VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Online video platform Viddsee launched its new site Viddsee BUZZ to promote independent films from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines on social media and help them go viral.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based taxi app GrabTaxi closed its Series A round with more than $1 million from Singaporean state-owned investment firm Vertex Ventures to conquer Southeast Asia.

Bangkok, Thailand-based digital publication platform Ookbee landed $7 million in a Series B funding led by Japanese outsourcing firm Transcosmos to fuel its Southeast Asian expansion.

Berlin, Germany-based price comparison website PricePanda launched in Thailand after raising $3 million from Tengelmann Group, as part of its campaign to expand to South Asian countries.

In a deal that marks its second investment in Southeast Asia, SoftBank Ventures Korea poured an undisclosed amount into Bangkok, Thailand-based online game operator Ini3 Digital to acquire a 23% equity in the said company.

Japan-based mobile messaging app Line will launch an open sticker marketplace called Line Creators Market in April and will also release a Skype-like service in five countries.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group invested CNY210.5 million ($30.7 million) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based restaurant chain Secret Recipe, according to a report by Shanghai's China Business News.

Thailand-based online entertainment firm Asiasoft Corporation Public Company Ltd is buying out the entire 30% stake of Philippine-based online game publisher IP E-Game in Level-Up to gain a 70% controlling stake in the latter.

Karl Slym, managing director of India-based automotive firm Tata Motors Ltd, was found dead after falling from the 22nd floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Thailand in what police suspect as a suicide case.

Malaysia will implement a new policy that will selectively allow foreign auto makers to manufacture small passenger cars, according to the chief executive officer of a trade ministry unit.

Swiss insurer ACE Ltd agreed to buy a 60.9% stake in Thai insurance firm Siam Commercial Samaggi Insurance in a $185 million deal as it joins other insurance in making its presence felt in Southeast Asian insurance markets, Reuters reported.

Lazada, the "Amazon of Asia" has raised USD250 million from Rocket Internet to mainstream the company's position as the largest online retailer in Southeast Asia.

Japan's Toshiba Corp. and German real estate major Gagfah SAS entered a joint venture to sell energy directly to residents in Germany. The deal could bring in a revenue of USD184 million to USD233 million to the Japanese conglomerate.

Japanese electronics company TDK Corporation on Monday said that its Thailand-based subsidiary Magnecomp Precision Technology will buy two HDD-related companies from American manufacturer Entrotech Inc.

The new collateral-free microfinance program set to be implemented next year by the Finance Ministry of Thailand to fight illegal loan sharks may not gain wide acceptance due to its high interest rate, according to a report on The Nation.