Jon RussellVerified account

@jonrussell

Southeast Asia editor at —business reporting that's worth paying for: 📧 jon@the-ken.com (I write ) 🇬🇧

Bangkok, Thailand
the-ken.com/sea/free-reads
Joined May 2007
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    Nov 25

    🚨 is hiring in Southeast Asia 💳Come learn about subscription media 📰Come write killer stories about business in SEA 💪🏻Come work with the best editorial team in SEA Singapore Philippines Vietnam

    15 retweets 14 likes
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  2. Retweeted
    Dec 13

    If there's one story you should read today, it's today's story on Vietnam's Society Pass by + for A typical startup kayfabe, except founder Dennis Nguyen managed to bring the company public on Nasdaq! It's a wild one:

    4 retweets 14 likes
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  3. Retweeted
    23 hours ago

    interesting, interesting... Grab buys Jaya Grocer, weeks after founder Teng family buys back from AIGF

    1 reply 4 retweets 3 likes
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  4. Dec 14

    Grab's US listing is a hot topic but there's a crazier US IPO from SE Asia Vietnam's Society Pass went $9 to $77 but is now below $5 and look at its controversial business—which barely makes money and is embroiled in lawsuits

    1 reply 4 retweets 10 likes
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  5. Retweeted
    Dec 13

    We tracked down founders and VCs who were approached by Society Pass between 2019 and 2021 with acquisition offers, to understand the modus operandi of this firm and what was behind is incredulous, brief stock rally. Story with

    1 reply 3 retweets 4 likes
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  6. Retweeted
    Dec 13

    Plenty of red flags were raised about and its CEO prior to the November IPO. It was supposed to be Vietnam's first startup to list in the US–but it's a company with almost no revenue and assets. It still took off like a rocketship. At least for a few days... 1/2

    1 reply 5 retweets 10 likes
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  7. Retweeted
    Dec 13

    New piece for on the strange dealings of Society Pass, the first Vietnamese tech startup to IPO in the United States.

    In today's insightful story on the modus operandi of Society Pass and the checkered history of founder Dennis Nguyen, and argue, this incident will hamper any prospectus other Vietnamese startups had in the eyes of investors.
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    1 retweet 8 likes
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  8. Dec 13

    Wtf…

    Myanmar's shadow government, the National Unity Government, will use the stablecoin tether (USDT) as currency
    5 replies 16 likes
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  9. Retweeted
    Dec 12

    As part of the story I tried applying for home loans across different providers. Here is what I noticed. (Really hoping my credit score is not going to be hit because of the multiple offers. Some occupational hazard that ll turn out to be :/)

    2 replies 1 retweet 12 likes
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  10. Dec 10

    It’s worrying and increasingly common to see China Daily as the only newspaper available to read in restaurants, coffee shops, hotels and other public places across Bangkok

    59 replies 23 retweets 67 likes
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  11. Dec 9

    Related: Grab launched its own 'think tank' recently to promote its agenda As a public company (now!) Grab is concerned about its reputation hence these efforts to shape the story and I dug into the conflicts and concerns

    1 reply 1 retweet 7 likes
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  12. Dec 9

    Grab plans to launch "an online news desk focused on the Food & Beverage industry" staffed by an editor and a team of freelancers

    4 replies 2 retweets 14 likes
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  13. Retweeted
    Dec 8

    Early stage VCs is getting competition... From angel investors. More and more startup founders are channeling their capital back into the ecosystem, with some even set up a formal fund, all to support fellow entrepreneurs, writes

    2 retweets 12 likes
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  14. Dec 9

    I took a look at the long-term implications and why VCs in SE Asia must be nimble and work with angels and syndicates more than ever

    1 like
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  15. Dec 9

    That's changing the game for early stage deals—since founders increasingly want a broad selection of angels with specialist knowledge on the cap table... that means there is less space for VCs that specialise in early stage In some cases, we heard VCs have missed out on deals

    1 reply 1 like
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  16. Dec 9

    SE Asia is seeing a surge in angel investing from founders and operators—some have picked up more than 20 investments almost without trying and i picked out a selection of busy founder-angels, including US operator angel who increasingly does SEA deals

    2 replies 3 retweets 20 likes
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  17. Retweeted
    Dec 8

    As Chinese state media worked to shift the narrative around Peng Shuai, they got help from a familiar resource: a big old bot network. We turned up 97 fake accounts amplifying and claiming to believe the creepy proof-of-life posts from state media:

    44 replies 598 retweets 1,025 likes
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  18. Retweeted
    Dec 7

    In April, MOSTI decided to merge startup-focused MaGIC and 25-year-old Technology Park Malaysia, to form MRANTI to drive tech commercialisation. A right move to consolidate resources but bringing them both together won't be easy. free story!

    1 reply 6 retweets 7 likes
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  19. Retweeted
    Dec 7

    Any quick commerce experts here? I've got some questions for you. Pls rt for good health

    2 replies 8 retweets 2 likes
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  20. Retweeted
    Dec 6

    Shady public policy professionals. Quid pro quo between Big Tech and NGOs Lobbying the Prime Minister's Office Possibly breaking US law 's story today is a cracker:

    7 retweets 7 likes
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  21. Dec 5

    Bloomberg is going big on crypto in Asia

    4 replies 4 retweets 34 likes
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