Startup news, China
China’s tech, startup and VC funding news, as covered in the English-language online press across December 2019.
Our China summaries focus primarily, tho not exclusively, on the country’s early-stage startup space, regardless of industry; December 2019 saw increased coverage of blockchain and digital payments, particularly in the context of CDBC moves – central bank digital currency.
- Critical pieces of China’s cutting-edge surveillance state share a connection. They came from America.
- Mapping more of China’s tech giants: Australian Strategic Policy Institute update on companies mainly in the artificial intelligence and surveillance tech sectors
- China’s largest 3 blockchain trade finance projects claim $63BN in transaction volume so far
- An intro to Impossible Meats’ moves towards pole position in China with meat-alternatives focused on Chinese dishes
- China: At least 5 crypto exchanges halt all, or domestic-only, operations as gov’t seeks tighter controls on the market including exchanges, miners and asset issuers
- China: A brief look at Lilith Games, startup behind Rise of Kingdoms strategy series which, in October, beat Tencent and NetEase in overseas mobile game revenue
- China: “Airport, train stations, stores and hotels – almost every organisation asks for facial data…but no one tells me why they collect the data and how they protect it”
- China: Ethiopian gov’t inks MOU with Alibaba to join Alibaba-led initiative Electronic World Trade Platform in digital economy growth move
- China: Authorities targeted Zapya app users in Muslim Uyghur persecution by using it to identify those who downloaded the Quran and shared religious teachings
- China: Xiaomi launches Kindle-like e-book reader as more Chinese readers turn to mobile apps
- China: Huawei partners France’s Devialet startup for voice-enabled SoundX Smart Speakers, delivering a 60-watt double subwoofer and 360-degree sound
- China: Regulator clamps down further on online video and audio, banning publishing and distribution of ‘fake news’ created by AI and/or delivered in VR
- China: Blockchain Service Network Alliance to launch nat’l blockchain infrastructure platform, Gov’t-driven and with bank, digital payment provider and telco membership
- China: Esports-related sales in China hit $7.3BN during the first 6 months of 2019 and are on track to top $14.2BN by year-end
- US gov’t may expand ban to more foreign shipments of products containing US tech to China’s Huawei, amid blacklisting’s relatively low impact
- ICYMI: Court in Shaoxing, China, delivered the country’s first criminal sentence based on evidence stored on a blockchain
- How united is the ‘Sino-Russian approach’ in reality? The Hague Program for Cyber Norms’ new policy brief examines what may, in fact, be a coalition of the unwilling
- A reporter took DNA tests in both the US and China. The differences between the two companies are stark.
- ICYMI: JD e-commerce giant opened its largest offline store, JD e-space, in November, spanning 50,000 square meters in Chongqing
- China: EtherscanIO, one of the longest-running and most widely-used Ethereum block explorers, now blocked for in-country IP addresses
- China: A look at smalliot, offering in-hospital infection control using IoT and computer-vision tech
- Huawei files lawsuit in response to US Federal Communications Commission ban on rural American carriers purchasing Huawei equipment via Universal Service Fund
- Together, these measures show Beijing’s absolute determination to seize from foreign companies all communications, data, and other information stored…in China
- China: Huawei faces growing backlash in-country as details emerge around 251-day jailing of former employee following now-disproven accusation of blackmail
- China’s Alibaba-backed startup AutoX applies for California driverless test permit, the first challenger to Alphabet Inc’s Waymo
- US reportedly considering listing Huawei on Specially Designated Nationals list, which would make it near-impossible to complete transactions in US dollars
