October 2019
A round-up of key tech, startup and funding news items from China through October 2019.
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- China: Ant Financial partners Bayer Crop Science for blockchain solutions in the food and crops industry via existing blockchain-as-a-service offering
- The billion-dollar race to create China’s equivalent of Amazon’s Twitch live-streaming video and gaming platform
- China: Bitcoin mining mega farm burns down, destroying an estimated $10M worth of cryptocurrency machines
- China: Huawei Mate30 loses Google’s SafetyNet certification; and Google Apps install workaround LZPlay disappears
- China: Gov’t increases social control further with new mobile number applications now requiring a facial-recognition test
- China: SimCam raises $8M for AI-powered offline home security camera
- China: State-owned bank CMB International partners Nervos Network to develop decentralized finance applications for financial services
- China: US adds 28 high-technology surveillance firms to blacklist around human rights violations against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other minority groups
- China: WeRide sets sights on using 5G teleoperations to compete with autonomous driving giants, allowing one person to oversee a fleet of vehicles
- China: Wanxiang Blockchain and PlatON launch PlatONE open-source consortium blockchain infrastructure aiming at enterprize-level services
- ICYMI: China’s Sensetime partners China Tower network infrastructure provider for 1.9M-site biometric video surveillance network
- China: Langogo sets sights on deploying AI-powered translation devices at airports and hotels, where travelers can rent one using their smartphone
- China’s Huawei achieves 5G download speed milestone without millimeter-wave tech: 3.67 gigabits per second on a live 5G network in Zurich, Switzerland
- China: 500-megapixel camera created, capable of spotting a single person in tens of thousands, featuring real-time tracking and facial recognition tech
- China: Another downturn in Huawei’s loss of Google services integration – the security nightmare surrounding a second workaround
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology reviewing relationship with China’s SenseTime, surveillance-focused AI firm, following US Government blacklisting
- China’s Binance cryptocurrency exchange giant launches P2P trading for Bitcoin, Ether and Tether against the Chinese Yuan
- China: Homeland Dream game, propaganda combined with brainwashing – make a virtual city richer by joining in-game version of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
- China: An overview of Easy Transfer, online financial service platform for international students from China
- China’s Alipay digital payments giant partners Russian internet firm in e-wallet JV to develop digital payments in Russia
- China Construction Bank releases second version of its blockchain trading platform, claiming $50BN in cumulative transaction volume
- China: Lakala Payment financial services platform and partners to launch new fintech-focused fund targeting $141M corpus
- China: ‘Study the Great Nation’ app found to weaken encryption, grant government super-user access, deliberately-obfuscated code and more
- China: Kuandeng mapping solutions provider gains $14.2M funding with focus on high-definition maps used in autonomous vehicles
- China: Nio EV maker deemed too high an investment risk by local government, cancelling factory plans
- Video: US ad-tech Mirriad partners China’s Tencent for dynamic video advertising insertion during viewing
- China: Infimind clothing-focused AI startup raises $14M on the back of major e-commerce platform integrations
- China: Cybersecurity Multi-level Protection Scheme to launch, targeting companies and individuals, a comprehensive data gathering, surveillance and control program
- China: Yangzhou Lingtan completes trial of autonomous street sweepers, with sights set on fire engines, military applications, security vehicles and snowplows
- China: Didi Chuxing ride-hailing giant preparing to launch in Costa Rica, its first expansion into Central America
- China: Mingyi Zhonghe gains $14M with digital health platform targeting rural areas, offering cloud-based clinics, pharmacies, and education
- China: Security on Hive Box facial-recognition locks on ‘smart lockers’ beaten by primary school children using just a printed photo of the intended recipient’s face
- Vertex Ventures China closes high-dollar tech-focused fund for startups in mass consumption, semiconductors, AI, enterprise services, health and online education
- China: Just one company “collects bulk data from over 200 countries in…65 languages, including chat, messaging, IoT sensors…as well as video, audio and images”
