Catherine Shu
Writer
The Latest from Catherine Shu
Filipino live streaming app Kumu raises $5 million Series A led by Openspace Ventures
Kumu Holdings, a live streaming startup based in the Philippines, announced today it has raised about $5 million in Series A funding, earmarked for new features and growing its operations. The round w
Reddit announces updates, including a new subreddit, to increase political ad transparency
Reddit announced an update to its policy for political advertising that will require campaigns to leave comments open on ads for the first 24 hours. The platform also launched a new subreddit, r/Reddi
Mighty Jaxx raises $3.2M for MightyVerse, its platform for tech-enabled collectible figures
Mighty Jaxx, which makes licensed collectibles, has raised 4.5 million Singapore dollars (about $3.2 million) in funding for MightyVerse, its platform for tech-enabled figures. Led by the investment a
Japanese payment service provider Paidy raises $48M from ITOCHU
Paidy, a Japanese fintech startup that allows customers to make online purchases without credit cards, announced today that it has raised a $48 million Series C extension from ITOCHU. The company says
Rakuten Mobile’s low-cost data plan fully launches in Japan
Rakuten Mobile announced the full commercial launch of its low-cost data plan in Japan today. Priced at 2,980 yen (about $27) per month, the plan gives users unlimited calls and data where Rakuten has
MyBuddy.ai, a virtual tutor for kids learning English, raises $1M seed round
MyBuddy.ai, a startup that develops virtual tools to help kids learn English, announced today that it has raised $1 million in seed funding from LETA Capital. The capital will be used to expand into n
Hong Kong startup Neat raises $11M Series A to give small companies more financial services
Neat, a Hong Kong-based fintech startup, announced today that it has raised a $11 million Series A to help small businesses do cross-border trade. The round was led by Pacific Century Group, with part
Taiwan’s government bars its agencies from using Zoom over security concerns
Taiwan’s Executive Yuan issued an advisory on Tuesday barring the country’s government agencies from using Zoom and other video software with “associated security or privacy concerns.”
How Homage is tackling Southeast Asia’s growing eldercare need
The world’s population is aging, but the needs of elderly people are still being underserved. A United Nations report found that older people make up more than one-fifth of the population in 17 coun
Grab hires Peter Oey as its chief financial officer
Grab announced today that it has hired Peter Oey as its new chief financial officer. Prior to joining Grab, Oey was the chief financial officer at LegalZoom, an online legal services company based nea
How child care startups in the U.S. are helping families cope with the COVID-19 crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of billions of people around the world. For many parents with young children in the United States, shelter-in-place orders implemented in different areas ov
Notarize to add 1,000 online notaries to address demand for remote transactions
Notarize, the platform that enables digital notarizations, announced that it is adding 1,000 notaries to address demand as more Americans are ordered to shelter in place because of the COVID-19 pandem
EPA relaxes enforcement of environmental laws during the COVID-19 outbreak
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday that it is temporarily relaxing enforcement of environmental regulations and fines during the COVID-19 outbreak. The ̶
Netflix is currently down for many users around the world
Netflix is currently experiencing outages around the world, but affecting mostly users in the United States and Europe. According to Down Detector, users began reporting issues around 12 PM Eastern St
Senate, White House reach deal on $2 trillion stimulus package to lessen COVID-19’s economic impact
After five days of negotiations, Senate leaders and the Trump administration said early Wednesday morning they have reached a deal on a $2 trillion stimulus package to help relieve the economic impact
The CDC launches a ‘coronavirus self-checker’ bot called Clara for people in the United States
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced a bot over the weekend to help people make decisions about what to do if they have potential symptoms of COVID-19. Called Clara, the R
Canada, Australia pull athletes out of Olympics, as the IOC says it will consider postponing Tokyo Games
The Canadian Olympic Committee announced that it will not send athletes to the Tokyo Olympic Games, as the International Olympic Committee weighs a decision on whether or not to postpone the event dur
Facebook’s $1,000 bonus only applies to full-time employees working from home, not contractors
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an internal memo earlier this week that the company will give employees working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic a $1,000 cash bonus. But, as the Intercept f
UNESCO updates distance-learning guide for the 776.7 million children worldwide affected by school closures
As schools around the world close or move classes online to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, many parents and educators are scrambling for ideas. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Facebook, Reddit, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube issue joint statement on misinformation
In an unprecedented move to reassure customers and flag the potential for misinformation about COVID-19 on their platforms, all of the major social media companies and their parent corporations issued