Golden Gate Ventures hits first close on new $100M fund for Southeast Asia

One of the fascinating things about watching an emerging startup ecosystem is that it isn’t just companies that are scaling, the very VC firms that feed them are growing themselves, too. That’s perhaps best embodied by Golden Gate Ventures, a Singapore-based firm founded by three Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in 2011 which is about to close a huge new fund for Southeast Asia.

Golden Gate started out with a small seed investment fund before raising a second worth $60 million in 2015. Now it is in the closes stages of finalizing a new $100 million fund, which has completed a first close of over $65 million in commitments, a source with knowledge of discussions told TechCrunch.

A filing lodged with the SEC in June first showed the firm’s intent to raise $100 million. The source told TechCrunch that a number of LPs from Golden Gate’s previous funds have already signed up, including Naver, while Mistletoe, the firm run by SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son’s brother Taizo, is among the new backers joining.

Golden Gate’s existing LP base also includes Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and South Korea’s Hanwha.

A full close for the fund is expected before the end of the year.

The firm has made over 40 investments to date and its portfolio includes mobile classifieds service Carousell, automotive sales startup Carro, real estate site 99.co, and payment gateway Omise. TechCrunch understands that the firm’s investment thesis will remain the same with this new fund. When it raised its second fund, founding partner Vinnie Lauria told us that Golden Gate had found its match at early-stage investing and it will remain lean and nimble like the companies it backs.

One significant change internally, however, sees Justin Hall promoted to partner at the fund. He joins Lauria, fellow founding partner Jeffrey Paine, and Michael Lints at partner level.

Hall first joined Golden Gate in 2012 as an intern while still a student, before signing on full-time in 2013. His rise through the ranks exemplifies the growth and development within Southeast Asia’s startup scene over that period — it isn’t just limited to startups themselves.

The Golden Gate Ventures team circa 2016 — it has since added new members

With the advent of unicorns such as ride-sharing firms Grab and Go-Jek, travel startup Traveloka, and e-commerce companies like Tokopedia, Southeast Asia has begun to show potential for homegrown tech companies in a market that includes over 650 million consumers and more than 300 million internet users. The emergence of these companies has spiked investor interest, which provides the capital that is the lifeblood for VCs and their funds.

Golden Gate is the only one raising big. Openspace, formerly NSI Ventures, is raising $125 million for its second fund, Jungle Ventures is said to be planning a $150 million fund, and Singapore’s Golden Equator and Korea Investment Partners have a joint $88 million fund, while Temasek-linked Vertex closed a record $210 million fund last year.

Growth potential is leading the charge but at the same time funds are beginning to focus on realizing returns for LPs through exits, which is challenging since there have been few acquisitions of meaningful size or public listings out of Southeast Asia so far. But, for smaller funds, the results are already promising.

Data from Prequin, which tracks investment money worldwide, shows that Golden Gate’s first fund has already returned a multiple of over 4X, while its second is at 1.3 despite a final close in 2016.

Beyond any secondary sales — it is not uncommon for early-stage backers to sell a minority portion of equity as more investment capital pours in — Golden Gate’s exits have included the sale of Redmart to Lazada (although not a blockbuster), Priceline’s acquisition of Woomoo, Line’s acquisition of Temanjalan and the sale of Mapan (formerly Ruma) to Go-Jek.

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Bird’s electric scooters are going international

Electric scooter startup Bird, the one worth $2 billion, is going international. This does not come as a surprise given TechCrunch’s June report that Bird was looking to expand to Europe. Today, Bird is launching a pilot program in Paris to see how the electric scooter service operates in a city with more than two million people.

“Paris is very forward-thinking on solving congestion issues and is one of the cities that’s dealing with the most congestion and pollution,” Bird Head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa Patrick Studener told TechCrunch.

Bird is also gearing up to deploy some scooters in Tel Aviv, where the company says it’s chatting with Tel Aviv University and some municipalities about making something work in those areas, Studener said. In Tel Aviv, Bird will charge 5 shekels to start and then 50 agorot per minute.

As Bird expands to international markets, it’s worth noting that competitor Lime has operated its bikes and scooters outside of the U.S. for quite some time. Last December, Lime brought its bikes to a number of European cities and then, in June, Lime brought its scooters to Paris. Lime also recently raised a $335 million round and teamed up with transportation behemoth Uber.

