The upsides of the Grab and Go-Jek funding war

Dear readers, From the outside looking in, it sure seems like the Grab and Go-Jek funding war has the makings of a bubble – gigantic money chasing after vastly unprofitable businesses. But we contend that such a view is too cynical and ignores the potential upsides. In fact, we think [it’s ultimately good for Southeast Asia’s ecosystem](. Go-Jek is a popular app for hailing motorbike rides in Indonesia’s capital. It has since expanded to offer other on-demand services like food and cleaners. Photo credit: Go-Jek. Moving along, we also covered how Blacklane, a startup that’s essentially Uber for business travelers, [is doubling down on Asia Pacific](. Also, check out our scoop on how Carousell [raised US$56 million from Naspers’ classifieds giant OLX](. Finally, we have a [subscriber-only meetup]( coming up in Singapore featuring Rameez Ansar, the co-founder of Circles.Life, which was recently backed by Sequoia India. If you’d like to support our work, [do consider subscribing](. Here are the rest of our subscriber-only pieces from the past week: - [Philippine co-working firm KMC nabs series A funding from Singapore investor]( - [Why Grab is targeting travel and tourism as its next vertical]( - [Profitable and growing: Coda Payments’ niche in Southeast Asia’s brutal fintech scene]( - [Meet the 100 top-funded fintech companies in Asia]( - [Executive coaching platform Reboot raises seed funding]( - [Rising startups on Tech in Asia: helicopters, lorries, and more]( - [The entrepreneurs behind not one, but two popular Indonesian news sites]( Happy reading, Terence Chief editor Copyright © 2019 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. You have registered for Tech in Asia. Our mailing address is: Tech in Asia 9 Temasek Boulevard, #04-01 Suntec Tower 2Singapore 038989 Singapore [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.