China’s startups
in April 2019
Today’s startup news: on LinkedIn, on Twitter and on Facebook
- China: A look at Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province and city with VR hub aspirations
- China’s Huawei to build Konza Data Centre and Smart Cities Project in Kenya
- China: Alibaba and competitor Pinduoduo again on US blacklist over counterfeits sold on e-commerce marketplaces
- China’s Lenovo to use IBM blockchain and AI-powered tools to improve customer service
- China: Beijing Internet Court now using AI and blockchain to render judgements
- China: Tencent Trusted Doctors raises $250M with offering spanning services from online consulting to physical checks
- China: DeepBlue Technology’s DeepVogue AI ‘designer’ takes runner-up in fashion design competition before a panel of 50 judges
- China: “Traditional retail and e-commerce hold little interest for consumers who are wedded to smartphones and take their cues from influencers”
- China: Regulator issues new rules on video games – no blood, no dead bodies, no mahjong, gaming firms to establish in-house censor teams
- China: A look at how social media firms employ thousands to censor internet content to show no smoking, no tattoos, no bikinis and more
- China: Huawei believed by CIA to be funded by National Security Commission, People’s Liberation Army and additional branch of state intelligence
- China’s Tencent backs Argentina’s Uala mobile banking startup
- China: Sina Corp suspends flagship news and blog apps following regulator reprimand
- China: Should Tencent launch a gaming smartphone?
- China: Tangdou app secures backing from Tencent internet giant to cater to dance community of mainly elderly women, taking funding to $100M
- China: Total investments in 5G networks projected to hit US$411BN in the period from 2020 to 2030
- China: Country’s first blockchain-enabled notarization firm opens Beijing office
- China: Online retail sales value of goods and services hit US$333.45BN in Q1 2019
- China: Dianrong P2P lending platform reportedly raising $100M, in effort to reach regulated minimum capital requirements
- A look at how TikTok short video app is growing in influence outside China
- China: Candao startup raises $14.9M with full-spectrum software-as-a-service approach to food delivery management
- China: Amazon to shut in-country online store allowing shoppers to buy from local sellers as it downsizes operations
- China: Tencent internet giant launches AR-based blockchain game merging concepts behind Pokémon Go and CryptoKitties
- China: Gate IO raises $64M to launch new proprietary Gate Points exchange cryptocurrency
- China: An overview of BYD, the world’s biggest electric vehicle company
- China: Shanghai hospital now provides AI-powered service that diagnoses some 30 diseases
- China: 4YFN Shanghai Awards 2019 startup applications open to May 17
- China: One month, 500K facial recognition scans – the first known example of a government intentionally using AI for racial profiling
- Is China’s $18BN electric-car market a bubble near bursting point?
- China: Taobao, Alibaba’s online shopping platform, preps to harness farmers for livestreaming, given 150K agriculture-themed streams in 2018
- China: Gov’t watchdog shuts down 33K apps, over 2.3M websites and 24.7M pieces of information deemed ‘lowbrow’ since December 2018
- China: “To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss” says Alibaba founder of workers 9am-to-9pm, 6-days-a-week work schedule
- Free healthcare programs commence in rural China – but focus on AI training and data collection as much as on health
- China: “As related systems and policies also develop in line with the technology…we are approaching closer to a society in which self-driving vehicles are everywhere”
- China: A brief intro to AIsland artificial intelligence hub in Shanghai, 66000 square meters hosting Microsoft, Alibaba and others
- China: Pony AI autonomous driving startup gains $50M backing from Kunlun, major startup VC firm
- China: “In just the last two years, the state has invested an estimated $7.2BN in techno-security in Xinjiang”
- NYC’s WeWork partners Peking University Guanghua School of Management to boost business education and entrepreneurship
- GitHub becomes new haven for China’s beleaguered ‘996’ tech workers and censored internet users
- China: Apple Music’s China arm removes Jacky Cheung song which references the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre
- WeWork Labs’ China unit partners Alibaba Cloud for 8 co-branded spaces to aid 20 startups enter China and 30 Chinese startups to go international
- China: World’s biggest cryptocurrency mining farms may be forced to leave country by possible government crypto ban
- China: Tencent internet giant quietly launches WeGame X store internationally in early access shape
- China: Nanjing pulls smart watches for city cleaners following protests
- China: Tencent testing real-time health clinic services in WeChat wallet and mini-program ecosystem
- China: A look at the $35BN food delivery market dominated by competition between Alibaba and Meituan
- China: Virtual reality arcades projected for growth to $782M value by 2021
- Tesla, Apple and GE among firms launching lawsuits against Chinese companies around theft of self-driving technology
- China: Ucommune coworking space giant raises $29.8M focused on construction of spaces
- China: TikTok short-form video app launches Spotlight initiative to uncover future music stars
- China: Zhejiang Province primary school reportedly making students wear brainwave-reading headbands to detect attention level in class
- China: Huya e-sports live streaming platform backed by Tencent internet giant planning to raise $500M
- China: Mininglamp big data startup backed by Tencent internet giant for $297M with enterprise-level AI product and service platform
- An overview of how video livestreaming is transforming e-commerce in China
- China: Zhejiang province considers social credit penalties for workers who change employment ‘too often’
- China: Ruhnn raises $125M in US IPO with influencer platform for e-commerce sales
- China: Boqii, Goldman-backed online pet store, reportedly planning IPO in $100M range
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology to end funding ties with China’s Huawei and ZTE, citing investigations regarding violations of sanctions
- China: Beike real estate and financing startup preps for integration to WeChat via mini-app ecosystem, opening doors to 1.1BN monthly users
- Israel’s Tiidan AI solution launches to help importers, banks and insurers assess possible default risk of Chinese suppliers
- China: Shuidichou healthcare crowdfunding platform raises $74M on back of rapid growth in tier 3, 4 and 5 cities
- China: bAce Capital VC firm raises $100M with $150M target to focus on early-stage Indonesian and Indian startups
- China: Shenzhen takes pole position as the country’s tech hub, producing more than half of China’s international patent filings
- China: WeChat launches logistics interface to connect in-app e-tailers with customers and delivery
- China: Blue Mobile vending machine platform gains funding led by Ant Financial
- India: China’s Bytedance, parent firm of recently-banned TikTok short-video app, reportedly still aiming to invest $1BN in India over 3 years
- Malaysia: China’s SenseTime partners G3 Global Berhad for collaboration to establish Malaysia’s first ‘AI park’ with China Harbour Engineering Company
- Malaysian Malacca Strait reportedly to see construction of a ‘blockchain city’ backed by the Chinese government
- Malaysia: MyEG Capital invests $1.5M in China’s Jingle Magic, edtech startup working with AR, VR and AI
- Pakistan’s Punjab Safe City Authority has Huawei wi-fi modules pulled from CCTV system
- Singapore: China’s ofo bike-share startup reportedly banned from Singapore operations