In Paris, Bird scooters will cost €1 to start followed by €0.15 per minute, which is exactly how much Lime charges. Bird says Paris city officials know the company is planning to deploy about 100 scooters in the city. But this isn’t an official partnership of sorts, Studener said.

“In both cities we’ve started conversations at the national and city levels with officials,” Studener said. “Our approach is to be very collaborative. Almost every city that I’m speaking to, their north star is very much aligned with our north star — and that’s reducing car ownership.”

Since launching last November in Santa Monica, Calif., Bird hasn’t always had the best relationships with city regulators. Upon deploying some scooters in Santa Monica, the city filed criminal complaints against Bird for the company’s failure to obtain a vendor permit. Fast forward to June, and the city implemented a pilot program to impose some regulations on scooter companies like Bird, Lime and others.

Studener and the rest of the European team is based in Amsterdam, though, Bird has not yet deployed its scooters in the Dutch city. As head of EMEA, Studener has his eyes on a number of markets but for this week, he is focused on “going from just being in the U.S. to going internationally. That’s step one.”

In response to a question about Africa, Studener said Bird is still evaluating which African markets would be ripe for Bird scooters.

He said, “I definitely am keen to get that solution there as well because there is especially a very young and innovative population there that are very quick to adopt new solutions.”

With Lime teaming up with Uber, can rival Bird afford to go it alone?

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Uber and Lyft encourage NYC customers to oppose proposed ride-hail cap legislation

Uber is making calls to some of its customers in New York City, offering to connect them to local council members to express their opposition to the proposed legislation that would cap the number of ride-hailing drivers in the city, BuzzFeed first reported. Meanwhile, Lyft is also reaching out to its NYC-based riders, asking them to contact their local officials.

For context, the NYC city council is currently considering legislation that would limit the number of ride-hail drivers on the road. Specifically, the proposal wants to place a one-year hold on the issuance of new for-hire vehicle licenses, unless the vehicles are wheelchair accessible.

This legislation would affect Uber, Lyft, Juno and Via — all of which operate ride-hailing services in the city. The deadline to submit an amended version of the proposal is tonight at midnight, so the clock is ticking.

Anyway, some people seem to be a bit upset about receiving calls from Uber, but Uber Director of Public Affairs Jason Post told TechCrunch the calls are simply one of its tactics that is consistent with its terms of services.

Uber is not calling every single customer in the city, Post said, but the company is making enough calls to yield a few dozen calls per council member. Though, why people are answering calls from unknown numbers is beyond me.

Uber is also employing an in-app takeover that notifies passengers of the legislative landscape in NYC.

“Uber has launched an App takeover so New Yorkers can read the Council’s bills for themselves,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. “We believe New Yorkers will join us in supporting living wages for drivers and opposing a cap that will harm outer borough riders who have come to rely on Uber because of the unreliable, or non-existent subway.”

Lyft says the proposals would affect wait times, driver earnings and job opportunities.

“Worst of all, the proposals prioritize corporate medallion owners above the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers,” a Lyft spokesperson said. “And while many are saying that this a cap would not diminish service, based on Lyft’s internal driver attrition trends, we believe the industry’s annual churn rate is at least 25%, meaning available drivers for New York City ride-share would shrink significantly within the next year if a cap were imposed, massively undercutting service levels across the board and in particular in outer-borough neighborhoods.”

Lyft’s VP of public policy, Joseph Okpaku, also noted in a Medium post that the cap would have even worse effects on communities of color.

“For communities of color, who, before the arrival of ridesharing, were denied equal transportation options, the impact will be felt even more strongly,” he wrote. “It will return us to the days when African-American and Latino New Yorkers had to worry whether they would get a ride every time they raised their hand to hail a cab.”

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We will take Kashmir from Pakistan soon: says indian minister, Yogi Adityanath

In a news comfrence the indian minister of kerala who is very near friend of Mr modi, The Prime minister of india Yogi Adiyanaat said "As Pti came in to the Government of Pakistan we have secretly contacted imran khan to sell Kashmir to India and he is ready For A fair deal.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Pakistan’s prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan to congratulate him on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerging as largest political party in the recent election.

