Kate Park, Author at TechCrunch

SmartBank secures $26M for its personal finance management app

Kate Park — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 03:00:00 +0000

The majority of the aging population in Japan still prefers using cash for transactions, according to a recent report citing government data. In 2023, cashless transactions in Japan totaled 126.7 trillion yen ($885 billion), accounting for 39.3 percent of all spending in the country, said the Japanese government. The government hopes that number reaches 40 […]

Indonesian VC firm Intudo raises $125M across two funds

Kate Park — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 01:00:00 +0000

Intudo, the Indonesia-only venture capital firm, said it has raised $125 million across two investment funds — $75 million for Intudo Ventures IV, and $50 million for another fund that will invest in downstream natural resources and renewable energy. Intudo said Fund IV will invest in Indonesian startups that take advantage of the country’s location, […]

Bifrost helps industrials speed up model training with its 3D data-generation platform

Kate Park — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 14:00:00 +0000

For many companies working on AI models with applications in the physical world, data presents the biggest opportunity. It’s also the biggest hurdle they face, as nicely labeled and clean real-world data is as readily available as hen’s teeth, and the costs and effort required to gather and clean up data can be immense. Bifrost, […]

GMI Cloud secures $82M in Series A for its GPU cloud infrastructure

Kate Park — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

The AI boom has spurred massive demand for graphics processing units (GPUs). As many enterprises seek to integrate AI technology into their systems, providers of GPU infrastructure are helping businesses get access to the chips they need. In the latest development, GMI Cloud, a San Jose-based startup that provides GPU cloud infrastructure, has raised an […]

ODD taps $27M for diamond chips to clear radioactive debris at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

Kate Park — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Back in 2011, the world held its breath after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan suffered a failure of its cooling systems, in the wake of the country getting hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami. The worry was not unfounded: The resulting meltdown — which spread highly radioactive material in multiple directions […]

The most interesting unicorns to come out of Japan

Kate Park — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Japan’s startup sector, despite being one of the biggest in the world, has lagged behind other regions like the U.S., China, and the U.K., in terms of the number of unicorns and the scale of venture capital investment. For years, an aging population, overall economic deflation, and salarymen’s inclination to work at traditional, big corporations […]

OpenAI to open offices in Singapore, Paris, Brussels to facilitate global expansion

Kate Park — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 07:35:45 +0000

OpenAI said in a post on X that it is opening new offices in multiple cities, including NYC, Seattle, Paris, Brussels, and Singapore, in addition to its existing locations in San Francisco, London, Dublin and Tokyo, as part of the company’s global expansion efforts. The expansion effort follows the San Francisco-based ChatGPT maker’s whopping $6.6 […]

VESSL AI secures $12M for its MLOps platform that aims to cut GPU costs by up to 80%

Kate Park — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 23:00:00 +0000

South Korean MLOps platform VESSL AI is trying to carve out a niche for itself by focusing on optimizing for GPU expenses using hybrid infrastructure.

HungryPanda, a food-ordering app for the Asian diaspora, picks up $55M at a valuation of around $500M

Ingrid Lunden, Kate Park — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:15:19 +0000

The food-delivery app, founded in London and aimed squarely at Chinese and other Asian consumers living outside their home countries, has picked up $55M.

Dinii, a cloud-based restaurant management platform, raises $45M Series B

Kate Park — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 00:05:00 +0000

Japan has always been a strong market for bringing technology into the experience of consuming food, and now one of the startups leading on this idea is attracting investors from across the ocean. Dinii, which lets diners order food from restaurants and shops through a mobile platform, has raised $48 million (7.46 billion JPY). Bessemer […]

A walk through the crypto jungle at Korea Blockchain Week

Kate Park — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 11:17:00 +0000

Blockchain technology is all about decentralization and virtualization. So it’s a little ironic that humans love to come together in person at big blockchain events. Such was the case last week in Seoul, where a record 17,000 people and 300 speakers came together for Korea Blockchain Week. Like traditional tech conferences, the event featured a […]

Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh shares his journey to web3 and market opportunities in Asia and Middle East

Kate Park — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

TechCrunch sat down with Shaikh this week at the Korea Blockchain Week 2024 conference in Seoul to talk about Aptos' expansion; its partnerships with major Asian web2 companies; and how Aptos uses blockchain to make financial transactions seamless and cost-effective.

SparkLabs closes $50M fund to back AI startups

Kate Park — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 22:00:00 +0000

SparkLabs — an early-stage venture capital firm that has made a name for itself for backing OpenAI as well as a host of other AI startups such as Vectara, Allganize, Kneron, Anthropic, xAI, Glade (YC S23) and Lucidya AI — is gearing up to double down on more startups in the space. The VC firm […]

Validus, a Singapore-based digital SME lending platform, secures $50M debt financing to help enterprises in Indonesia

Kate Park — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Validus, a Singapore-based digital lending platform for small and medium businesses, has secured $50 million in debt financing from HSBC under the ASEAN Growth Fund strategy. The company will use the proceeds to support the financial inclusion of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia, addressing the challenges they face in accessing financial resources. […]

Watch out for these 10 hot startups from South Korea

Kate Park — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Most of the biggest South Korean tech startups intend to pursue public offerings in either South Korea or the United States as part of their exit strategy.

Uber drives deeper into South Korea to take on Kakao Mobility

Kate Park — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 14:01:38 +0000

After seeing double-digit growth in South Korea, Uber Technologies has announced a strategic plan to double down in the country — directly challenging market leader Kakao Mobility, the ride-hailing unit majority-owned by South Korean messaging and tech giant Kakao. Uber chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi outlined the plans in a press conference in Seoul, where […]

South Korean tech giant Naver launches crypto wallet in partnership with Chiliz

Kate Park — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 23:30:00 +0000

Many tech companies are expanding their reach into the web3 market, integrating blockchain and web3 technologies into their products and services. In the latest development, South Korean internet giant Naver is launching its first digital asset wallet, Naver Pay Wallet, for the Korean market. It is partnering with Chiliz, a blockchain provider for sports and […]

SleekFlow snaps up $7M to tap the conversational AI opportunity across Asia

Kate Park — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 00:59:00 +0000

SleekFlow, a Singapore- and Hong Kong-headquartered social commerce platform that has built a conversational AI suite for customer engagement targeted to Asian markets, said Wednesday it had secured an additional $7 million in funding. The money will be used to continue developing its AI, as well as to penetrate deeper into Southeast Asia and the […]

Singaporean investment app Syfe pulls in $27M to hasten growth in Asia Pacific

Kate Park — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 15:59:00 +0000

The Asia Pacific region has long been an important market for wealth management firms with the plethora of developing economies and a burgeoning retail investment market. But there’s still a huge market to capture: About 40% to 45% of personal financial assets in the region are held in cash and deposits as of 2023, according […]

Antler doubles down on Southeast Asia with $72M second startup fund

Kate Park — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 00:59:00 +0000

Antler, the Singapore VC that focuses on early-stage investments, just closed its second Southeast Asia fund. It’s raised $72 million to double down on startups in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. This should be welcome news for startups. Like other regions, Southeast Asia has faced a persistent funding slump. Between January and July 2024, tech […]