China’s startup news
#startupCN – 05/2019
Today’s startup news:
on LinkedIn, on Twitter and on Facebook
- China: AIWAYS electric vehicle startup reportedly gains $144M from government-backed fund
- China: Innov8rs Shanghai corporate innovation conference set for 26-27 June
- ‘Every morning, children at more than 2000 preschools in China start their days by facing off with a robot named Walklake.’
- China: Mobility Asia, Volkswagen Group China, JAC Motors and Hefei Provincial Government partner for wide-ranging smart city and mobility program
- China TransInfo public transport software provider gains near $520M investment from Alibaba with cloud-based smart vehicle solutions
- China: Neolix self-driving delivery vehicles startup launches mass production with JD and Huawei lined up as customers
- China: Police app lists 36 ‘suspicious personality types’ inc. those who stop using smartphones, those who don’t socialize with neighbors, and those using an abnormal amount of electricity
- China: TikTok parent company Bytedance reportedly working on its own smartphone
- China: Didi Chuxing ridesharing giant partners Senmiao Technology and Feiniu Transportation for long-distance ridesharing in Chengdu
- China: ZWC Ventures VC firm closes first fund for SE Asia and China at US$150M, focusing on e-commerce, social commerce, fintech and AI
- China: An overview of the companies and technologies likely to be targeted next by US tech block
- China CITIC Bank Corp and Baidu aiming for up to $1BN fundraise for aiBank online lending operation
- People’s Bank of China posts job openings seeking blockchain talent to develop digital currency research
- China’s Alipay partners Turkey’s ininal fintech to provide payment options in Turkey’s bricks-and-mortar stores
- China’s Alibaba to integrate blockchain tech into intellectual property protection systems
- Japan’s Panasonic, UK’s BT Group and Vodafone UK halt business with Huawei; Britain’s ARM to halt licensing silicon chip technology
- China’s Alipay recently partnered Sweden’s Klarna online checkout solutions and Dutch payments tech firm Adyen for ‘Pay later’ option on AliExpress marketplace
- US considers adding 5 more of China’s video surveillance firms to components-and-software blacklist alongside Huawei
- China: Tencent revamps education business, and launches learning-focused AI lab to compete in the tricky online education market
- China: Sanjieke online vocational training platform raises $19M with Alibaba, Baidu and ByteDance among its clients
- Since 2014, People’s Bank of China has worked towards blockchain-based digital renminbi; 71 patents to date and a trial for interbank digital check and billing
- China: ByteDance, TikTok video app parent firm, developing paid music service to challenge Spotify and Apple Music in emerging markets specifically
- China: Tencent-backed Waterdrop Inc insuretech startup aims for $1BN valuation in challenge to Ant Financial in health care
- China: TikTok parent firm ByteDance launches Feiliao (English: Flipchat) in new social messaging move aimed at overtaking Tencent
- China’s Huawei loses access to Google and Android – all future devices will not come with any Google products, including the Android OS
- China: DHL Express partners EHang autonomous aerial vehicle firm for fully automated smart drone last-mile deliveries in urban areas
- China: Beijing and Shanghai ranked in top 10 in Startup Genome and Global Entrepreneurship Network’s 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking
- ITB China Innovation Startup Awards won by Israel’s SeeVoov travel-tech startup with B2B video-based travel planner focusing on ancillary bookings and more
- China: Brinc venture accelerator raises US$1.5M to develop accelerator-of-accelerators for new and existing incubators, accelerators and investment firms
- China’s Huawei launches ICT competition in Nigeria with 15 universities
- 11 Israeli hi-tech enterprises sign up for StartupEast China in Hangzhou following 2019 Sino-Israel Innovation Summit
- China: In March Baidu DuerOS voice assistant installations reached 275M devices and 2.37BN monthly voice queries
- The downside of the sharing economy – Beijing streets are now clogged with near 2M share bikes
- China’s VCs invested $5.6BN into India’s startup ecosystem in 2018, a figure likely to increase in 2019 in response to trade war with US
- China: TikTok short video app has spawned parallel economy of training classes, meetups and workshops to teach users how to become influencers
- China: Bits x Bites food tech VC launches China Food Tech Hub with inaugural members including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Danone
- China: Game For Peace, Tencent’s censored PUBG copy, takes in US$14M in 72 hours
- China: Alibaba’s Taobao to incubate 1000 farmers as key opinion leaders in using live streaming to boost rural development
- A look at how China’s TikTok is disrupting the music industry
- China: Beidian social selling startup raises $126M
- China: Megvii secures $750M with Face++ AI-powered facial recognition systems, in advance of HK IPO
- China Mobile denied US Dep’t of Commerce license due to wide range of security concerns
- China: PUBG blockbuster battle-royale shooter game pulled, replaced with Government propaganda-driven carbon copy
- China: Deep Glint revenues grew by a factor of 7 through 2018 as facial biometrics adoption grows
- China: ‘But when independent citizens attempt to fight against the spread of disinformation, they can face legal threats’
- Security officials from 30 countries agree on common approach to wireless network safety, prompted by concerns around Huawei
- China’s Sogou, 2nd largest search engine, to develop Arabic-speaking AI news presenter for UAE
- China: Poison sneaker-trading platform gains new funding, valuing the company in billions range, with global market estimated at $6BN
- Australia: China’s JD e-commerce giant closes Melbourne office after just 15 months
- HK Monetary Authority grants virtual bank licences to Ant Financial, Xiaomi and AMTD Group, PING AN’s OneConnect and Tencent
- TikTok overtook Facebook as most-downloaded social networking app globally in Q1 2019, with India a key battleground
- India: China’s Alibaba reviewing its India investment strategy in face of Flipkart and Amazon market domination
- Japan: China’s Alipay expands mobile payments to 300K retailers in Japan with goal of taking advantage of 2020 Olympics tourist traffic
- South Korea: Huawei runs low-key launch of 5G testing lab, aiming for ecosystem development with local tech and telecom firms
- Tourism New Zealand inks MOU with Tencent to boost Chinese tourism growth in 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism
- Vietnam joins Huawei 5G ban, aiming for state-owned Viettel to work towards core chip technology
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Blockchain & DLT news
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Fintech news
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Bitcoin & crypto news
