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China’s JD partners with accelerator program Plug and Play to reach US startups
E-commerce giant JD.com, the closest rival to Alibaba in China, is broadening its presence in Silicon Valley after it announced a collaboration with accelerator firm Plug and Play to seek out and work with promising U.S. startups. The e-commerce giant said it will share technologies, including AI, cloud and smart supply chain tech, with the program generally and work together to launch a… Read More
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Ford recruits Alibaba to help break into China’s electric vehicle industry
Ford has put a lot of focus on China’s electric vehicle market — with a local joint venture expected to lead to 15 electric or hybrid models on sale in the country by 2025 — and today the automotive giant announced a tie-in with Alibaba to fulfill its ambitious goals. The scope of alliance is fairly broad and vague at this point, but a large chunk of … Read More
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Facebook co-founder’s B Capital leads $10M investment in Indian payment startup Mswipe
B Capital, the investment firm from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin backed by BCG, has stepped into India after it backed smart point-of-sale company Mswipe in its first deal in the country. The U.S.-Asia fund is investing $10 million into Mumbai-based Mswipe alongside DSG Consumer Partners in what is an extension to a Series D round announced this summer. Originally pegged at $31… Read More
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As Cook and Pichai leave China, Valley confronts rising internet tyranny in world’s second largest market
It’s been a bad few months for internet freedom in China (and really, a bad few decades, but who is counting?). The government brought into force a broad-ranging “cybersecurity law” earlier this year that empowers Beijing to take unilateral control over critical internet infrastructure, while also mandating that foreign companies keep all citizen data local inside China. Read More
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Health2Sync raises $6M to expand its diabetes tracking and management service in Asia
Health2Sync, a Taiwan-headquartered company that offers a diabetes tracking service, has closed a $6 million Series B round aimed at expanding its business in Japan and other markets in Asia. Health2Sync launched at the TechCrunch Hardware Battlefield at CES 2014 and it essentially offers a smarter way to track and manage diabetes. Using a BlueTooth dongle, Android and iOS devices can be… Read More
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For some reason Tim Cook thinks China will allow VPNs to return to the App Store
This year has seen Apple widely criticized for aiding China’s censorship push by removing VPN apps from its App Store in China. Company CEO Tim Cook painted a rather rosy picture of the situation with comments at the Fortune Forum in Chinese city Guangzhou. “My hope over time is that some of the things, the couple of things that’s been pulled, come back. I have great hope… Read More
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Google launches a data-friendly search app for users in emerging markets
Google is continuing its push to make its services accessible for people with lower-end mobile devices or slow internet connections after it introduced Google Go, a data-friendly search app. The app was first spotted in beta in August — when it was known as Search Lite — and now it has been released for select Android devices (here). At just 5MB the app won’t take up huge… Read More
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COMB+ announces a $77M fund to help AI startups enter China
Artificial intelligence is a hot topic in the tech industry with China — alongside the U.S. — emerging as a key market for talent, innovation and companies. While many AI firms head to the U.S. or set up operations Stateside, China is a harder market to crack for overseas companies. That’s where a new fund wants to help. China-based accelerator firm COMB+ is launching… Read More
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Uber’s Indian rival Ola begins offering a bicycle-sharing service
Ola, the company battling Uber in India, has turned to pedal power after it introduced a bike-sharing service. China’s Didi Chuxing and Grab in Southeast Asia have invested in bike-sharing companies, which offered dock-less bikes that users can pick up across a city and leave anywhere they want when they’re done, and now Ola — which recently raised $1.1 billion in fresh… Read More
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Alibaba is buying Israeli startup Visualead’s tech to establish a Tel Aviv R&D center
Alibaba announced a massive $15 billion research ‘DAMO Academy’ project focused on R&D last month, and it is laying the groundwork for an office in Tel Aviv through a deal to acquire technology and talent from Israeli startup Visualead. Visualead developed a new kind of ‘dot-less’ QR code that Alibaba had used for its business in China. The company was founded in… Read More
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Graphic India raises $5M to build a Marvel-like digital comic brand for India
It’s been some time since we wrote about Graphic India, a new media startup that believes India should have its own home-grown answer to cartoon empires like Marvel. The 30-person company been busy developing its IP and bringing its creations to audiences via film and TV since we last covered it in 2015, when it raised $2.5 million from investors, and now it has added to that war… Read More
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Here’s what you missed at TechCrunch Shanghai 2017
Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on TechNode, an editorial partner of TechCrunch based in China. This week saw TechCrunch land in Shanghai for yet another great event. While Shenzhen — the site of our previous China show — might be the hardware capital, Shanghai has a potent mix of hungry entrepreneurs from all over the world. We were delighted to welcome back for… Read More
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Google’s newest app stops you burning through your data package
Google’s newest app for emerging markets is a service that helps control data usage on a smartphone and get more for your top-up credit. Datally, which is available for Android devices worldwide from today, applies granular control to enable a user to monitor use of data on their phone and cut data usage on any app as they please. The app design is simple and it appears to be effective. Read More
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Uber inks its first mobile wallet deal in Southeast Asia
Seeking to rise to increased competition, Uber has inked its first payments deal in Southeast Asia after it announced a partnership with Vietnam-based mobile wallet service Momo. Momo, which raised $28 million led by Standard Chartered last year, will become a payment option inside the Uber app in Vietnam, alongside cash and credit cards. The app is the country’s top mobile payment… Read More
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The time I was turned away from China
Earlier today, November 26 2017, I was turned away from immigration at Shanghai’s Hongqiao airport by Chinese officials. Alongside a number of other visitors, I had been waiting in line to take advantage of the city’s 144-hour ‘transit’ visa, which allows travelers with an onward flight to stay in Shanghai without needing to secure a visa before they travel. The… Read More
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AppLovin scraps acquisition and takes debt financing instead
The story of AppLovin‘s acquisition has taken another turn. We first reported that the mobile ad startup was in acquisition talks in August of last year, and the announcement came a month later: AppLovin would sell a majority stake Chinese private equity firm Orient Hontai Capital. Today, however, CEO Adam Foroughi revealed that the deal is (sort of) off. Instead of an outright… Read More
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Baidu and electric vehicle startup NIO lead $195M investment in Chinese limo booking app
Chinese internet giant Baidu is continuing its push into the automotive space after it led a RMB 1.3 billion ($195 million) Series B investment in Shouqi Limousine & Chauffeur, an offshoot of the state-owned Shouqi Group which was Beijing’s first licensed ride-hailing app. NIO Capital, the investment arm of billion-dollar electric car startup NIO, and Silk Road Huachuang joined… Read More
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