Singapore – Taiwanese bubble tea chain Milksha has recently announced that it would be ceasing all operations in Singapore, effectively closing all its local outlets and exiting the Singaporean market. 

Milksha took to Facebook and Instagram with a sudden announcement, bidding farewell on New Year’s Eve with the post saying that it was Milksha’s last operating day in Singapore.

Notably, Milksha cited no reasons for their departure in the posts, and Milksha’s Singapore website was also immediately taken down. 

In their last post, Milksha Singapore mentioned, “Brewing our final cups of joy! Today marks our last operating day at our last outlet in Singapore. As we bid farewell, we invite you to join us for one last cup of memories or simply drop by to reminisce with us. Happy New Year!” 

Looking back, Milksha’s entry in the Singaporean market kicked off in 2019 as it joined Singapore’s growing bubble tea scene with various tea and coffee brands, where it expanded with 10 outlets across the city-state. 

This being said, Milksha’s exit from Singapore also follows several coffee brands, coming less than three months after tech-focused coffee chain Flash Coffee closed its remaining stores in the country to cut costs and follows Spinelli Coffee’s exit from the market in December 2023. 

Seoul, South Korea – Popular streaming platform Twitch has announced that it will be shutting down its operations in the South Korean market by February 27, 2024; citing rising operational costs in the country brought by the country’s prevailing network fee implementation to content providers (CPs) in the country, both domestic and foreign.

In a blog post by Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, he stated that they have put a lot of effort into finding ways to continue operating in the country by reducing costs. It is worth noting that the platform tried experimenting with peer-to-peer (P2P) livestreaming, as well as reducing the maximum video quality output to 720p.

However, the platform noted that despite these measures, the network fees in the country were 10 times higher than in most other countries, making operations no longer feasible. Moreover, Twitch has continued to operate with difficulty in South Korea with significant losses.

Speaking about those that will be affected by the closure, Twitch has stated that it will be working with rival platforms such as AfreecaTV and YouTube to aid creators in the transition process to their platforms.

“I would like to reiterate that this was a very difficult and difficult decision, and one that all of us at Twitch are deeply saddened by. Korea has always been a stellar player in the global esports community and will continue to do so. We’d like to thank you all for your hard work building a great Twitch community,” Clancy said.

It is worth noting that South Korea has an implementation for content provider tech companies to pay a network fee depending on the traffic they generate towards internet service providers (ISPs). This regulation came to international attention when South Korean ISP SK Broadband had sued Netflix over the huge traffic it generated thanks to the popular series “Squid Game”.

Singapore – Tech-enabled coffee chain Flash Coffee has announced its exit from the Singaporean market, closing all of its 11 local chains.

In a statement to MARKETECH APAC, a spokesperson for Flash Coffee said that the closure of its Singaporean presence was to focus more on its more promising markets.

“To facilitate this renewed focus, we have ceased operations in Singapore today, comprising 11 stores out of our ~200 global stores. This decision wasn’t made lightly, especially as we have nothing but love for our team and our customers in Singapore,” they stated.

Moreover, despite said exit, the company said that they will remain firm in their mission to serve up coffee across Asia and likely some additional markets in the medium term, and stay committed to scaling their business sustainably in the long term.

“Most of our markets have demonstrated tremendous traction on top of a healthy foundation and show strong unit economics and future growth potential, with some of the markets nearing EBITDA break-even in the coming months already,” they added.

Flash Coffee also assured that the well-being and future of their employees remains their utmost priority. They have also extended our deepest gratitude to their dedicated customers in Singapore. 

“Your trust, love, and support for Flash Coffee have given us the opportunity to serve up millions of high-quality brews,” they concluded.

Flash Coffee recently completed its Series B financing round back in May raising US$50m in funding. Back then, the company said it is doubling down its presence in Asia-Pacific, which also includes its target markets of Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Singapore – Cryptocurrency firm Luno has announced that it is exiting the Singaporean market, with its services no longer available by June 20 this year. According to the company, the market exit is part of Luno’s evaluation of their global strategy and presence.

Luno also added that they have also informed the Monetary Authority of Singapore of their intention to withdraw their license application to operate in the country.

In a statement published in their website, the company expressed that while the announcement may come as a shock to their local customers, the decision to exit the market wasn’t taken lightly considering the rising cryptocurrency market in Singapore.

“As a key financial hub in the region and an innovator in financial technology, Singapore has the potential to lead the way in using crypto to build a fair and robust financial system. We can’t wait to watch its journey and are proud to have been a part of it,” they stated.

Moreover, they have expressed their gratitude to the thousands of Singaporeans who have supported them on their crypto journey, ever since they first entered the market in 2016.

Luno has asked its Singaporean customers to withdraw all of their local currency and cryptocurrency by June 19.

The exit also comes after Luno announced that is laying off around 35% of its workforce globally in January this year.