February startup news summary (in brief), focusing on Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, China and more, and covering fintech, blockchain, ecommerce and beyond.

1. page 1 of 4startupnewsasia.com/monthly
in february 2017
E Australia: Australia: AgriDigital blockchain startup
could revolutionize agricultural industry
E Japan: Japanese megabanks bet on fintech with
bitcoin exchange investment
E Thailand: Thailand: Startup sector tipped to double
in value as support grows
STARTUP NEWS ASIATODAY / MONTHLY / QUARTERLY
FEBRUARY 2017 IN BRIEF
CHINA:
How Chinese mobile payments
are quietly conquering the world
LAOS:
A look at Vientiane’s
fledgeling startup scene
JAPAN:
Bitcoin will be legal currency
starting in April
THE FINAL QUARTER OF 2016
In terms of Southeast Asia’s tech news, 2016’s
fourth quarter was a strange beast.
Where in Q3 we saw an increase in tech news
for Indonesia, for example, in Q4 this fell
away. Similarly, where we saw relatively high
levels of Philippines-specific activity in the
third quarter, in the fourth quarter this was
noticeably muted.
A word on ‘why Startup News Asia?’
The aim in this is to provide what we view as
‘thin’ research:
• at-a-glance information on developments,
funding and trends; and
• the specific headline patterns around loca-
tions and areas of technology...

2. startup news asia: february 2017
page 2 of 4 startupnewsasia.com/today
Vietnam: A look at Triip.me, connecting tour-
ists with locals
Australia: 7 projects gain from $4.9M Launch-
Vic grants
5 startups making a social impact in South-
east Asia
India: How mobile banking, wallet & card
transactions fared after demonetisation
A look at Samsung's new $150M startups
fund
New Zealand: Fintech startup LatiPay raises
US$3M for Singapore, US growth
India: TimeMyTask on-demand cleaning
startup acquired
News app usage rising worldwide; 1/3 'net
users
Vietnam: A look back at 2016, Vietnam's
"year of startups"
A quick look at startup venture debt funding
in Southeast Asia
Singapore: EU fintechs invited to apply for
The FinLab
Global NGO Online Technology Report: pdf
download
Singapore: IoT Asia Conference and Exhibi-
tion, late March
Cambodia: Startups&Angels event set for
23rd Feb, Phnom Penh
Australia: Report identifies fintech & cy-
ber-security collaboration opportunities
Thai e-wallet startup T2P aims to help Myan-
mar go cashless
Australia: Girl Geek Academy lands $1.3M;
sets female-founded startup hackathon
New Zealand: Berlin's online lender Spotcap
starts lending ops in NZ
Australia: A look at the agenda for Sydney's
ad:tech conference in March
Australia: Intelligent Communities 2017
smart cities event - Melbourne, March
How Australia can create new businesses
with fintech, cybersecurity industry collabo-
ration (pdf)
India: News Corp VCCircle Startup Summit,
Mumbai Edition
South Korea: AIM lands US$1.6M for mobile
trading service
NBAD first Middle East bank to go live on
Ripple blockchain network
SRI LANKA / #STARTUPLK
POP: 20.7M (2015)
TAIWAN / #STARTUPTW
POP: 23.3M (2015)
VIETNAM / #STARTUPVN
POP: 93.4M (2015)
THAILAND / #STARTUPTH
POP: 67.9M (2015)

3. startup news asia: february 2017
page 3 of 4startupnewsasia.com/monthly
Singapore: Polytechnics to build student fin-
tech skills with Fintech Association
In China, social media means shopping as
much as sharing
Singapore: CXA employers insurance & well-
ness marketplace lands $25M
China: Over 95% of 'net users go online via
mobile
Singapore: The Projector cinema partners to
launch coworking space
Barclaycard partners VocaLink for mobile
payments
Singapore: Mediapreneur incubator raises
$1.4M; opens applications
Wall Street Blockchain Alliance launches
Blockchain Assets Working Group
China: Toutiao news app buys Flipagram
platform for video growth
Is 2017 set to be the year fintech shifts its
focus to Africa?
Pakistan maps out startup ambitions as
country's middle class booms
Singapore: Jules startup aims to give pre-
schoolers computational thinking
AUSTRALIA / #STARTUPAUS
POP: 23.9M (2015)
BANGLADESH / #STARTUPBD
POP: 161M (2015)
CAMBODIA / #STARTUPKH
POP: 15.5M (2015)
CHINA / #STARTUPCN
POP: 1.37B (2015)
HONG KONG / #STARTUPHK
POP: 7.2M (2015)
INDIA / #STARTUPIN
POP: 1.3B (2015)
INDONESIA / #STARTUPID
POP: 257.5M (2015)
JAPAN / #STARTUPJP
POP: 126.5M (2015)
LAOS / #STARTUPLA
POP: 6.9M (2015)
MALAYSIA / #STARTUPMY
POP: 30.3M (2015)
MYANMAR / #STARTUPMM
POP: 53.9M (2015)
NEW ZEALAND / #STARTUPNZ
POP: 4.5M (2015)
PAKISTAN / #STARTUPPK
POP: 188.9M (2015)
PHILIPPINES / #STARTUPPH
POP: 100.7M (2015)
SOUTH KOREA / #STARTUPKR
POP: 25.1M (2015)
SINGAPORE / #STARTUPSG
POP: 5.6M (2015)

4. startup news asia: february 2017
page 4 of 4 startupnewsasia.com/today
Population size and market values
I’ve included population sizes to the left and
for each country in the quarterly round-up
for reasons beyond simple page design.
In part, the intention is to prompt thought
around current and likely future market
values, whilst also indicating - as in the case
of Singapore, most notably - those locations
which punch far above their population’s
apparent weight.
Also for consideration in this context are the
simple facts of geographic location:
• which countries have which neighbours; and
• do the relationships between these
countries allow for an easy expansion from
one market to another?
I’m seeing Startup News Asia developing
into the go-to source for trends, patterns and
‘headline’ research for an audience more
interested in what is being invested in than
in the capital market trends in play - an at-
a-glance reference, if you will, for the overall
movements, rather than the detail behind
those movements, an audience that:
• doesn’t need capital market knowledge;
• doesn’t need to know, or even look for, the
founder’s name or pedigree;
• needs only to know if <country x> has done
more this month/quarter/year than either it
or <country y> did comparitively; and
• that formulates local policy with an eye
on wider trends, but doesn’t need in-depth
knowledge of players, individuals or funds.
For more information,
email talktous@startupnewsasia.com.