Motorists have been left queuing for hours at petrol stations across Indonesia’s resort island of Bali in recent days amid reports of a crippling fuel shortage. Long queues have been spotted all around the island, including in the capital Denpasar, Badung and Tabana, according to the Bali Post. On Tuesday, Bali Governor I Wayan Koster stressed that there was enough fuel to go around, suggesting that panic buying might have caused the shortages at the pumps. “People need to be patient because the...

Bangkok-based financial health platform Salary Hero has raised US$7.6 million in a Series A round of investment led by Cento Ventures, with Malaysia’s Kairous Capital and M Venture Partners participating. The startup has also expanded its credit facility with regional banks and lenders to US$10 million, and is using the money to formally enter Malaysia, […] The post Salary Hero lands US$7.6M Series A to take its fight against loan sharks to Malaysia appeared first on e27.

Longevity is having a moment. In the US, people pay up to US$2,499 for a full-body MRI and hundreds of dollars a month for peptide protocols, mostly out of pocket. In the Philippines, the picture is very different. Many families put off check-ups and screenings until symptoms become serious. When public hospital beds are full, […] The post While the West invests in longevity, Southeast Asia still pays cash for the basics appeared first on e27.

There is a particular kind of Southeast Asian optimism that treats Singapore like a geopolitical airlock. Walk in from Beijing or Shenzhen, shut the door behind you, register a Pte Ltd, and the pressure from home equalises. You are now a Singaporean company with “Chinese roots”, free to raise from Silicon Valley and sell to […] The post Manus came home, and Singapore couldn’t stop it appeared first on e27.

In 2024, Americans spent about US$170 billion on real estate commissions and other costs involved in transferring ownership of homes. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimate, cited by the Federal Reserve, is equal to roughly 0.6 per cent of US GDP. This is money spent not on the homes themselves, but largely on changing who […] The post Can AI cut the US$170 billion cost of buying and selling homes? appeared first on e27.

A founder I know recently received two term sheets in the same week. The first was from a regional VC firm with a recognisable brand. The cheque was for US$1.5 million. The terms were reasonable. The partner had introduced himself at a conference six months earlier and had been pleasant in every interaction since. The […] The post The new value test for investors: What founders are actually buying when they take your cheque appeared first on e27.