- ICYMI: US House passes Uyghur bill demanding sanctions over human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang camps, prohibit US tech export used in state suppression
- China: Sweetome Group, shared accommodation operations spin-off from online short-term rental unicorn Tujia, acquires two domestic vacation rental startups
- China: HeyGears 3D digital app provider raises $60M from Group 42, UAE-based AI and cloud computing giant
- China: An overview of autonomous driving startup WeRide, focusing on driverless ride-hailing and running a driverless taxi pilot scheme in Guangzhou
- China: An overview of the opportunities and challenges in brands seeking a marketing foothold in China’s huge ‘influencer economy’
- China: In mid-November, digital Yuan stage 1 implementation commenced with 3 pilot provinces chosen; stage 2 likely to be DLT-based digital national identity cards
- China: New swarm of Twitter spambots identified, spreading lies and disinformation supporting Xinjiang concentration camps targeting Uighurs
- China: Gov’t issues order that all foreign computer equipment and software be removed from government offices and public institutions inside 3 years
- China: Clumsy propaganda game released based on HK protests against Chinese Communist Party, built around players attacking protesters
- China Blockchain Report now available from Hong Kong’s Forkast News
- Just like its vice-like grip over the internet and flow of information, China will probably use its digital currency for mass surveillance purposes
- China: Gansu library commences removing – and burning – pro-democracy publications and those critical of Communist Party. Comments on this? Censored
- China: Taojiji e-commerce startup, once seen as a Pinduoduo competitor, declares bankruptcy
- China: “…bank cards and payment accounts, WeChat and social media, accounts to buy train and air tickets, my phone, even my face ID, are connected to my ID card…”
- China: Hackers hijack $1M in seed funding during wire transfer between a Chinese venture capital firm and an Israeli startup using spoofed emails and domains
- China: An overview of Guangya Keji, using visible light communications tech as a faster and safer payments vehicle
- China: A look at 3 imaging-related tech startups that exhibited at TechCrunch Shenzhen 2019
- China’s ByteDance now testing new social music app, Resso, in India and Indonesia, hoping to generate another global sensation like TikTok
- China: Cosmose AI raises $12M to track brick-and-mortar purchasing habits
- China’s in-development national digital currency to be compatible with Alipay and WeChat Pay, and to be available for use without an internet connection
- China: Tianjin Kylin Information and China Standard Software to create new firm to develop Chinese OS, following gov’t directive to remove all foreign soft/hardware
- China’s AI champions have spun AI algorithms into gold in recent years, but that may become more difficult as the technology becomes more widely available
- ICYMI: Threats to the U.S. Research Enterprise – China’s Talent Recruitment Plans – the report received by the US Senate (pdf)
- Somehow, China’s Communist Party propaganda mouthpiece, Xinhuanet, secures presentation rights as media partner for 2020 CES Tech Awards in Las Vegas
- China: Suqu Net aims to resolve hotel hygiene scandals using embeddable chips to track hotel inventory, from cleaning rags to bed linen
- China’s bitcoin miners taking an increasing percentage greater of production power, currently controlling 66% of the global hashrate
- China: Bytedance, parent of TikTok, adds Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper media house to JV list, to develop business lines for its Jinri Toutiao news aggregator platform
- Bank of China uses blockchain to issue $2.8BN of financial bonds to small businesses and micro-enterprises
- What do Uganda’s police force, a Mongolian prison and Zimbabwean airports have in common? All are testing China-produced facial recognition systems.
