Business and technology quick bites

Updated version as at 5.00pm

The highlighted words in red are links to the news article.

March 10, 2021,

Business News 

1. Markets continued with their skittish tail-chasing price action overnight, with the Nasdaq leading the charge higher, starkly reversing course after a few tough days at the office. The US Dollar duly fell in militaristic-like lockstep, and even gold found some friends as it rallied strongly.
2. VC firm, M Capital Management, which is based in Singapore, announced today that it has made the final close of its maiden fund, M Venture Partners, at US$30.85 million. It focuses on technology-enabled B2B or B2B2C companies, with an average initial cheque size of about US$500K
3. The US dollar opens weaker this morning on a combination of lower US yields and more robust equity markets, ringgit under pressure and gold relief rally has extended on the back of softer US yields, and with ETF and Comex.
4. Mizuho daily on market analysis and insights; significant global growth upgrades by the OECD (to 5.6% from 4.2%) for 2021 and surge in Nasdaq; which was led by the likes of Tesla, Amazon and Apple.
5. Global blank-check deal volumes, or mergers through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), have surged to a record US$170 billion this year, already outstripping last year’s total of US$157 billion, Refinitiv data showed.
6. Beyond Meat Inc.’s shares jumped after the faux-meat maker said it would broaden its product offerings at Walmart Inc.
7. Hong Kong-listed China Telecom Corp, the state-owned wireless carrier blacklisted by Washington, said on Tuesday that it plans to sell shares in Shanghai to broaden its financing channels.
8. MMAG Holdings Bhd, the owner of Line Clear Express & Logistics Sdn Bhd, has invested RM8.17mil for a 9.92% in builder Dynaciate Group Bhd.
9. Indonesia hopes that the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Singapore could potentially boost two-way investment by between 18% to 22% over the next five years, said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
10. Pegasus Tech Ventures, a firm that helps corporations launch startup investment funds, announced a new partnership with Japanet today. Japanet, one of Japan’s largest television shopping companies, and Pegasus have established a US$50 million venture fund to invest in startups from around the world, including for a major new development in Nagasaki.
11. Amazon.com Inc’s Jeff Bezos on Tuesday named Andrew Steer, who leads environmental think tank World Resources Institute, as the president and chief executive officer of his US$10 billion Earth Fund.

Technology News

1. A group representing 2,000 French start-ups filed a complaint against Apple today, accusing the US company of failing to seek permission from users for personalised advertising.
2. Russian authorities are suing five social media platforms for allegedly failing to delete posts urging children to take part in illegal protests, the Interfax news agency cited a Moscow court as saying on Tuesday.
3. Dropbox announced today that it plans to acquire DocSend for US$165 million. The company helps customers share and track documents by sending a secure link instead of an attachment.
4. Miami-based Pipe is announcing a new raise — US$50 million in “strategic equity funding” from a slew of high-profile investors. Siemens’ Next47 and Jim Pallotta’s Raptor Group co-led the round, which also included participation from Shopify, Slack, HubSpot, Okta, and so on.