Thailand

Lazada, the e-commerce site founded by Rocket Internet in a bid to build the “Amazon of Southeast Asia,” announced today that it has landed another $100 million from returning investors Holtzbrinck Ventures, Kinnevik Investment AB, Summit Partners and Tengelmann Group, as well as new investor, Belgian-based family-owned investment holding company Verlinvest. This is the largest single round that Lazada has raised to date, and brings its total amount of funding raised since its launch in March 2012 to more than $236 million. News of Lazada’s latest and biggest funding round comes just one month after Zalora, Rocket Internet’s Southeast Asia-facing fashion retail site, announced that it had also raised $100 million in a round led by many of the same investors, including Rocket Internet, Summit Partners, Kinnevik Investment AB, Verlinvest and Tengelmann Group. The two rounds are among the largest ever for e-commerce startups in the region. Lazada operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The site has a lot of room for growth in the region, but also a lot of catching up to do because, according to its own estimates, 99% of Southeast Asian consumers still prefer to do their shopping offline. CEO Maximilian Bittner told Reuters that Lazada’s latest funding will be used to improve logistics and the company’s supply chain, a key factor in the the site’s growth across the region, especially since key rival Amazon announced earlier this month that it would ship some items from the U.S. to Singapore and India for free. Like Amazon, Lazada offers a mix of books, household goods, consumer electronics, toys and sports equipment. The company is also readying the launch of its iOS app, an important move because many Southeast Asian consumers bypass PCs and rely solely on their mobile devices for Internet access (Lazada already has an Android app). Rocket Internet’s continued investment in Lazada, Zalora and its other e-commerce sites in emerging markets represent a departure from its previous strategy operating as a “clone factory” that copies high-growth online sites and then flips them for a profit–often to the very businesses cloned (for example, when Rocket Internet sold Citydeal to Groupon in 2010). Instead, Rocket Internet is now focused on positioning itself as an e-commerce leader in emerging economies with rapidly-growing middle class consumers. Other retail sites Rocket Internet has launched in emerging markets include fashion site Lamoda in Russia (which raised $130 million in funding earlier this month), Zappos clone Namshi in the Middle East, home furnishings site Mobly in Brazil and African retail site Jumia.

Yesterday had planned to visit the Grand Palace however got to Wat Pho first so slight change of plan. The day started I with a short trip on the BTS Skyrail which is a great way of getting around Bangkok quick easy and cheap you avoid all the traffic. Arrived at Sachan Taksin which is the stop which gets you to the Chao Phraya river. Walked under the bridge and on to the jetty which was very wo

Rocket Internet is bringing yet more investment to its e-commerce businesses in Southeast Asia, after Lazada — its Amazon-like marketplace service — announced the closure of a $100 million round of investment. The deal comes less than one month after its sister site — fashion store Zalora — also raised $100 million. The round is unparalleled by any other from a startup in Southeast Asia — Zalora aside — and it includes participation from existing investors (which are regular Rocket Internet co-investors): Holtzbrinck Ventures, Kinnevik, Summit Partners and Tengelmann Group. Belgium-based consumer investment firm Verlinvest also partook and becomes a new stakeholder in one-year-old Lazada. If you’re struggling to keep up with Lazada and its fundraising activities at this point, we quite understand. So, let’s break it down. The company launched in March 2012 and went on to announce four rounds of funding, today’s not included: JP Morgan invested ‘upwards of $50 million’ in September 2012, Kinnevik provided $40 million in November 2012, Summit Partners added $26 million in December 2012 and Tengelmann Group injected around $20 million in January 2012. All in all, this latest figure included, that amounts to at least $236 million in money from investors. That’s quite a haul for a company that just passed its first anniversary, let alone one that is in Southeast Asia, where funding deals are arranged at far more modest levels. Lazada operates in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. It began selling consumer electronics items, but today its range is as diverse as books, home appliances, kids and babies items and more. It accepts multiple credit cards, as well as cash on delivery — a big issue in markets where credit card and bank account ownership are low. Like Zalora — the head of which we recently interviewed — Lazada is aiming to build an e-commerce business to serve Southeast Asia. Amazon only began shipping to some markets in the region this year, and Japanese Web retail giant Rakuten has a fragmented presence. Most other Western retailers are busy prioritizing other markets. That may be down to a long-held belief that cultural, political, linguistic and geographical barriers make the region difficult to focus on; however Lazada aims to overcome them all. Following the lead of other ventures backed by Germany’s Samwer brothers and their Rocket Internet incubator, the company is focused on building the logistics and infrastructure that will allow it to offer a “world-class” selection of products that are delivered within one or two days to any location across the region. Lazada CEO Maximillian Bittner tells TNW that he believes Southeast Asia represents a “high single-digit billion US dollar opportunity” for e-commerce within the next five years, and he’s keen to see his company lead that market. The Lazada service adjusted its model and adopted a marketplace-style approach this year, going on to pass one million orders within the last month. Like most Rocket Internet-backed businesses, Bittner does not reveal raw financial figures for Lazada, but he does say the firm sold ‘three-digit million euros’ in gross merchandise volume (GMV) — i.e total goods on its site — last month; unfortunately that’s suitably vague for us to gain no real insight into its finances. However, we do know Lazada is not yet profitable. Bittner tells TNW that there is a “clear roadmap to profitability”, which he estimates will come by the latter end of 2014. That’s a statement that bears striking resemblance to an estimation made by Zalora MD Michele Ferrario, who said his company would be profitable by 2015. “There’s no reason e-commerce shouldn’t be big in Southeast Asia,” Bittner explains. “There are a number of ‘social media capital cities’ [Bangkok and Jakarta are among the world's most populous Facebook cities], while tens of millions of people use messaging apps like Line, all of which indicates that there’s clearly a strong

