Rita Liao
TechCrunch
China
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Past articles by Rita:
Africa’s top mobile phone seller Transsion to list in Chinese IPO –
Chinese mobile-phone and device maker Transsion will list in an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market, Transsion confirmed to TechCrunch. The company—which has a robust Africa sales network—could raise up to 3 billion yuan (or $426 million). “The company’s listing-related work is running smoothly. The registration application and issuance process is still underway, with the specific […] → Read More
What Huawei didn’t say in its ‘robust’ half-year results –
The media has largely bought into Huawei’s ‘strong’ half-year results today, but there’s a major catch in the report: the company’s quarter-by-quarter smartphone growth was zero. The telecom equipment and smartphone giant announced on Tuesday that its revenue grew 22.3% to reach 401.3 billion yuan ($58.31 million) in the first half of 2019 despite all […] → Read More
China’s Vivo is eyeing smartphone users in Africa and Middle East –
Africa’s mobile phone industry has in recent times been dominated by Transsion, a Shenzhen-based company that is little known outside the African continent and is gearing up for an initial public offering in China. Now, its Chinese peer Vivo is following its shadow to this burgeoning part of the world with low-cost offerings. Vivo, the […] → Read More
GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea –
The impact of U.S. trade restrictions is trickling down to the developer community. GitHub, the world’s largest host of source code, is preventing users in Iran, Syria, Crimea and potentially other sanctioned nations from accessing the service, chief executive of the Microsoft-owned firm said. Over the weekend, GitHub CEO Nat Friedman wrote on Twitter that […] → Read More
Joy Capital closes $700M for early-stage investments in China –
Joy Capital, the venture capital firm that’s backed Luckin, NIO, Mobike and other investor darlings in China, just raised $700 million for a new fund focusing on early-to-growth stage startups. Launched in 2015 by a team of former investors at Legend Capital, the investment arm of PC maker Lenovo’s parent company, Joy Capital made the […] → Read More
The scientist behind Juul launches a Juul alternative for China –
The chemist who helped create the magic sauce behind Juul, Xing Chenyue, unveiled the product of her new startup Myst Labs this week after two years of development: electronic cigarette alternatives designed for China’s 350 million smokers, the world’s biggest smoking population. This new contender makes for a potentially heated battlefield given that Juul will […] → Read More
Tencent brings cloud service to Japan in global push –
The world’s largest video game publisher is looking outside its home country for growth. Tencent, the Chinese internet behemoth that operates WeChat and a few blockbuster games, announced on Friday that its cloud service has entered Japan as part of the firm’s international push in 2019. Tencent Cloud was already serving clients in Japan prior […] → Read More
How skate legend Per Welinder finds an investing niche amid US-China trade tensions –
Months of tit-for-tat trade negotiations between China and the United States have damaged cross-border investment interest between the superpowers, especially in areas that involve deep technology and intellectual property. But one sector has so far stayed relatively intact: lifestyle. That’s what got Per Welinder, the legendary skateboarder-turned-entrepreneur who recently moved into venture… → Read More
Alibaba to help Salesforce localize and sell in China –
Salesforce, the 20-year-old leader in customer relationship management (CRM) tools, is making a foray into Asia by working with one of the country’s largest tech firms, Alibaba. Alibaba will be the exclusive provider of Salesforce to enterprise customers in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, and Salesforce will become the exclusive enterprise CRM software […] → Read More
Nintendo Switch might soon go on sale in China via Tencent –
After months of anticipation, Nintendo Switch is ready to shed more light on its China launch. The Japanese console giant and Tencent are “working diligently” to bring the Switch to the world’s largest market for video games, the partners announced on Weibo today, the Twitter equivalent in China. The pair did not specify a date […] → Read More
China plans e-cigarette regulation as industry booms –
China is taking steps to regulate its blossoming vaping market as health concerns over electronic cigarettes increase in recent times. China’s National Health Commission has begun research into e-cigarettes and plans to issue legislation for the industry, said the head of the health authority Mao Qunan at a press conference this week. The attempt came […] → Read More
China’s coffee upstart Luckin pushes into India and Middle East –
Luckin continues to expand at jaw-dropping speed as it announced plans to open shop overseas for the first time. On Monday, the Starbucks challenger from China said it has signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a joint venture with Americana Group, a major international food group. The deal will see Luckin launch a […] → Read More
White Star Capital eyes Asia growth with new Hong Kong office –
For western startups looking to enter Asia and Asian startups expanding globally, more funding has become available as investors are increasingly looking to export local tech solutions to overseas markets. Globally based venture capital firm White Star Capital has set up a new office in Hong Kong this month to capture entrepreneurs in the budding […] → Read More
After Baidu tie-up, BMW taps Tencent for autonomous driving in China –
China is BMW’s largest market, and the German automaker knows in order to capture the country’s demanding consumers, its future models must support robust autonomous driving capability. But to build it itself in China is hardly possible. The success of autonomous driving relies in part on high-definition mapping, a process that requires an expansive collection […] → Read More
How a Hong Kong startup gets caught up in US-China trade war –
Taylor Host has been operating his artificial intelligence startup out of Hong Kong for more than two years. The American entrepreneur has clients from Europe, North America and Asia, but he settled in the city for its adjacency to Southeast Asia and mainland China’s massive market. Miro, which Host co-founded in 2017 with a British […] → Read More
China startup deals shrink as fundraising for investors plummets –
Chinese startups continue to weather tough times as private investors, caught in a cash crunch, are concentrating money into fewer deals. China’s deal-making activity for startups in the six months ended June halved from a year ago to 1910, according to data from consulting firm ChinaVenture’s research arm. The amount invested in domestic startups during […] → Read More
Snap turns to search giant Baidu to court Chinese advertisers –
Two years have passed since Snap Inc first struck a deal with Baidu that authorized China’s largest search engine to be a reseller of Snapchat ads for companies in Greater China as well as Japan and South Korea, where Baidu runs a portfolio of mobile apps. This week, the pair announced they have renewed the […] → Read More
Online shopping guide SMZDM surges 44% on China stock market debut –
When Chinese internet companies seek initial public offerings, they tend to look to the United States where rules for profitability are less strict. SMZDM, an online shopping guide that few people outside China have heard of, has joined a small rank of internet startups that are trading on public markets in mainland China. SMZDM, short […] → Read More
Hellobike, survivor of China’s bike-sharing craze, goes electric –
Just two years ago, investors were heavily pouring money into China’s dockless bike-sharing startups. Now that boom has busted with derelict bikes littering the streets of cities. Meanwhile, a new race has started for two-wheelers with motors — and one of the main players is a survivor from the bike-sharing craze. Blessed with fundings from […] → Read More
Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng says Nio stock swings a ‘good lesson’ for rivals –
Seeing your competitor undergo dramatic changes in fortune can be unnerving as there’s the fear that the same will happen to you. For electric vehicle maker Xpeng, Nio’s period of stock swings is a wakeup call for China’s EV startup boom. Xpeng and Nio are Tesla -like Chinese startups competing with more established automakers such […] → Read More