Enterprise

Alibaba buys into Asia’s ecommerce boom with controlling stake in Lazada

Published

on

Chinese Internet titan Alibaba made the headlines recently after announcing its biggest overseas acquisition yet. The deal will see it take control of Lazada, one of the most popular names in ecommerce in Southeast Asia, earning the reputation as the region’s Alibaba or Amazon.

Despite online shopping accounting for only 1 percent of retail sales in the region today, Southeast Asia has seen a rapid climb in ecommerce sales in recent years, and is expected to maintain double-digit growth rates for the next several years.

The agreement comes in the wake of earlier acquisitions that gave Alibaba control of the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s biggest English-language newspaper, and Chinese video-streaming service Youku Tuduo.

Alibaba also invested $500 million in Indian ecommerce startup Snapdeal. There are others, but listing them might make you less inclined to read the rest of this post. Suffice to say, the Chinese firm has been on a spending spree for quite a while now, and its latest purchase no doubt makes sense financially and strategically.

Lazada, which sells everything from diapers to sofa to smartphones and operates in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, will essentially allow Alibaba to buy into markets where it has limited traction rather than expand its Taobao and Tmall sites outside of its home market of China. Why risk billions in expansion dollars to build an ecommerce empire from the ground up when you can buy one?

In a statement, Alibaba said it was investing $500 million in newly issued shares, plus an additional $500 million to acquire equity from current shareholders, for a total of $1 billion. Alibaba also said it has the right to buy out the remaining shares from investors after a 12- to 18-month period for an all-out acquisition. Lazada currently has a $1.5 billion valuation, according to its founder, Rocket Internet.

Speaking of the landmark deal, Alibaba president Michael Evans said: “With the investment in Lazada, Alibaba gains access to a platform with a large and growing consumer base outside China, a proven management team and a solid foundation for future growth in one of the most promising regions for ecommerce globally.”

Hopefully for online shoppers in Southeast Asia, Alibaba’s billions will translate into a marketplace that rivals what the Chinese have been enjoying for years now, something Lazada has so far failed to achieve since its founding in 2011.

TechCrunch previously wrote that Lazada generated $191 million in sales over the first nine months of 2015, but shelled out $233 million in operating costs for the said period.

[irp posts=”4610″ name=”HP’s affordable convertible is coming to Lazada PH”]

Source: TechCrunch

Enterprise

AGIBOT just topped the medal table at the World Humanoid Robot Games

The robots that did it are already clocking in at real factories.

Published

on

AGIBOT entered its first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on August 26 and walked away with a dominant victory.

The company claimed 18 gold, 16 silver, and 12 bronze medals, securing 46 total podium finishes and topping both the gold and overall medal standings.

Designed to stress-test humanoid machines in sports, fine manipulation, and real-world duties, the Games evaluated robots across events ranging from martial arts to hotel service and emergency response.

AGIBOT swept through these categories, earning top spots in motion control, obstacle racing, and daily practical tasks.

The true triumph lies in what remained unchanged on competition day. AGIBOT fielded its standard production lineup, including the OmniHand, G2, A3, and X2.

None of these units were custom-built to win medals, as every machine came straight from active commercial deployments.

Precision and agility straight off the assembly line

The OmniHand reached the finals in all eight dexterous manipulation events and brought home seven gold medals.

It aced delicate challenges like Block Building, Powder Weighing, and Bean Picking with Tweezers, proving that fine motor control matters just as much as raw power.

In motion control, the AGIBOT X2 captured gold in the 100m obstacle race while adding silver and bronze in the 400m sprint.

Meanwhile, the AGIBOT A3 secured gold in Tai Chi. The X2 competed in its standard commercial configuration without any hardware modifications.

Powering the X2 is AGIBOT’s proprietary AGILE framework, short for AgiBot Generative Intelligent Locomotion Engine.

This system blends real-time environmental perception with autonomous decision-making to navigate sudden obstacles and changing terrain.

By combining precise parameter identification with seamless simulation-to-reality transfer, the framework maintains rock-solid stability when transitioning from code to physical ground.

Proven intelligence on actual factory floors

AGIBOT earned five golds in real-world scenarios, dominating tasks across library operations, hotel services, and emergency response.

The G2 robot behind these wins is the exact same model currently operating on factory floors for manufacturers like Longcheer and SAIC.

Its operational intelligence stems from AGIBOT’s ViLLA embodied foundation model GO, the world model GE, and its RW-RL system. These combined technologies sharpen perception and planning inside unpredictable work environments.

While the 46-medal tally commands headlines, the deeper story is that mass-produced robots won without special modifications.

AGIBOT proves that general-purpose intelligence paired with commercial hardware can adapt across varied scenarios. Embodied AI is finally stepping out of isolated lab demos and into consistent, repeatable work where it matters most.

Continue Reading

Enterprise

Cebu Pacific becomes 1st SEA low-cost carrier with Starlink Wi-Fi

Rollout expected to begin in 2027

Published

on

Cebu Pacific has introduced Starlink, making it the first low-cost airline in Southeast Asia to bring Wi-Fi in the sky for passengers.

The rollout is expected to begin in 2027. Starlink delivers an unparalleled broadband experience inflight, with high-speed, low-latency Wi-Fi capable of HD streaming, online gaming, productivity and more.

Beyond enhancing the passenger experience, Starlink will also support improved operational connectivity for Cebu Pacific’s flight crews and operational teams. This enables better operational efficiency.

The collaboration is a significant milestone for Philippine aviation. The rollout forms part of Cebu Pacific’s continued investment in customer experience and digital innovation.

As part of the partnership, Cebu Pacific and Indigo Partners portfolio airlines, Wizz Air, and JetSMART expect to install Starlink on over 1,000 aircraft.

Continue Reading

Enterprise

Google ordered to pay EUR 4.1 billion in fines

The EU alleges that Google uses its apps to establish an unfair dominance.

Published

on

European fines have unintentionally become a normal part of doing business in the American technology space. For too long have American companies paid paltry fines to prevent harsher regulation in the European Union. Now, for the first time, Google is about to pay a record-breaking fine that goes beyond “paltry.”

Today, via CNBC, Google has been ordered to pay an astonishing EUR 4.1 billion (or approximately US$ 4.67 billion) in fines. The fine is in response to an anti-competition case.

This has been a long time coming for Google. The original case started in 2018. At the time, the European Union accused the brand of using anti-competitive practices to ensure its dominance in the smartphone market. According to the courts, the company’s bundling of first-party apps for every Android smartphone gives them an unfair advantage in the market and lessens the user’s choice in selecting apps.

For years, Google has fought the fine to seemingly no avail. Now, the company has lost its final attempt, which means that the fine still stands. On the bright side, they did get it reduced from the original EUR 4.34 billion fine.

The European Union is the scourge of every American tech company (and a godsend to consumers). Most notably, the continent’s government forced Apple to adopt USB-C, leading to a more universal experience across brands.

Google’s hefty fine aims to do the same. And it is quite hefty. Whereas previous fines were in the millions (and hence, negligible for most companies), a fine in the billions is more tangible.

SEE ALSO: Google might limit free storage to only 5GB

Continue Reading

Trending