Europe’s lucrative, illegal, trade in sea cucumbers is booming

-
The nubbly, worm-like species is an Asian delicacy, but stocks in the Pacific are severely depleted. Now European businesses – and drug dealers – are trying to get in on the profitable trade

from WIRED UK https://ift.tt/3dyRu6h

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 investors discuss what’s in store for venture debt following SVB’s collapse

-
There are many questions around the implications of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse that won’t be answered for a long time. But there’s one question that many startups and investors are hoping will get answered sooner rather than later: What happens to venture debt? SVB was one of the larger, if not the largest, providers of venture debt to U.S.-based startups. And now that First Republic Bank has also gone under, that question has spiraled, growing ever more complex. Many startups rely on venture debt: it’s both a cheaper alternative to raising equity and can serve as a capital tool that helps companies build in ways that equity isn’t great for. For some companies in capital-intensive areas like climate, fintech and defense, access to debt is often the only avenue to growth or scale. Thankfully, venture capitalists aren’t too worried about the SVB collapse’s impact on venture debt as a whole. We’re widening our lens, looking for more investors to participate in TechCrunch su...
Read more

GAIA Design has raised more capital to become the West Elm of Mexico

-
Designing higher end furniture for Mexico’s rising middle and upper-middle class consumers has netted the Mexico City-based GAIA $15 million in a new round of funding. The bridge round will take the company through to a much larger capital raise planned for 2021 as the company capitalizes on the growth of e-commerce in Mexico. A 2019 report from JP Morgan put the e-commerce market in Mexico at around $22.6 billion, and that’s with online sales only accounting for just 1.7% of the overall retail market. JP Morgan expects the market to increase at a 12.6% growth rate annually. As with everything else, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital services as the country’s population looks to practice safe social distancing and reduce the spread of the virus. For those consumers who can afford to shop online — even for high value products like furniture — they are, according to GAIA chief executive Philippe Cahuzac. At GAIA the new funding will be used to add new f...
Read more

Hong Kong is charting its own web3 path despite China’s anti-crypto stance

-
Hong Kong has an on-again-off-again relationship with crypto: Before China outlawed all crypto-related activities in 2021, the Asian financial hub was the early home to several crypto startups, including the now-defunct FTX, which left for the Bahamas after the ban. Now, Hong Kong is again welcoming crypto businesses, only this time with more regulatory clarity. During its government-backed fintech week late last year, Hong Kong indicated its intention to legalize crypto retail trading and introduce a licensing regime for digital asset providers. The plan took more shape in February when the city published draft rules that would allow individual investors to trade certain major cryptocurrencies starting June 1. Companies are already responding to the city’s shift in attitude. As of February, the department for foreign direct investment had received “expressions of interest” from over 80 virtual asset-related companies from both mainland China and abroad in establishing a presenc...
Read more