age of 17. He studied, got a job before venturing to start the e-commerce company that has since processed more than 2.5 million transactions worth around $80 million, serving 200,000 migrants in Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.

• In his interview with IMTC, Mehedi weighs in on how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting MyCash, the consumer trends that have emerged during this time, and how the company remains profitable.
• Read the full interview here.

Robot doggo

• A robot dog engineered by Boston Dynamics has been deployed to patrol the parks in Singapore and to encourage residents to social distance amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
• The remote-controlled, four-legged robot named Spot had its first go-around on Friday, walking around the city-state’s Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park while politely reminding residents to stay at least 1 meter apart from one another.

• In footage shared by The Straits Times, the yellow “dog” trots around the park broadcasting pre-recorded messages reminding park-goers to observe social distancing guidelines.
• It’s also equipped with cameras to help it estimate the number of visitors in the parks.
• Don’t play fetch with Spot, though.

Stay tuned to tomorrow’s Daily Markup!

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