Square Buys Kili Technology For Payment Hardware; HQ To Become Toronto Office

(GNN) - Mobile payments and retail tech company Square has acquired Kili Technology, a Toronto-based startup specializing in silicon, electronic and software design for improvement payment processing.

The newly-acquired company will remain in Toronto, which will now act as a second Canadian office for Square, which had previously opened its country HQ in Waterloo, home of one of the most-respected engineering schools in North America.

Kili is made up of a team of payment industry veterans, including co-founder’s Greg Wolfond (who founded his first financial software company in 1983 and exited to IBM in 1995) and Afshin Rezayee (whose previous experience includes secure electronics design at SecureKey and other companies). The company produces custom system-on-chips aimed at providing FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) level security with embedded NFC transmission features, which is perfect for in-store terminal deployment purposes in retail operations.

It also holds a variety of patents and intellectual property rights regarding related tech, creates firmware for payment hardware OEMs, and has created reference designs for software, firmware, applications and other mobile point-of-sale technologies.

The acquisition brings some top-notch hardware and technical security chops to Square’s team, which could help expand its offerings in terms of merchant-side infrastructure for supporting mobile payments, and Kili brings expertise in EMV tech as well.

Singtel, Sony And Warner’s New Video Streaming Service Beats Netflix To Asia

(AsiaTimes.ga) Telecom giant Singtel is planning to beat Netflix to the punch in Asia after it announced it has partnered with Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers to introduce a video streaming service in the region.

The companies said that HOOQ — which is described as a “joint venture startup” — will offer Hollywood movies and U.S. TV shows alongside domestic content from India, China, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Korea and Japan. In total, HOOQ will begin with an initial catalog of over 10,000 shows and movies.

There’s no specific launch date, but Singtel said the service will go online in the first quarter of 2015, initially in Indonesia, Philippines, India and Thailand. From there, the telecom giant is promising a ‘progressive rollout’ to other countries where it has business — other Singtel markets include Singapore, and Australia.

Also lacking from the initial announcement is an indication of price, but — interestingly — it looks like customers won’t be limited to paying via credit cards, as is the case with Netflix. Singtel said it will use its “billing capabilities” in countries where credit card ownership remains low, so that may mean customers can pay as part of their post-pay contract, and perhaps even using prepaid credit.

The timing of the launch is interesting because Netflix has not arrived in Asia Pacific yet. The U.S. company is preparing to launch in Australia and New Zealand sometime this year, after which it is likely to foray into Asian markets, so HOOQ will almost certainly be first in many parts of the region. You could see that as a first mover advantage, or a move that is good for the industry in general because it raises awareness of OTT video services in nascent markets.

Nonetheless, Peter Bithos, the CEO of HOOQ, believes that there is an immediate demand for Netflix-like video streaming services in Asia.

“We are starting this venture to change the way people across Asia view entertainment. Today, across developing markets, there is limited access to quality entertainment, streamed directly to the screen of one’s choice. It’s either illegal, high cost or difficult to get. We aim to fix that,” he said in a statement.

Piracy and lack of awareness are often cited as major barriers for licensed streaming services in Asia but, with two content companies and one telco on board, HOOQ is no bootstrapped startup. It could use Singtel’s network of operators — which reach a total subscriber base of over 500 million customers — and vast resources to gain traction from the get-go.

No doubt we’ll be hearing more updates from HOOQ very soon.

Featured Image: Marc Bruxelle/Shutterstock

India’s Mad Street Den Raises $1.5M To Bring The Benefits Of AI To Apps And Services

(AsiaTimes.ga) Mad Street Den, a one-year-old artificial intelligence startup based in Chennai, India, has closed a $1.5 million seed round to bring technology developed in the labs to consumers in a useful way.

Reservoir Investments’ Exfinity Fund and GrowX Ventures provided the capital, which Mad Street Den will use for making new hires and working with partners to license and use its AI tech in apps and services.

The startup was founded by husband and wife duo Anand Chandrasekaran, a neuroscientist who graduated from Stanford, and Ashwani Asokan, who was previously with Intel Labs. The couple spent a cumulative 25 years working in the U.S., but returned to their country of birth last year to start the company.

“Relocating was a very deliberate decision,” Mad Street Den CEO Asokan told TechCrunch in an interview. “People in India and Asia are leaping frogging generations of technology, and we thought ‘where better to experiment with this stuff?'”