The Ministry of External Affairs press notesaid that Modi spoke about his vision for peace and development in South Asia, while the read-out from the Pakistani political party claimed that Indian prime minister suggested evolution of a “joint strategy” for progress in their bilateral affairs.

The MEA released a statement on Monday night noting that Modi had called Khan earlier in the evening to convey a personal congratulatory message.

“Prime Minister spoke to Mr Imran Khan, chairperson of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party and congratulated him for his party emerging as the largest political party in the National Assembly of Pakistan in the recently conducted general elections,” said the MEA communique.

PTI has emerged the winner of parliamentary elections with 116 seats, with the previous ruling party Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) obtaining just 64 seats. Khan’s party is currently involved in negotiations to cobble together a coalition by talking to smaller parties.

The MEA press release noted that Modi “expressed hope that democracy will take deeper roots in Pakistan”.

The “prime minister also reiterated his vision of peace and development in the entire neighbourhood,” it added.

In Islamabad, Imran Khan’s party released a a set of highlights of the conversation which quoted Modi as talking about a “new era” and “joint strategy in bilateral relations.

“Pakistan ke saath taaluqaat mein naye daur ka aaghaaz par taiyaar hain – Bharatiya vazeer e azam (We are ready for the beginning of a new era in relations with Pakistan – Indian prime minister),” said the PTI press note.

It further stated that Modi had advocated a more active approach. “Muamlaat aagey badhaaney ke liye donon mumalik ko mushtarka hikmat-amli apnana hoga – Bharatiya vazeer-e-azam (Both countries should adopt a joint strategy for progress in bilateral affairs – Indian prime minister)”.

During this conversation, Imran Khan told Modi that solutions to disputes should be found through dialogue, as per the PTI press release, which made no mention of the ‘Kashmir’.

He further stated that the two governments should devise a joint plan of action on poverty alleviation. “Instead of answers to conflicts, wars and bloodbath give birth to tragedies,” Khan told Modi, as per the press release.

Khan’s remarks mirrored those that he made in his victory speech on July 25.

Along with Modi’s purported call for a “joint strategy”, there was no direct mention in the MEA press statement about Imran Khan’s offer in his election victory speech to hold talks with India and stop the “blame game” on Kashmir.

“The leadership of Pakistan and India now need to come to the table to resolve this and end the blame games,” he said on July 25, adding “we are stuck now in square one”.

Modi’s phone call was his first direct contact with Imran after they had met in New Delhi in December 2015. At that time, both leaders had hoped for “closer cooperative ties between the two countries”.

India’s first response to the elections came on Saturday when it had welcomed the fact that the “people of Pakistan have reposed their faith in democracy through general elections”.

“India desires a prosperous and progressive Pakistan at peace with its neighbours. We hope that the new Government of Pakistan will work constructively to build a safe, stable, secure and developed South Asia free of terror and violence,” said the MEA spokesperson.

Modi’s call to the victor came two days after the results were formally announced, in contrast to the congratulatory message Manmohan Singh had delivered to Nawaz Sharif when the latter won the 2013 elections.

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Apple says it has over 4M people in its beta programs for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS (Greg Kumparak/TechCrunch)

Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Apple says it has over 4M people in its beta programs for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS  —  For the past few years, Apple has made early versions of its operating systems available to those willing to brave the bugs.  Through its beta software program, anyone willing to deal with spotty battery life …

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Four million people are using Apple’s OS betas

For the past few years, Apple has made early versions of its operating systems available to those willing to brave the bugs. Through its beta software program, anyone willing to deal with spotty battery life or a crash or three could load up pre-release builds of iOS, macOS, watchOS, or tvOS.

Ever wonder how many actually take advantage of it?

According to Tim Cook on today’s earnings call, over four million people are currently running on the betas.

Alas, that’s as detailed as he got. He didn’t break down which platforms had the most beta users (though I’d bet iOS or macOS lead the way), nor what percentage of that beta group was developers (accessing the beta to debug their apps before the update) vs consumers (who just want to poke around the new goods early.)

For reference: as of February of 2018, Apple had 1.3 billion active devices across Apple TV, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Mac. So if each of the users Tim Cook mentioned is running a beta OS on one device, that’s around 0.3% of active devices running on a beta.

