Tech news: China
China’s tech startup news from August 2019
(Today’s startup news: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook)
- A deep dive into China’s advantages, and challenges, in the race to 5G
- China: Xinchao Media elevator-ad firm lands JD-led $142M investment, with 100-city coverage and 700K elevator ad spaces
- China’s Transsion Future Hub to partner Kenya’s Wapi Capital to source and fund early-stage African fintech startups
- China: Jinri Toutiao, Bytedance-owned news aggregation app, launches upgraded Lingquan AI tool to identify content deemed inappropriate by regulators
- China: Sogou search engine partners Zhangyue Technology for video-based AI novel readers which look like authors, aiming at online literature market
- China: WeRide autonomous driving startup launches robotaxi company with Guangzhou’s Baiyun Taxi company, which owns a 10K-strong taxi fleet
- China: Neolix robovan startup aims to grow from theme park robo-stores in 11 cities to full city-street transport option
- A look at China’s AutoX, fast-growing autonomous vehicle startup and one of only four to receive a California robotaxi license
- China: A look at MYbank, Jack Ma’s online bank focusing on small-business lending – $290BN lent to 16 million SMEs with applications approved in 3 minutes
- Standard Chartered and Linklogis complete deep-tier supply chain financing transaction for Digital Guangdong using Tencent’s WeQChain blockchain platform
- China: Cryptocurrency ban appears to have boosted bitcoin use, in part seen as a ‘safe haven’ thinking in response to trade war worries
- ICYMI: Hangzhou Internet Court ruled that cryptocurrency should be considered virtual property as it is ‘valuable, scarce, and disposable’
- China: Government mandates digital currency research in new guidelines on the scope of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone
- China: Head of People’s Bank announces blockchain-backed digital currency is now ready
- China: QFPay digital payments firm secures $20M to grow beyond 13 primarily Asian markets
- China: A brief overview of facial recognition tech risks in digital payments
- China: Yijiupi e-commerce platform gains follow-on funding of $80M from Tencent with goal of diversification across e-commerce supply chains
- China: Face-scanning entrance gates installed in 13 public housing communities, with roll-out to all 59 neighborhoods in Beijing expected in October
- ICYMI: Huawei partners NetEase gaming company for 5G cloud-based gaming lab
- Google shuts 210 YouTube channels acting as part of ‘coordinated’ disinformation campaign about Hong Kong protests, following similar actions by Twitter, Facebook
- Why YouTube continues to demonetize videos of the Hong Kong protests, preventing coverage of this and other important global events
- China: A look at what you need to know about the Huawei Ark Compiler, and how it ports Android apps to Huawei’s new Harmony OS
- China: Huawei to open $1.4BN R&D centre in Shanghai, aiming to house 30-40,000 employees across 1km complex
- Is Huawei’s Harmony a ‘national OS’ in the making? ‘Microkernel architecture is the future of OS and Huawei is the first major OS vendor to adopt it on a larger scale’
- Cashless payment booms in China and India likely to spell the end of the ATM
- China: CareVoice insurtech secures 8-figure US$ funding with tool suite aimed at health insurance providers
- China: Zhiketong secures $42.5M with direct marketing services for upscale hotels using WeChat
- China: Xiaohongshu social commerce mobile app pulled from China’s app stores, likely due to volume of fake reviews on products
- China: The top 25 mobile apps by monthly-active-users to June 2019
- 4 key growth challenges loom for China’s hugely-successful TikTok social app
- China: ByteDance to create app-embedded search engine business to compete with Baidu
- China: Baidu App daily active users hit 188M, up 27% year-on-year; in-app search grew 20% year-on-year; and mini program MAUs hit 270M
- China: Chengdu’s home fitness startup Fiture secures $6M with a combination of hardware, AI-driven feedback, and downloadable content
- China: A broad collection of technology, startup and funding news, as reported in the English-language online press in the month past
- China: Report details APT41, prolific cyber-threat group that carries out state-sponsored espionage in parallel with financially-motivated operations
- A look at some of the tech in Huawei’s HongMeng OS, set for China launch this year and internationally in 2020
- Report finds that China is on track to have one surveillance camera for every 2 citizens by 2020
- Snap renews partnership with Baidu search giant in pursuit of ad dollars in China, Japan and South Korea – despite being banned in China
- China: Huawei commences 6G research in Canada, and in talks with university researchers
- China: Huawei reportedly to unveil Map Kit, Google Maps competitor, in October, covering 150 ‘countries and regions’ and available in 40 languages
- China: Zhihu Q&A site lands $434M investment, with Baidu planning incorporation into its search engine
- China’s universities implement facial recognition scans to expedite the registration process, following trials around attendance and campus security
- The Uyghur women fighting China’s surveillance state in Xinjiang with digital resistance
- WeChat and Samsung partner, allowing users WeChat mini-program access on Samsung home screens without opening the main app – effectively like a mobile OS
- China: Wanwu Xinxuan raises $20M with e-commerce platform selling children’s apparel, and providing young mothers with options for their own online store
- China: Hexiaoxiang online Chinese language-learning platform for children secures $28M
- ‘Developing countries that are more sensitive to cost will find the Chinese 5G price-point difficult to turn down, especially…with..incentives like the Belt and Road…”
- Twitter reports ‘significant state-backed information operation’ from within the China targeting Hong Kong; removes 936 accounts and suspends 200,000
- An overview of the 8 startups selected for Accenture’s 2019 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific program
- China’s Xiaomi mobile phone giant to enter India’s consumer lending space with launch of Mi Credit instant personal loan service
- Australia: Instagram censors Melbourne artist’s work commenting on Beijing’s influence in Australia but permits ongoing death threats