Location aside, Mad Street Den is different to other AI companies because it is focused on a platform of vertical services that partners can license to use in their products. It offers five different applications of AI, but Asokan explained e-commerce and analytics are proving to be the most popular with its handpicked list of partners.

E-Commerce And Analytics
The e-commerce product is centered around fashion, and offers a range of advanced services such as visual search. That could allow a shopper to take a photo of a bag or top, for example, then select their favorite color and find the nearest match on an e-commerce site.

Mad Street Den timed its arrival perfectly, since India’s e-commerce segment took off last year. Flipkart raised close to $2 billion in funding from VCs in 2014, Jeff Bezos cut Amazon India a $2 billion check for growth, and SoftBank backed Snapdeal with hundreds of millions of dollars too.

Asokan said Mad Street Den is in talks with “several” undisclosed e-commerce companies with a view to introducing its technology in their services in India before the summer. After that, she added, it will look to the wider Asia region.

Beyond e-commerce, Mad Street Den’s potential for analytics is particularly interesting.

Asokan said that its facial recognition technology could, for example, be used to detect a person’s general happiness for a week, their favorite colors, and more just from their Instagram photos. (Sidenote: be careful what you share on social media, kids.)

Right now, Mad Street Den is making money via API calls but in the future it will model its pricing based on the specifics of each vertical. For example, e-commerce partners could pay via affiliate commission or revenue-sharing, while other industries could be billed via licensing fees.

Offering Its Own Services Too

Beyond the platform play, the startup is also looking to release its own services and applications based on its technology. Asokan said that a range of ‘proofs of concept’ have been created — including a “short of staring competition game,” which I think sounds fascinating — but Mad Street Den is waiting until the right time before it launches them.

The startup has six full-time staff at this point and has bootstrapped itself so far. Asohan revealed that the company wasn’t looking for money but it sees this as an opportunity to accelerate its development.

“We weren’t planning to raise but word spread like crazy… and the VCs descended. People are already knocking on the door about our Series A… by the summer, when we should start seeing our services in the market, then we’ll be ready,” she said.

Until then, Mad Street Den plans to use most of the capital to hire “very senior people in the Valley” who its founders are connected with. Asohan expects the startup to at least double its headcount this year, but there are no plans for a U.S. office yet.

Featured Image: vitma/Shutterstock

Asian shares mostly down, focus on Iraq crisis

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell Friday, following another Wall Street sell-off as oil prices shot up to a nine-month high on concerns about the growing crisis in Iraq.

Assets considered safe options in times of uncertainty also benefited, with gold up and the yen holding on to healthy gains seen in US trade.

Investors are also awaiting the release of Chinese indicators and the end of a Bank of Japan policy meeting later in the day.

Tokyo fell 0.78 percent, Sydney tumbled 0.94 percent and Seoul sank 1.00 percent but Hong Kong added 0.14 percent and Shanghai was flat.

New York´s three main indexes took a hit Thursday on news that Iraqi militants were pushing towards Baghdad after capturing a town to the north.

The Dow fell 0.65 percent and the S&P 500 lost 0.71 percent -- both having hit record highs earlier in the week -- and the Nasdaq sank 0.79 percent.

US President Barack Obama raised the prospect of possible air strikes when he said his national security team "is looking at all the options".

Forces from the autonomous Kurdish region took control of disputed northern oil hub of Kirkuk to protect it from attack, officials said.

Adding to the fears over more geopolitical instability is the prospect that supplies from a major oil producer could be cut off. And those worries filtered through to crude markets.

The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in July, jumped 81 cents to $107.34, having surged $2.13 in US trade.

Brent crude, the European benchmark, was up 54 cents at $113.56 after rallying $3.07 on London´s Intercontinental Exchange.

On foreign exchange markets the dollar was at 101.78 yen in early trade, compared with 101.68 yen in New York trade and well off the 102.08 yen in Tokyo earlier Thursday.

The euro was at 137.95 yen from 137.80 yen in New York but also well off the 138.10 yen in Asia Thursday.

