Daily Briefing: GrabCycle pauses sign-ups after oBike closes; Wilmar cuts ties with suppliers accused of deforestation

And a Singapore-based digital lender bags funding from SIG Asia Investments.

From Reuters:

Wilmar International has ceased sourcing from suppliers that are allegedly associated with a company that was accused by Greenpeace of causing deforestation.

“Greenpeace had accused Gama, a palm oil business set up by Wilmar’s co-founder Martua Sitorus and his brother, of causing deforestation in Indonesia.

The environmental group said analysis of trade data showed that Wilmar traded palm oil from Gama, despite being aware that Gama was violating Wilmar’s No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) policy by clearing rainforest.

Wilmar has as of June 20 ceased sourcing from all suppliers that are allegedly associated with Gama as identified by Greenpeace, it said in a statement on Monday.”

Read more here.

From Deal Street Asia:

Fintech startup and digital lender AsiaKredit raised an undisclosed amount of funding from technology investment firm SIG Asia Investments, bringing its aggregate funding to US$2.5m.

“In a statement, the startup said the funds will be used for loan capital, to enhance its proprietary technology platform, underwriting, and collections infrastructure, as well as to develop new products. AsiaKredit also added that the investment is a bridge round between pre-Series A and Series A. The startup had last raised US$675,000 in a combined pre-Series A and seed funding round backed by Fintonia Group and FORUM.”

Read more here.

From Tech in Asia:

When oBike closed its Singapore operations, it told users that they can still use their services through GrabCycle. However, Tech in Asia found that the app temporarily stopped new user sign-ups.

“The message continues: ‘We are actively bringing on more bikes onto our platform and will open up for new user sign-up soon.’

In a statement shared with Tech in Asia which contradicts oBike’s earlier notice, Grab said it will ‘no longer be able to offer oBike’s bicycles on the GrabCycle marketplace’ as oBike ‘will not have the appropriate bike-sharing license to operate in Singapore, nor will they be maintaining their fleet of bicycles.’

Grab said it will waive all existing GrabCycle subscription fees and deposits. It’s also offering a four-week free trial on GrabCycle for current users to try out Anywheel, which is the most recent bike-sharing firm to join the platform.”

Read more here.