The Latest from Rita Liao
TuSimple’s IPO filing reveals roadblocks for self-driving startups with Chinese ties
While the governments of the United States and China are pushing policies for technological decoupling, private tech firms continue to tap resources from both sides. In the field of autonomous vehicle
H&M removed from Chinese apps over Xinjiang cotton boycott
H&M has been removed by major e-commerce and service apps in China after a Communist Party organization barraged it for a statement expressing “deep concern” over allegations of forced
China to ban apps from collecting excessive user data starting May 1
Starting May 1, apps in China can no longer force users into providing excessive personal data, according to a document jointly released by a group of the country’s top regulators (the Cyberspac
Tencent Music now has joint labels with all ‘big three’ record labels
The music streaming arm of Tencent is further tightening its ties with the “big three” record label companies, its major licensing partners. Tencent Music Entertainment announced Tuesday t
Betting on China’s driverless future, Toyota, Bosch, Daimler jump on board Momenta’s $500M round
Across the street from Suzhou North, a high-speed railway station in a historic city near Shanghai, a futuristic M-shaped building easily catches the eye of anyone passing by. It houses the headquarte
Pinduoduo steals Alibaba’s crown with 788M annual active users
For the first time, Pinduoduo has surpassed Alibaba in annual active users, marking the Chinese e-commerce upstart’s meteoric rise over the course of five years. The milestone also indicates Pin
SoftBank, Tencent backs IP analytics platform PatSnap in $300M round
As enterprises around the world pour more money into research and invention to stay competitive, the need for analyzing the worthiness of R&D expenses also grows. One company serving that function
Rising encrypted app Signal is down in China
Chinese users of the instant messenger Signal knew that the good times wouldn’t last long. The app, which is used for encrypted conversations, is unavailable in mainland China as of the morning
China wants to dismantle Alibaba’s media empire: reports
Over the years, Jack Ma has accumulated a media portfolio in China that rivals that of Jeff Bezos in the United States. But now the future of Ma’s media empire is in the crosshairs of the Chines
How ByteDance plans to crack the gaming industry
For the last few years, ByteDance, the parent company of short video app TikTok, has been working to diversify its revenue streams beyond advertisement and find more ways to monetize its hundreds of m
Hong Kong fintech unicorn WeLab raises $75M led by insurance giant Allianz
One of the few industries that have benefited from the COVID-19 crisis is online finance. Around the world, the pandemic has forced consumers to adopt digital banking. Hong Kong’s WeLab, a finte
Chinese beauty app Meitu bought $40 million worth of cryptocurrency
Following in the footsteps of Tesla, Chinese app maker Meitu has joined the ranks of cryptocurrency investment. In the early 2010s, Meitu reached such dominance in the portrait touch-up space that its
What China’s Big Tech CEOs propose at the annual parliament meeting
The annual meetings of the Chinese parliament and its advisory body are underway in Beijing this week. Top executives from some of China’s largest tech firms are among the thousands of delegates
Boss of Chinese gaming titan NetEase calls for shared parental leave
China’s relaxation of its one-child restriction has not delivered the population targets set by its policy planners. In 2019, the birth rate in China slumped to a seven-decade low, which experts
China’s cosmetics startup Yatsen to buy 35-year-old skincare brand Eve Lom
In China’s cosmetics world, where foreign brands were historically revered, indigenous startups are increasingly winning over Gen Z consumers with cheaper, more localized options. One of the ris
How China’s synthetic media startup Surreal nabs funding in 3 months
What if we no longer needed cameras to make videos and can instead generate them through a few lines of coding? Advances in machine learning are turning the idea into a reality. We’ve seen how d
Qualcomm veteran to replace Alain Crozier as Microsoft Greater China boss
Microsoft is getting a new leader for its Greater China business. Yang Hou, a former senior vice president at Qualcomm, will take over for Alain Crozier as the chairman and chief executive officer for
Tim Hortons marks two years in China with Tencent investment
Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee and doughnut giant, has raised a new round of funding for its Chinese venture. The investment is led by Sequoia China with participation from Tencent, its digital part
Xiaomi further localizes India supply chain via BYD, DBG partnerships
China’s Xiaomi had dominated the Indian smartphone market for three consecutive years until recently losing the top spot to Samsung. It has played by the Indian government’s rulebook to su
Chinese mobile games are gaining ground in the US
Over the past year, the coronavirus crisis has spurred app usage in the United States as people stay indoors to limit contact with others. Mobile games particularly have enjoyed a boom, and among them