The single currency also bought $1.3554 compared with $1.3553."Risk-off sentiment and the threat of renewed US military involvement in Iraq... will keep investors in sell mode -- or sidelined," said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

With high oil prices raising the chances of a jump in inflation traders moved into gold, which is a hedge against rising prices. The precious metal was up at $1,273.95 an ounce at 0230 GMT compared with $1,264.20 late Thursday. (AFP)

Hockey: Last-eights berths of junior event decided

KARACHI: The quarter-final teams of the 33rd National Junior Hockey Championship were decided on Tuesday, with Army, PIA, NBP, Railways, Wapda, Customs, Pakistan Education Board, and Punjab (C) securing berths.

Railways and Army fought hard to grab top position in their pool, but the former earned a lone-goal victory in the end.

 Railways and Army fought hard to grab top position in their pool, but the former earned a lone-goal victory in the end. However, both teams qualified for the quarter-finals on equal points.

Wapda outclassed Customs in the second match with a 5-1 victory. The winners slammed a goal in the sixth minute, while in the second-half, a penalty corner doubled their lead. Three more goals in the 39th, 44th and 58th minute ensured a win for Wapda.

Meanwhile, Punjab (C) outshined Sindh (C) 9-2 in the last match of the day.

(By Our Correspondent) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 21st, 2014.

Development in Balochistan: Pre-budget seminar urges for creation of natural resource-based economy

CM's representative says budget will 'break from tradition'. DESIGN: CREATIVE COMMON

QUETTA: In its forthcoming budget for the financial year 2014-15, Balochistan must introduce structural changes in developmental planning and resource allocation with increased focus on communication infrastructure, education, health and water management, incrementally transforming the province from a pastoral economy to knowledge and natural resource-based economy.

Speakers at the pre-budget seminar on “Balochistan Budget 2014-2015: Consultative Dialogue on Equitable Allocation for Development” held  on Tuesday reiterated that the incumbent coalition government of Balochistan needs to develop a comprehensive strategy to use the legislative, fiscal, policy planning and administrative spaces provided by the 18th Constitutional Amendment and 7th NFC Award more effectively and efficiently.

The upcoming budget should reflect the commitments by the ruling parties made in their election manifestos, said speakers at the day-long session, organised by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Pakistan, the UNDP’s Strengthening Participatory Federalism and Decentralisation project, Balochistan Chief Minister’s Policy Reform Unit (CMPRU) and AID Balochistan. The proceedings were moderated by Executive Director SFCG Pakistan Ammara Durrani and Chief CMPRU Dr Kaiser Bengali.

Government representatives, economists, political party representatives, members of civil society, media and other key stakeholders attended the seminar and discussed trends and results of budgetary spending in Balochistan. Their recommendations will be shared with the provincial finance department for its consideration in the forthcoming Provincial Finance Bill 2014-15.

The seminar started with a detailed presentation on Balochistan’s fiscal situation by CMPRU, revealing that after the seventh NFC Award, Balochistan’s annual receipts from the divisible pool has increased from Rs60 to 120 billion at the close of fiscal year 2009-10.

Speaking at the opening session, Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance Khalid Langove Humayun pointed to a disparity between development and non-development expenses with Rs44 to 154 billion respectively and suggested that this must be rationalised with an increased development budget. He also recommended including security as a key indicator for divisible pool allocations for Balochistan.

The Chief Minister’s Advisor on Education Sardar Raza Mohammad Barrech commented on the bleak educational situation in Balochistan, saying around 12,000, or half, of Balochistan’s schools are still single-teacher multi-grade schools.

Dr Kaiser Bengali said that Balochistan’s upcoming budget will break from traditional budgets in order to ‘change the economic geography of the province’.  Some of the key development projects in next year’s development plan include a revival of Harnai Woolen Mills, coal-based power plants and natural resource development in the province transforming Balochistan into a ‘natural resource economy’.

Participants in the session focused on human development and gender parity figures, the lowest in Balochistan across the country. Some of the key suggestions to improve this situation included equal and judicious distribution of resources, enhanced participation of women in politics, separate women-friendly spaces and facilities for women such as hostels, sports and recreational facilities, educational institutes and the integration of young women in the labour force.

Strengthening exports: Country to hold exhibition in Kuala Lumpur

Festivals exhibiting mangoes and oranges would also be held in Malaysia in order to promote Pakistan’s fruit exports. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Pakistan High Commissioner to Malaysia Syed Hasan Raza has announced to promote Pakistan’s exports in Malaysia in a broader way and assist the business community to hold a single country exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.