- China: WeChat launches new payment feature for iOS allowing users to send and receive money using a mobile phone number
- China: Merck pharmaceutical giant announces $14.5M local startups fund, with aims to open a second in-country innovation lab
- China: Cyberspace regulator, censor and control agency publishes second list of 309 approved and registered blockchain service providers
- China: EHang autonomous aerial vehicle firm partners Vodafone for connectivity to all EHang AAVs operating in Europe exclusively using Vodafone SIM cards
- China: Hetao 101 kids coding platform secures $50M, claiming 650K students in 30 countries
- China: Ping An Insurance to spend $22BN on tech, from AI to blockchain, in bid to develop revenue from new startups and improved services
- L’Oreal invests in Cathay Innovation VC fund, aiming to develop beauty-tech startups in China (pdf)
- China: A look at the growth of ‘errand runner’ services in China’s already-crowded delivery market
- China: Bosch partners GAC automaker to adapt automated valet parking system for in-China use, with sights set on 2020 implementation
- China: Government cracks down on malicious online lending and web crawlers illegally collecting user data which is used to issue malicious usurious loans
- China: Alibaba’s Double 11 online shopping event to feature 200,000 brands this year, with new focus on smaller businesses from China’s less-developed markets
- China: Recent viral post exposes the fake-data problem in KOL and influencer advertising
- China: Huawei announces ambitious plans to critical supplier of products and services to the smart car solutions industry
- China: Emotibot AI startup closes $45M fundraise with tech focused on visual and voice emotion recognition in human-machine interaction
- China: Yunxi Technology secures $50M with enterprize-focused big data and cloud tech to provide corporations with networks, data management services and beyond
- Huawei Risk Tracker: “…Huawei has raised…risk concerns for its partners and customers…cyber espionage to IP theft to allegations of corruption…”
- China: “$46M Hikvision project…the bidding document itself…has 1 year of construction and 9 years of operation before being formally handed over to police…”
- China: Cryptography law to take effect January 1 2020, aimed at “facilitating the development of cryptography business and ensuring security of cyberspace and information”
- Global Startup Awards Grand Finale set for December 11-14 in Gangsha, China
- 7 ways China is boosting blockchain, and what this means for Bitcoin
- People’s Bank of China remains committed to being the first in the world to roll out a national digital currency – pegged to the yuan
- US FCC to vote next month to ban companies from using federal telecom subsidies for communications equipment from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE
- China: 506 blockchain projects published so far by Cyberspace Administration, requiring every entity to register projects ‘for further supervision’
- China: Meituan food delivery and lifestyle service giant introduces mini programs, allowing users to access 3rd party services without leaving the core app
- Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service head warns against 5G role for China’s Huawei
- China’s Communist Party releases decentralized app for members to pledge Party allegiance on a blockchain
- China creates $29BN state-backed fund to invest in semiconductor industry, advancing its goal of reducing dependency on US tech
- How LoL Worlds 2019 gaming championships are shaping up as a new front in the Hong Kong protests battle
- ICYMI: US lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, pass Human Rights and Democracy Act in support of Hong Kong
- India: “Chinese…volume of investments has increased 5-fold at $5.6BN in 2018 compared to $668M in 2016 and around $3BN in 2017”
- India: A brief overview of how China’s newer and smaller tech-focused merchant banks are targeting the country’s early-stage startups
- China’s Club Factory online retailer raises $100M to build on 40M-strong user base for online sales in India
- Samsung in China: A few years back, 1 in 5 smartphones sold in-country made by Samsung; today, it’s shutting down its last factory
- Malaysia: China’s Huawei secures role in country’s 5G rollout with local partner Maxis telecoms major
- Taiwan flag emoji disappears from Apple iPhone keyboard, further evidence of big tech’s failure to support democracy in the face of CCP influence operations
Get Asia’s tech startup news:
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• Check our daily LinkedIn updates or
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