Carousell, a homegrown online classifieds marketplace, has raised US$100 million in their latest round of funding. This has taken their valuation to US$1.1 billion, according to the company in a media release this week. 

This valuation means that Carousell has joined the unicorn club of start-ups. This is a term applied to companies that are valued at over US$1 billion. 

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Facebook announced this week that they would be rolling out new ways for businesses to find and chat with their potential customers.

Businesses will now be able to add a button on their Instagram profiles that will allow customers to send them a Whatsapp message without any hassle. 

Facebook will also begin testing out the ability for brands to send emails through Facebook Business Suite which is a feature that allows businesses to manage their online presence across the social media site’s apps.

State investment firm Temasek Holdings and the Government will be establishing a new co-investment fund as part of a set of initiatives that are aimed at attracting fast-growing companies to list on the Singapore bourse.

This is being done in the hopes that it can enhance the country’s role as a financing hub.

The fund will be managed by Temasek’s investment platform, 65 Equity Partners. It will start with an initial capital tranche of $1.5 billion.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced this week that they have exhausted the $8.8 billion in gross proceeds that were raised from its rights issue in June last year.

The rights issue happened when SIA shareholders gave approval for the carrier to raise up to $15 billion to cope with the pandemic. In a virtual extraordinary general meeting, the majority voted to raise $8.8 billion through a three-for-two rights issue of shares and a convertible bond issue.

$600 million was used for aircraft and aircraft-related payments between July 1 and September 1, according to the company. They also used $2 billion of the proceeds to repay their bridge loan from DBS bank.

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Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports rose at a slower pace of 2.7 per cent in August on the back of growth in electronic exports, according to data by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on September 17. 

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