More than 9000 Nissan Pulsar sedans have been affected by a defect that can cause their engines to stall, though none of the cars are subject to an official recall. In a statement, Nissan Australia says the fault “does not warrant a safety recall”, and has instead initiated a voluntary service campaign to repair the 9272 affected Pulsar sedans. “This service campaign was initiated as stalling may occur under certain conditions at low speeds – approximately 10-60km/h with the accelerator pedal in the ‘off’ position,” Nissan Australia’s statement explains. “The car can be restarted if stalling does occur.” The Japanese car maker says the service campaign affects Nissan Pulsar sedans produced in Thailand and equipped with the brand’s 96kW/174Nm 1.8-litre four-cylinder ‘MRA8DE’ petrol engine. “Nissan dealers reprogram the engine control module in affected cars to rectify any unexpected engine speed dropping,” the statement continues. “Nissan is committed to a high level of customer service and satisfaction and has worked with its dealers to promptly address this issue.” Nissan says the majority of defective vehicles were either on their way to Australia or still in dealerships when the service campaign was announced and had the rectification work applied before being sold. A total of 3619 affected Pulsar sedans were sold before the service campaign was issued, while approximately 1000 others had been distributed to fleets. Nissan Australia contacted all owners and fleet managers by registered mail last month to alert them to the service campaign, which is being conducted free of charge to customers. The Nissan Pulsar engine stalling issue emerges as Volkswagen Australia recalls 33,941 Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda cars across the country to repair a defect with the vehicles’ seven-speed ‘DSG’ dual-clutch automatic transmissions that can lead to a loss of engine power. The post Nissan Pulsar engine stalling issue prompts service campaign, not recall appeared first on CarAdvice.

The 3rd Refugee Film Festival 20-23 June in Bangkok

“They say, ‘Oh, so this was in Thailand, this was in China’, and I say ‘no, this was Los Angeles, this was down the street’”– Lydia Emily This harrowing yet hopeful short film introduces us to Jessica, a young woman who suffered sexual abuse from the age of 3, and later was kidnapped and forced into an almost unimaginable life of sexual slavery. Artist Lydia Emily, who discloses her own past abuse, created a mural inspired by Jessica’s survival story that stands as a defiant monument of hope when things seem utterly hopeless. The post Jessica’s Story ~ Mural by Lydia Emily, Short Film by Libby Spears appeared first on L.A. TACO.

Two recent articles analysing Prime Minister Najib Razak and UMNO’s GE13 campaign by Clive Kessler published on New Mandala had received more than the usual interesting responses. It must have struck a nerve at the core of the Prime Minister’s office, requiring a response from The Choice, a blog that is supportive of Prime Minister Najib Razak. The Choice has a two part piece [HERE and HERE] ‘criticising’ Clive’s analysis. Clive has naturally responded in the way that only Clive can — to their two part ‘criticism’ HERE. New Mandala readers may also want to have a read of Helen Ang’s take of Clive Kessler’s analysis. I welcome readers opinion on what they think of all these articles. Now a note from Clive. ———- What happened in GE13, and what now? A correction. Clive Kessler A correction,  if I may now put it on record, to my two-part GE13 retrospective. Owing to a “glitch” in the GE13 database that I was using, I misstated the numbers of Umno’s overall representation in the Dewan Rakyat and its overwhelming preponderance in BN’s peninsular representation. Somehow, the seats that Umno won in Labuan and East Malaysia were included with its peninsular  successes. This error should not be allowed to stand uncorrected. I originally suggested that Umno now holds 88 of 100 peninsular seats that were won by BN. In fact, Umno now holds 74 of BN’s 86 peninsular seats, plus 14 more in Labuan and Sabah. Interested readers should note the change in those numbers. I apologise for the error in my original account of the situation. This change in numbers does not change the nature, or the basic force, of my overall argument about the increased domination of government ranks and parliament that Umno achieved at GE13, despite the decline in BN’s Dewan Rakyat representation from 140 to 133. I thank Andrew Khoo for calling this error to my attention. * Clive Kessler is Emeritus Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

First 2 Board | First2Board Very Good PointsI love the Westin Siray Bay. I’ve been four times now and I’ve never been disappointed. I was at the hotel the second week it was open – I can’t believe that was already three years ago! The Westin Siray Bay is near Phuket Thailand and about 40 minutes from the Phuket Airport.  This is the type of hotel where you’d want to go spend a long weekend and just relax.  The pools are spectacular and the other facilities are very nice as well. I have no affiliation with Starwood, so I just think this is a great deal if you’re planning a trip to Thailand this summer. For THB 3,333 (plus taxes) or around $108 USD you get: Nightly accommodation with ocean views Daily buffet breakfast for two persons In-room WIFI Internet access 20% off on food and non-alcoholic beverages when dining at restaurant. 20% off on all a la carte spa treatments plus a complimentary 20-minute add on treatment when book a treatment at Heavenly Spa by Westin™ 50% off on hotel sports activities and Westin Kids Club® activities 20% off on laundry services Offer is valid for stays booked between June 10, 2013 and August 14, 2013 and completed between July 18, 2013 andAugust 14, 2013.  Check out this deal if you’re in Thailand during these dates. The post Westin Siray Bay Celebrates 3rd Anniversary With Special Rates appeared first on First2Board.

A former flight attendant built this gorgeous dome house in a remote area of Thailand for just $8,000!

Anger over reduced rice price; TCC urges review of policy