Rita Liao
TechCrunch
China
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Recent articles by Rita:
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
Meituan, Alibaba, and the new landscape of ride-hailing in China –
Instead of switching between apps to secure a ride during rush hour, people in China can now hail from different companies using a single app. Some of the country’s largest internet companies — including ride-hailing giant Didi itself — are placing bets on this type of aggregation service. The nascent model is reminiscent of a […] → Read More
Image recognition, mini apps, QR codes: how China uses tech to sort its waste –
China’s war on garbage is as digitally savvy as the country itself. Think QR codes attached to trash bags that allow a municipal government to trace exactly where its trash comes from. On July 1, the world’s most populated city Shanghai began a compulsory garbage sorting program. Under the new regulations (in Chinese), households and […] → Read More
WeChat wants to own tourism –
When people travel, they usually have a list of apps installed to navigate a new city, find restaurants, book transit tickets and more. China’s top chat app WeChat has designs on claiming that spot with a new strategy that lumps all these functions into a collection of destination-specific apps. Operated by Tencent, Asia’s second most […] → Read More
China’s Alipay adds sought-after beauty filters to face-scan payments –
In China, striving for accuracy in a piece of facial recognition software isn’t enough. As Alibaba’s e-wallet affiliate Alipay has recently demonstrated, the way software presents a user’s look is also crucial to its success. On Tuesday, Alipay announced on social media platform Weibo (in Chinese) that it’s added beauty filters to its pay-with-face system […] → Read More
China’s Didi removes 300,000 drivers amid safety overhaul –
2018 was the year when Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing company that defeated Uber in China, vowed to put safety ahead of rocket-ship growth after two deadly passenger incidents. One way it works to ramp up safety is a stricter vetting process for drivers. The mobility giant said Tuesday to a group of media that it […] → Read More
China silences podcast and music apps as online crackdown widens –
Audio apps are flying high in China. In 2018, online listeners in the country grew 22.1% to surpass 400 million, at a rate far exceeding that of the mobile video and e-reading populations, according to market researcher iiMedia. But the fledgling sector is taking a hit. On Friday, a total of 26 audio-focused apps were […] → Read More
Cathay Innovation leads Laiye’s $35M round to bet on Chinese enterprise IT –
For many years, the boom and bust of China’s tech landscape have centered around consumer-facing products. As this space gets filled by Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and more recently Didi Chuxing, Meituan Dianping, and ByteDance, entrepreneurs and investors are shifting attention to business applications. One startup making waves in China’s enterprise software market is four-year-old Laiye, […] → Read More
Pinduoduo cements position as China’s second-largest ecommerce player –
Alibaba and JD.com have been in a war over the Chinese e-commerce space for a decade or so, but a third player called Pinduoduo has managed to shake up the duopoly in recent times. The startup, which was founded in 2015 by an ex-Googler and went public on the Nasdaq last July, has further flexed […] → Read More
Huawei says two-thirds of 5G networks outside China now use its gear –
As 5G networks begin rolling out and commercializing around the world, telecoms vendors are rushing to get a headstart. Huawei equipment is now behind two-thirds of the commercially launched 5G networks outside China, said president of Huawei’s carrier business group Ryan Ding on Tuesday at an industry conference. Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecoms […] → Read More
Carrefour sale shifts the balance of power in China’s new retail battle –
Hot on the heels of Amazon’s decision to shutter its local marketplace, Carrefour — another global commerce giant — is switching up its approach to China, and shifting the balance of power between the country’s tech giants. Carrefour, which is Europe’s largest retailer, sold a majority 80% stake in its China-based business to Chinese retailer […] → Read More
Cartier, Bulgari and other luxury brands are flocking to WeChat –
Not long ago, people in China would need to visit a posh, stylish mall for luxury shopping. That’s rapidly changing as high-end brands race to embrace digital channels, which aren’t just the obvious options of ecommerce platforms or brand-owned sites. In China, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Bulgari and other luxury brands are now connecting and selling […] → Read More
Razer goes big on payments with Visa prepaid card –
The latest pairing between a tech upstart and a financial titan is a digital prepaid card targeted at Southeast Asia’s 430 million-plus unbanked and underserved population. On Monday, Razer, the Singapore-based company best known for its gaming laptops and peripherals, announced a partnership with Visa to develop a Visa prepaid solution. The service, which allows […] → Read More
California has let two Chinese startups offer robotaxis to the public –
China’s driverless cars are coming for passengers in the United States. AutoX and Pony.ai just became the first Chinese companies allowed to offer fully self-driving cars in the state of California, according to notices posted on the website of the California Public Utilities Commission this week. Started in 2016 by Princeton University professor Jianxiong Xiao, […] → Read More