While that percentage might not sound huge, having four million people happily stress test your software before you officially ship it is a rare stength that few other companies can claim. Still, Apple has had a few rather glaring bugs slip through the cracks; from the annoying but forgettable bug that borked the letter “i” in iOS for a few days, to more severe security issues like the root user bug discovered in macOS at the end of last year. Could Apple be doing more to encourage pre-release bug hunting?

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Apple sold 3.7M Macs in Q3, down 9% QoQ and down 13% YoY, with a 5% decline in Mac revenue YoY (Matt Weinberger/INSIDER)

Matt Weinberger / INSIDER:
Apple sold 3.7M Macs in Q3, down 9% QoQ and down 13% YoY, with a 5% decline in Mac revenue YoY  —  - While Apple says that it's investing in the Mac, it's also had a series of MacBook Pro-related embarrassments that have caused some to doubt its focus.  —  Apple reported its quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

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Apple Pay is finally coming to CVS and 7-Eleven, and will soon expand to Germany

Longtime Apple Pay holdout CVS will finally be adding support for Apple’s mobile payments platform this fall, along with 7-Eleven, Apple CEO Tim Cook said this afternoon on the company’s earnings call. The news is particularly notable because CVS was one of the first major retailers to snub Apple Pay, choosing instead to launch its own barcode-based mobile payments solution “CVS Pay” back in 2016, following the failure of the retailer-backed Apple Pay rival CurrentC.

CVS Pay had become the first mobile payments solution the pharmacy chain adopted, having purposefully avoided support for Apple Pay or any other rival NFC (tap to pay) technologies at its register. The company believed there was value in offering its own end-to-end solution to customers that combined both payments and loyalty, it had said.

In addition, CVS had earlier backed an Apple Pay alternative called CurrentC, which was developed by the merchant consortium MCX led by major retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, Rite Aid and others. The QR code-based payments solution was designed to challenge Apple’s potential dominance in mobile payments. Many of the retailers even blocked Apple Pay at their stores in advance of bringing CurrentC to market.

However, CurrentC eventually failed and the technology was sold off to JPMorgan Chase in 2017. Some of its backers – like Best Buy and Rite Aid – had also relented, by allowing Apple Pay into their stores. But CVS did not. It instead moved forward with its own solution.

That it has now decided to also support Apple Pay is a major win for Apple, as is the addition of 7-Eleven to the list of retailers that will soon offer Apple Pay at checkout.

The retail expansions weren’t the only big Apple Pay news announced on the call.

Cook also said that Apple Pay would launch in Germany – but didn’t offer a timeframe for this launch. And he noted that Apple Pay saw more than 1 billion transactions in the 3rd quarter of 2018. That’s triple the number from a year ago, and more mobile transactions than Square and PayPal, he noted.

 

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Spotify now offers motion comics starring Archie

Spotify has been experimenting with incorporating non-musical formats over the last couple of years, including videos and multimedia podcasts. Next up: Motion comics based on new Archie stories.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping track of the comics incarnations of Archie and his friends, the title was recently rebooted by writer Mark Waid (Kingdom Come) and artist Fiona Staples (Saga). While I was initially skeptical about the need to mess with the characters’ classic designs, I found the first collection to be a perfectly enjoyable combination of teen comedy and soap opera.

Now, as announced in Nerdist, the first six issues have been transformed by digital comics startup Madefire with music and voice acting.

It’s still a comic book, and you can still see Staples’ gorgeous art, but it’s a story that you hit a “play” button to experience, rather than turning any pages. (Madefire and its CEO Ben Wolstenholme prefer the term “motion books” to distinguish the format from the cheesy motion comics of the past, but I suspect the distinction is lost on most readers.)

You can find them on Spotify as Spotlight: Archie — The New Riverdale.

Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater said told Nerdist that “Archie has always been about trying to find new ways to get comics to fans and readers,” and said that working with Spotify was “a perfect match.”

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Apple's "other products" revenue was $3.74B in Q3, up 37% YoY, and wearables revenue, which includes Apple Watch and AirPods, grew 60% YoY (Juli Clover/MacRumors)

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple's “other products” revenue was $3.74B in Q3, up 37% YoY, and wearables revenue, which includes Apple Watch and AirPods, grew 60% YoY  —  Apple's “Other Products” category, which includes AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iPod touch, HomePod, Beats products …

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