Speaking at a seminar at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in collaboration with the Halal Association of Pakistan, Raza also announced that festivals exhibiting mangoes and oranges would also be held in Malaysia in order to promote Pakistan’s fruit exports.

The seminar was also attended by Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Chief Executive SM Muneer and Halal Products and Services Association of Pakistan Chairman Kazi Asad Abid, who also addressed the business community.

The high commissioner highlighted the potential of fruits and vegetables, readymade garments and Halal products. He also informed the initiatives taken for the promotion of Pakistani exports to Malaysia.

Muneer informed that he recently held a meeting with the Minister of Commerce and highlighted the importance of Pakistani foreign missions in the promotion of exports.

He said a list of Pakistani foreign consulate / embassy officials would be updated to find out those, that are not performing their duties as per the role assigned to them for the promotion of Pakistani exports.

“The business community is very happy that Hassan Raza is now posted as the Malaysian Ambassador and we are sure that he will do his best efforts to identify and create opportunities for our exporters to increase Pakistan’s exports to Malaysia for the Halal certified Food and non food products,” said HAP Chairman Kazi Asad Abid.

Appreciating the appointment of SM Muneer as the chief executive of TDAP, Asad assured the audience that HAP would organise similar lectures on a regular basis, especially for the markets which are still not open for Pakistan, and would make efforts to resolve the issues and difficulties faced by our exporters under the leadership of SM Muneer.

Published in GNN & Tribune & Our Correspondent, May 6th, 2014.

Facebook Eyeing Up A $10-$15M Acquisition Of India’s Little Eye Labs

We now have more details on Facebook’s plans to acquire Bangalore-based Little Eye Labs, an Indian startup whose primary product is a software tool for analyzing Android apps’ performance. Multiple sources have told us that the two companies exchanged the term sheets few weeks ago, and that a final announcement could be made by mid-January. The deal size is expected to be in the range of $10-15 million.

Overall, the Little Eye Labs acquisition fits right into in Facebook’s mobile ambitions, an area where it has lagged rivals like Twitter, despite having some 874 million of its 1.19 billion-strong (September figures) user base logged on via mobile devices. And Facebook has been on the lookout for startups that could potentially help it gain a greater foothold on mobile devices.

As part of its aggressive mobile strategy, Facebook acquired Parse, a mobile-backend-as-a-service startup in April of this year.

A Facebook acquisition of Little Eye Labs would mean a lot for an Indian startup that’s less than one-and-a-half years old, and it would mean much more for the Indian startup ecosystem as a whole, where acquisitions of this profile have been tough to come by. While exploring potential acquirers, Little Eye Labs also pitched to Twitter, but Facebook seemed to offer a better deal, another source added.

One of the sources who shared some details about this proposed acquisition said that if the deal closes, most of the Little Eye Labs’ founding team will move to Facebook’s U.S. headquarters, and work there as part of the mobile engineering team.

Little Eye Labs caught the attention of potential acquirer(s) in Seedcamp, London, where the startup was refining its product along with 20 other companies. Gaurav Lochan, who joined Little Eye labs from India’s largest e-commerce company, Flipkart, earlier this year, had this to say about using the startup’s tool for fixing a bug in Google’s official I/Q app at the event. Flipkart, was also the first customer for Little Eye Labs.

Kumar Rangarajan, co-founder of Little Eye labs, had even acknowledged that the company was in discussions with Facebook earlier this month, after reports of the acquisition first surfaced. However, Rangarajan could not be reached at the time of publication. A Facebook spokesperson, who had earlier declined to offer any comments, has also not responded.

The Little Eye founders Kumar Rangarajan, Satyam Kandula, Lakshman Kakkirala and Giridhar Murthy, all worked together previously at IBM. They started Little Eye Labs in August 2012 and were part of the GSF Accelerator’s batch from October to December of the same year. In March of this year, the startup raised seed funding of around $300,000 from GSF and Venture East.

A Little Eye Labs acquisition would not be the hugest deal for Facebook, especially when compared with its $85 million acquisition of Parse. But it would be an important enough piece in the social network’s overall mobile strategy. I know of several Indian startups working in the mobile space who hope acquisitions like these will raise the profile of the ecosystem.