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19Jun By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

SoftBank led $19.5 million funding round in Splyt

TOKYO, 19th June 2020: Softbank Corp led a $19.5 million funding round in startup Splyt, which helps app operators integrate mobility options with other services, as it seeks to build its own super app. Japanese tech firms have lagged peers such as Tencent Holdings, with its WeChat app, in creating super apps, which offer access to a range of services via a single interface. SoftBank will take a "significant stake" in Splyt, which has helped integrate ridehailing into apps such as Alibaba Group's Alipay and Grab, backed by SoftBank Group Corp, with the deal focused on using the technology with its own services. SoftBank is poised to control two top contenders for a local super app, the chat app from Line Corp, which will be brought under the SoftBank umbrella in October after str...

Year’s Biggest Tech IPO- Line Launch Goes Well

Japan's Line Corp saw its shares rocket on their Tokyo debut, extending a strong start in New York the day before, and taking the value of the messaging app firm to $8.6 billion in the year's biggest tech IPO. The operator of the world's seventh most-used messaging app listed first in New York in a move widely seen as a sign of determination to challenge global peers and eventually expand beyond strongholds of Japan and Southeast Asia. However, Line's 218 million global monthly active users pale in comparison to the 1 billion of market-leader WhatsApp and 900 million of Messenger, both owned by Facebook Inc. Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat, which dominates in China, has 697 million. "We're providing the same kind of services as Facebook and Google, the internet giants of the world," Chi...

Messaging App Line Delayed IPO Launch

Japanese messaging app firm Line Corp has delayed setting a tentative price range for its initial public offering (IPO) by one day, until Tuesday, the company said in a regulatory filing, citing the "market environment". The IPO price range was originally scheduled to be announced on Monday. Line still plans to list in New York on July 14 and in Tokyo the following day, the filing showed. On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 3.6 percent, its biggest one-day drop in 10 months, and Japan's broad Topix index slid 7 percent after Britain voted to exit the European Union. The equity market in Japan recovered somewhat on Monday as the Topix closed up 1.8 percent, but the delay will allow the company to assess the market in New York and London on Monday before setting the tentative price range, a...