Rita Liao
TechCrunch
China
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Recent articles by Rita:
Meet Dongtu, the Giphy of China –
With its own universe of homegrown social networks, e-commerce platforms and search engines, the Chinese internet is a world apart from its counterpart in the U.S. But in some areas, the two countries are surprisingly similar. That’s particularly true of people’s love for GIFs . Some feelings are better expressed in pictures and animations than words. […] → Read More
China Roundup: Alibaba’s Hong Kong listing and Tencent’s new fuel –
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. The earnings season is here. This week, long-time archrivals in the Chinese internet battlefield — Alibaba and Tencent — made some big revelations about their […] → Read More
China Roundup: facial recognition lawsuit and cashless payments for foreigners –
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. This week, a lawsuit sparked a debate over the deployment of China’s pervasive facial recognition; meanwhile, in some good news, foreigners in China can finally […] → Read More
China Roundup: TikTok stumbles in the US and Huawei shipments continue to surge –
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. It’s been a very busy last week of October for China’s tech bosses, but first, let’s take a look at what some of them are […] → Read More
China Roundup: Xi’s power on bitcoin, the rise of Alibaba’s new rival –
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s China roundup, a digest of the latest events that happened at major Chinese tech companies and what they mean to tech founders and executives around the world. Alibaba’s nemesis Alibaba’s new rival is shaking up China’s internet landscape. This week, four-year-old e-commerce upstart Pinduoduo displaced JD.com to be the fourth-most valuable […] → Read More
China Roundup: Tencent’s NBA test, TikTok parent deepens education push –
Welcome to TechCrunch’s China roundup, a digest of events that happened at major Chinese tech companies and what they mean to tech founders and executives around the world. The talk about U.S.-China relationships over the past two weeks has centered heavily on the NBA controversy, which has put the interest of some of China’s largest […] → Read More
Africa’s top mobile phone seller Transsion lists in Chinese IPO –
Chinese mobile-phone and device maker Transsion has listed in an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market, a Transsion spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. Headquartered in Shenzhen, Transsion is a top-seller of smartphones in Africa under its Tecno brand. The company has also started to support venture funding of African startups. Transsion issued 80 million A-shares at an opening […] → Read More
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