TC Roundup: Alibaba ploughs millions into Snapchat

Alibaba ploughs millions into Snapchat: China's e-commerce giant Alibaba is investing $200 million in photo-messaging app Snapchat. The company is on the lookout for new ways to win business in the U.S. (Reuters)

Amazon launches Pinterest-like site for new gadgets and gear from inventors: Amazon wants to work with more startup product brands, and it is leveraging its giant customer base to get exclusive deals from the inventors making them.

The company said on Wednesday that it had launched a new online storefront called Amazon Exclusives featuring a small selection of new products, ranging from portable battery chargers to paddle boards, that are only available through Amazon or the brand's own site. In January, Re/code broke the news that Amazon was working on such a platform. (Recode)

WhatsApp hits 1B installs on Android, the second non-Google app to do so: While many questioned whether Facebook had paid too much to acquire WhatsApp last year, the mobile messaging app's already-impressive numbers continue to impress more than 12 months on. (Venture Beat)

App Annie taps into mobile boom in India and Southeast Asia with new Singapore office: After receiving US$55 million in investment at the start of the year, App Annie is not short on funds. Today the Sino-US startup revealed where some of the money is being pledged – in a new Singapore office.

"First and foremost, it's Southeast Asia and India," says Oliver Lo, App Annie's EVP of marketing, about the main target of the new Singapore base. That's where some of the biggest growth in smartphone adoption is happening right now, and Oliver says that means the firm needs to get closer to its clients – app developers – in those high growth nations. "We basically go where the app market goes," he tells Tech in Asia. (Tech in Asia)