- China: Tencent trials revamped version of Pengyou social app, a combination of Facebook, Instagram and Tinder, focusing on teenage users
- China: Qutoutiao mobile content aggregator preps to sue following analysis of 50K ads on the platform, suggesting near 50% revenue came via Qutoutiao CEO-owned parties
- One Country, One Censor: How China undermines media freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan – from the Committee to Protect Journalists
- China: Conflux blockchain startup to receive research institute and incubation centre funding from Shanghai Government
- A brief intro to China’s notional 4 city tiers, and the impact your location might have on the technology you use
- UK footballer, Mesut Ozil, removed from China version of Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 game following his criticism of China’s persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang
- An overview of the apparently reviving relationship between Slovakia and China, and the role blockchain tech may play as time goes on
- China: Kuaishou platform claims 100M daily active live-broadcasting user base, selling items from cosmetics to industrial equipment
- China: Qingsong Fund early-stage VC firm closes $43M tech fund; prepares $143M 4th fund, also tech-focused
- China consumer report 2020: The many faces of the Chinese consumer, from McKinsey
- Download: The Social Credit System And China’s Rule Of Law (pdf), from Mapping China
- ICYMI: The Pentagon reportedly prompting US telecoms to join forces on open-source 5G software in drive towards alternative to China’s Huawei
- China’s Alibaba secures 2 US patents to secure and expedite its blockchain network, reducing data verification time and introducing process scheduling
- China: Tencent internet giant to launch cryptocurrency research unit in payments arm, reportedly to also support government digital currency initiatives
- An overview of the problems online content-hub models face, in China and in general
- China: Huawei to invest $10.5BN across 5 years to build ecosystem around Kunpeng processors, market move both towards desktop and to address Google Play access loss
- China: iFlytek startup announces development of AI-powered tech that can accurately identify a person by voice, ostensibly for use in law enforcement
- China: Regulatory agencies issue joint warning reminding individuals and companies not to engage in cryptocurrency trading and related activities
- ICYMI: Huawei and Honor sub-brand launched $1BN global fund to aid developers to build for Huawei Mobile Services, replacement for blocked Google system
- China’s Huawei launches South Africa-specific Shining-Star as part of 1BN Huawei Developer Programme
- China: Global development of AI-based education, focusing on China, from Deloitte
- China’s PlusAI self-driving truck startup successfully completes autonomous delivery trial run from the US West Coast to the East Coast
- China: Bitcoin miners in Sichuan province reportedly advised by local authorities to scale down operations due to dry-season electricity shortages
- China: Securities regulator considering application for listing of exchange-traded fund that will track blockchain-related stocks as underlying assets
- KPMG rolls out KPMG Origins, blockchain-based track-and-trace platform for trade, in Australia, China and Japan
- Australia: Adelaide China Biotech Investment Fund launches with $45M corpus, for commercialisation of health and biotech research
- Australian companies operating in China to be forced to allow Chinese gov’t access to encrypted data, described as legalising in-country theft of trade secrets
- Australia: Somehow, Brisbane’s Cross River Rail Authority contracts China’s Huawei for digital signalling system, ignoring federal government ‘high-risk vendor’ status
- Russia’s Alrosa diamond producer launches WeChat mini-program with Everledger, allowing consumers and retailers in China to track diamond sources via blockchain
- Cambodia: China-linked espionage group Rancor found to have made repeated, ongoing attempts to hack Cambodian government organisation
- The illusion of a rules-based global order: “Nowadays, international law is powerful against the powerless, and powerless against the powerful”
- Japan’s Marubeni trading house partners China’s Byton EV firm in move to secure used auto batteries for recycling as energy storage units serving homes and more
- Japan: Huobi cryptocurrency exchange’s Japan branch gains $4.6M investment from Tokai Tokyo financial services firm
- Taiwan: Thousands of lies flood social media every day as Beijing seeks to exploit social divisions and undermine democracy in lead up to presidential election
- 1BN surveillance cameras projected worldwide by year-end 2021; more than half of those will be in China, each likely providing all data to the CCP
- Hong Kong: Kr Space, Beijing-HQ co-working space and China competitor to WeWork, to shut down its Hong Kong Time Square location
- US House of Rep’s unanimously passes Secure and Trusted Comm’s Networks Act, barring gov’t bodies from purchasing tech from potential nat’l security threats
- Huawei cloud services unit to partner regional arm of San Francisco’s Skymind to offer joint expertise on smart city innovation with projects in Indonesia, Malaysia
- An intro to 8 Asian food-tech startups working on the future of food, from meatless meat to sustainability
Other subject-specific news from December 2019:
Blockchain in Asia • Crypto news, Asia • AI news • Fintech in Asia
To stay up-to-the-minute with ongoing daily updates:
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