Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei has reportedly completed the acquisition of Israeli database security and compliance solution startup HexaTier for US$42 million.

Based in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv, the company provides a unified database security which is able to provide greater security and compliance to databases in the cloud.

The company claims that this is accomplished through utilizing a patented reverse proxy technology for securing databases across multiple platforms which include Database as a Service (DBaaS), private, public or hybrid cloud environments and on-premises.

Founded as GreenSQL in 2009 by Amir Sadeh, David Maman, and Hadar Eshel, despite the company’s ability to secure on-premises databases, its main focus lies in database-as-a-service with a particular emphasis on blocking SQL injection attacks, the most common form of database attack.

Prior to this, HexaTier, a company of 40 employees, has raised US$14.5 million from Israeli venture capital funds JVP, Magma, and Rhodium.

These negotiations, follow a visit by Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei to Israel several weeks ago. With this, Huawei will use HexaTier to set up a research and development center in Israel for databases in the cloud.

This would also be Huawei’s second acquisition of an Israeli company in three weeks. Earlier in December, Huawei has also acquired Toga Networks, an IT research firm for US$150 million.

Huawei reportedly employs around 170,000 employees with more than half being employed under the research and development sector in 21 different centers including China, the United States, England, Canada, Pakistan, France, Belgium, and Germany.

The Chinese phone maker also recorded US$60 billion in sales in 2015, which is about 37 percent higher compared to the same period in 2014. Operating profit last year was US$7 billion.

On the other hand, HexaTier is available on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform. Its technology is also compatible with Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Indonesia’€™s largest retailer selling fashion apparel, beauty, and home products, Matahari Department Store (MDS) has recently increased its indirect ownership in the online marketplace MatahariMall.com to further broaden its business reach through e-commerce.

This is done by purchasing 7.3 billion shares in PT Global Ecommerce Indonesia (GEI), the parent company of MatahariMall.com which ownership is derived through its subsidiaries PT Rekata Sinar Bumi and PT Lenteng Lintas Benua.

The agreement is worth about Rp 164.9 billion, translating to about US$12.2 million in transaction. Following this purchase, it will also raise the company’s stake in GEI to a paid-up capital of 12 percent in total, increasing by 3.62 percent.

Prior to this, MDS has also raised its stakes in GEI back in January to 10.33 percent. But the company’s ownership has also since been diluted to 8.38 percent due to investments made by other shareholders.

With potential additional investments from other players which could further dilute MDS’ shares, this has resulted in the company’s decision to expand its control gradually.

Matahari Mall warehouses and ships about products from 5000 affiliated seller and web portal hosts. Besides, the online retailer also produces goods and sells them independently with home electronics currently seeing robust demand.

On the other hand, Matahari Mall also handles apparel, clothing accessories and food. The company’s monthly sales are reportedly outpacing year-earlier figures by 10 percent.

“The company sees large potential in the e-commerce sector. With increased stakes in the platform, Matahari secures opportunities for huge returns in the future. We will also be able to synergise MatahariStore.com into Matahari Mall’s existing platform, which will, in turn, widen reach across the country, as well as boost Matahari’s net profit,” MDS management team commented.

It is also reportedly said that MDS intends to maintain a stake of up to 20 percent in GEI by injecting an estimated Rp 590 billion in stages.

MDS currently owns and operates 148 stores in 68 cities across Indonesia whose locations include Jakarta, Yogyakarta, West Kalimantan and East Nusa Tenggara.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Singapore-based e-commerce enabler Shopmatic has announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Taiwan-based technology consulting firm, 5X Ruby on Thursday.

According to the details of the agreement, Shopmatic has acquired 51% stake in 5X Ruby in a mixed cash-and-stock deal for an undisclosed amount. The latter’s valuation was also not disclosed.

The move on Shopmatic’s part is aimed at strengthening its platform development team, in order to provide its customers a streamlined experience backed by the latest technology stack.

“We plan on developing value-added services for our customers including inventory management service, integrate payments on the platform, aggregation, and taxation. For these services, we will be using the technology from 5X Ruby. Some of the 20-member team of the company will be working with Shopmatic’s lab to design these solutions.” Anurag Avula, the co-founder of Shopmatic said.

Founded in December 2014 by Anurag Avula, Yen Ti Lim, and Kris Chen, Shopmatic is an international e-commerce platform, launched with the intent to help anyone wanting to sell online.

In other words, it aims to help merchants and individuals manage everything that is required for them to grow their business in the virtual world, that is from assisting managing merchants to develop their own unique web-store to aiding them with insights on how to sell online.

Besides building websites, Shopmatic also helps integrate payment gateways, establish partnerships with logistics companies, and facilitate listings in marketplaces and social media. The service also includes a backend analytics platform.

On the other end, 5X Ruby has been the at the forefront of technical consultation and training. The firm has built a vibrant and growing Ruby developer community in Taiwan catering to high-tech clients from Japan, Hong Kong & Taiwan developing web and mobile applications.

The technology company in-house software Ruby on Rails is a server-side web application development format written in Ruby 5X held under the MIT License. The system acts as a model-view-controller framework which uses less code and provides default structures for a database, a web service, and web pages.

The Taiwanese firm, in turn, lies in sync with Shopmatic’s aspirations to deploy the latest technologies and simplify the process for those who intends to take their business online, without the requirement for technical knowledge.

Besides, the acquisition will also facilitate the company’s international market expansion plans, which aims to target markets outside Singapore by early 2017, particularly to strengthen its presence in other South Asian markets such as Japan.

“This acquisition will not only enable us to strengthen our stance as the leading platform that enables businesses to go online but also to scale and enter new markets at a faster pace. We welcome the 5xRuby team into the Shopmatic family and are excited about the opportunity of working with a world-class development team,” said Anurag Avula.

In 2015, Singapore-headquartered Shopmatic has launched its operations in Gurgaon and Bangalore in India. The company has also launched a mobile app, earlier last month for Indian Sellers called Go, which is an easy tool to create an e-commerce website in less than two minutes with three easy steps. Reportedly 85-90% of Shopmatic’s business comes from India.

By Vivian Foo, Unicron Media