The Overseas Daily | Mingchuang Premium submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; Sephora entered Vietnam

·Large Company·

Minchuang Premium submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

On the 1st, Minchuang Premium officially submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning to carry out a dual major listing in Hong Kong, with Bank of America, Haitong International and UBS Group acting as joint sponsors. According to the prospectus, for the six months ended December 31, 2021, Minchuang Premium's revenue increased by 24.2% to RMB5,426.9 million, and adjusted net profit increased by 114.2% to RMB398.6 million. As of the end of last year, Miniso Premium products have entered 100 countries and regions around the world, with more than 5,000 stores worldwide. In the prospectus, MINISO said that the net proceeds raised from the listing in Hong Kong will be mainly used for the expansion and upgrading of the store network; supply chain improvement and product development; enhancement of technical capabilities; continued investment in brand promotion and cultivation; or acquisition or investment in businesses or assets complementary to its business; and for operating funds and general corporate purposes. (E-commerce Newspaper)

Microsoft's acquisition process mined company Mini to develop automated services

On the 1st, Microsoft acquired Mini, a process mining technology supplier from Bratislava, Slovakia, at an undisclosed price, Microsoft launched a new feature of Power Automate in 2019, and acquired RPA software provider Softomotive a year later to get involved in process mining. Minit was founded in 2015 by Rasto Hlavac, which is developing process mining tools for enterprise customers. Process mining, also known as task discovery, involves discovering root-cause workflow issues and bottlenecks by extracting data from systems including desktops, email applications, and workflows. It is a key part of robotic process automation (RPA), a technology that promises to automate monotonic, repetitive tasks traditionally performed by humans while generating logs to identify potential cost savings. （techcrunch）

Former dLocal executive launched a financial project with a $6 million seed round

On the 1st, Sergio Fogel, co-founder of the Latin American Uruguayan unicorn dLocal, partnered with Gonzalo Strauss, the former product head of AstroPay, to launch a financial project called Datanomik. Datanomik's goal is to grow B2B businesses and open financial APIs to connect financial institutions in Latin America. Datanomik has raised a $6 million seed round, led by A16z. The funding represents a16z's first investment in Uruguay and one of its largest seed rounds in Latin America. Although its headquarters are based in Uruguay, Datanomik's main target market is Brazil, and it was revealed that the company wants to expand its products throughout Latin America. （techcrunch）

·Cross-border e-commerce·

Luwjistik, a SaaS platform for the logistics industry, completed a financing, invested by Trihill Capital

On the 1st, Singapore-based SaaS platform Luwjistik expanded its seed round after recently receiving investment from Trihill Capital. Luwjistik has a team of nearly 30 employees working remotely in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. It serves 70 logistics partners and 12 institutional customers in 10 countries. The company is currently focused on catering to the Southeast Asian logistics market, which is expected to reach $55.7 billion by 2025. Founded in 2021, Luwjistik offers a SaaS platform that provides API integration for logistics companies to connect with their chosen partners in overseas markets and track each transaction completed. （tech in asia）

E-commerce user purchase forecasting company Black Crow AI raised $25 million

Black Crow AI, a company that provides data analytics to retailers, today announced that it has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Imaginary Ventures. New York-based Black Crow was founded in 2020. The idea behind Black Crow was to create a platform that could provide e-commerce-related predictions through APIs that integrated with existing workflows, tools, and software. Black Crow runs on the retailer's website and uses streaming event data from the customer's browser to train AI models and generate predictions (such as what kind of product a customer might buy) while the user is still on the website. Black Crow's predictions — covering things like churn, customer experience, and marketing spend — could be delivered within 15 milliseconds of a user taking action in their web browser, and then flow into "all business-critical systems." （techcrunch）

·Southeast Asia·

Sephora enters Vietnam

Beauty retailer Sephora has officially entered the Vietnamese market through an online store after five months of initial attempts. Local Vietnamese customers can buy directly online from Sephora's website, but there is no word yet about whether the global brand will open a physical store. About 90% of the Vietnamese cosmetics market is made up of foreign brands, with Korean products first, followed by European and Japanese brands. It is estimated that the local cosmetics market in Vietnam is about US$514 million. Sephora officially entered the Asian market with its first store openings in South Korea, Hong Kong and New Zealand in 2019. It now has 200 stores in 16 countries across Asia. （tech in asia）

Airwallex launches cross-border payment services in Malaysia

On the 1st, Airwallex (AirWallex) is a Financial Technology Platform headquartered in Hong Kong. After obtaining a money services licence from Bank Negara Malaysia in August last year, cross-border payment services have been launched in Malaysia. Airwallex was founded in 2015 by Jack Zhang and Max Li. The company was founded in Melbourne and has raised more than $800 million and is currently valued at around $5.5 billion. To date, the company has recruited more than 1,000 employees and tens of thousands of customers. Earlier this year, the unicorn startup expanded to Singapore after receiving a major payments agency license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. （tech in asia）

·India·

Indian supply chain startups received $36 million in funding

Supply chain startup Wiz Freight raised $36 million in its first funding round, led by Tiger Global, which raised $3.5 million in an Axilor-led seed round last August. Founded in 2020, Wiz Freight uses its patented technology platform to provide end-to-end freight management solutions including quoting, booking management, freight tracking, documentation, freight financing and customer support. The company provides cross-sea, air and road freight solutions, as well as value-added services such as door-to-door pickup and delivery, customs clearance, road logistics and warehousing. (Zhu Dao)

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·Others·

Tushop, a Kenyan social group buying platform, raised $3 million in financing

Tushop, a social commerce platform in Kenya that enables group buying of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), will expand in Nairobi after raising $3 million in pre-seed funding in a round of funding led by 4DX Ventures. Founded last year by cathy Chepkemboi, who is also CEO, Tushop uses community leaders who collect orders from neighbors and support last-mile deliveries. Each community leader has a virtual store where neighbors place orders, and Tushop aggregates these orders into bulk orders from manufacturers or other producers, such as farmers. Chepkemboi says this arrangement can save shoppers up to 60 percent even if they earn a referral fee on sales. The startup plans to grow its business in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, before expanding to the rest of the country. （techcrunch）

Chief, an internet company that trains women's leadership skills, received $100 million in financing

On the 1st, the Internet company Chief, which aims to cultivate women's leadership skills, has just raised $100 million in Series B financing, led by Alphabet's CapitalG. As part of the transaction, partner Laela Sturdy will join the Board of Directors. Chief implements a membership system, and the chief member includes more than 12,000 senior executives from more than 8,500 companies, including HBO, American Express, Nike, Google, Goldman Sachs, NASA, Chobani, Pfizer, Apple and so on. The startup says there are more than 60,000 subsequent female members worldwide. （techcrunch）

Instant delivery company Gopuff is poised to lay off hundreds of employees

On the 1st, the instant delivery company Gopuff is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees, accounting for about 3% of its total global workforce. Another person familiar with the move said the layoffs were part of an effort to reduce annual headcount costs by at least $40 million. The Philadelphia-based company employs about 15,000 people. The company announced a new $1.5 billion funding round last December, valued at $40 billion. It is scheduled to go on sale in mid-2022. （the information)