Daily Briefing: Cialfo nets $20m Series A+ funding; About 190 employers caught underpaying foreign workers from 2015 to 2019

And Google co-founder Sergey Brin to open branch of family office in Singapore.

From e27:

Cialfo, a Singapore-based startup in the international student mobility space, has raised $20m (US$15m) in an extension of its Series A round, co-led by existing investors SIG and Vulcan Capital.

New investors, including January Capital and Bisk Ventures, besides angel investors such as Patrick Walujo and Teik Ngan Loy, also contributed.

Cialfo will use the new capital for product innovation as well as expansion to India, China, and Southeast Asia. It also plans on working with leading universities to help them provide open online courses and other blended learning solutions.

With this round, the company’s total funding raised so far has touched $30.12m (US$22.6m), according to Crunchbase data.

Read more here.

From ChannelNewsAsia:

About 190 employers were found underpaying their foreign employees every year between 2015 and 2019, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said on 2 February.

She was responding to parliamentary questions from NCMP Leong Mun Wai and MP Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap on the number of cases of firms underpaying its staff and the main methods of effecting such underpayments.

Last month, local cupcake chain Twelve Cupcakes was fined $119,500 for underpaying seven employees of about $114,000 between December 2016 and November 2018.

Between 2010 and 2014, an average of 60 employers every year were taken to task for underpaying their foreign employees’ salaries.

Mrs Teo said in her written answer that the increased number of cases between 2015 and 2019 was a result of "improved detection capabilities" and education efforts to encourage foreign employees to report salary irregularities.

Read more here.

From DealStreetAsia:

The family office of Google co-founder Sergey Brin is setting up a branch in Singapore, joining the rush of uber-wealthy clans toward the Southeast Asian financial hub.

Bayshore Global Management, the California-based firm that services Brin, established an office in Singapore late last year, according to documents filed with the corporate regulator. Deputy Chief Investment Officer Marie Young was appointed as a director of the unit.

Brin is the world’s ninth richest person, with a net worth of $115.28b (US$86.5b), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is the latest tycoon to take advantage of Singapore’s low taxes, high security, and generous incentives for family offices, which manage the lives and wealth of the super-rich.

Read more here.