Rita Liao
TechCrunch
China
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Recent articles by Rita:
The eSIM maker powering Xiaomi’s IoT devices raises $15M –
Connectivity is vital to a future managed and shaped by smart hardware, and Chinese startup Showmac Tech is proposing eSIMs as the infrastructure solution for seamless and stable communication between devices and the service providers behind. Xiaomi accepted the proposition and doled out an investment for the startup’s angel round in 2017. Now Showmac has […] → Read More
WeWork sells majority stake in Chinese entity, seeks localization –
Four years after its foray into the Chinese market followed by rapid and cash-hemorrhaging expansion, WeWork decided to wind down its involvement in the country. WeWork’s Chinese unit has secured a $200 million investment led by Shanghai-based equity firm Trustbridge Partners, which first backed WeWork China in its Series B round in 2018, the American […] → Read More
China says it won’t approve TikTok sale, calls it ‘extortion’ –
The September 20 deadline for a purported TikTok sale has already passed, but the parties involved have yet to settle terms on the deal. ByteDance and TikTok’s bidders Oracle and Walmart presented conflicting messages on the future ownership of the app, confusing investors and users. Meanwhile, Beijing’s discontent with the TikTok sale is increasingly obvious. […] → Read More
China’s electric carmaker WM Motor pulls in $1.47 billion Series D –
Chinese electric vehicle startup WM Motor just pocketed an outsize investment to fuel growth in a competitive landscape increasingly coveted by foreign rival Tesla. The five-year-old company raised 10 billion yuan ($1.47 billion) in a Series D round, it announced on Tuesday, which will pay for research and development, branding, marketing and expansion of sales […] → Read More
TikTok fact-checks: US IPO, Chinese ownership, $5B in taxes –
There is no shortage of speculations and reports around TikTok’s future in the U.S. Amid a swirl of rumors, TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance issued a statement (in Chinese) on Monday morning, bringing clarity to its ongoing deal that has captured global attention over the past few weeks. ByteDance is still the owner China’s ByteDance confirms […] → Read More
China’s vaping giant Relx gears up for US entry –
The backlash against vaping in the United States has not deterred a Chinese challenger from entering the world’s largest vaping market. Relx, one of China’s largest e-cigarette companies, is seeking to submit its Premarket Tobacco Product Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of 2021. Upon completion of a review process […] → Read More
TikTok’s Chinese rival Kuaishou becomes a popular online bazaar –
In China, short video apps aren’t just for mindless time killing. These services are becoming online bazaars where users can examine products, see how they are grown and made, and ask sellers questions during live sessions. Kuaishou, the main rival of TikTok’s Chinese version (Douyin), announced that it accumulated 500 million e-commerce orders in August, […] → Read More
Southeast Asia’s East Ventures on female VCs, foreign investment, consolidation –
Melisa Irene‘s path to becoming a partner at one of Southeast Asia’s most esteemed venture capital firms is an unconventional one. “I always consider myself to be quite lucky,” said Irene, who was promoted to be a partner at East Ventures in January 2019. At 25 years old, she was the Jakarta-based investment firm’s first […] → Read More
China tops 110 million 5G users in less than a year –
Over 110 million users in China have signed up for 5G plans, announced president of the China Academy for Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a think tank under the telecoms watchdog Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at an industry event on Wednesday. That makes China the largest 5G market in terms of user size, […] → Read More
Neither Microsoft nor Oracle gets to buy TikTok US: Chinese state media –
What a whirlwind of a Monday morning. Shortly after news broke that Microsoft is out of the picture in bidding for TikTok’s U.S. operations, and rumors began circulating that Oracle is the winner, China’s state broadcaster CGTN reported that ByteDance will not sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft or Oracle, citing sources. ByteDance, the world’s […] → Read More
Huawei phones will start running on HarmonyOS in 2021 –
Huawei is planning to launch its proprietary Harmony operating system on smartphones in 2021, the firm announced at its annual developer conference in Dongguan on Thursday. The readiness of HarmonyOS handsets will largely be contingent on the number of apps Huawei can attract within a short window. HMS Core, Huawei’s counterpart to Google Play Services […] → Read More
Viral article puts brakes on China’s food delivery frenzy –
For China’s food delivery workers, life can feel like a constant battle with algorithms, traffic police, and disgruntled customers. An essay detailing the hazardous work conditions of China’s food delivery drivers went viral on the internet on Tuesday, causing a moment of national reckonings on algorithmic harms to people. In China’s populated urban hubs, one […] → Read More
China presents ‘global standard for data security’ –
As tensions between the U.S. and China heighten over data security issues, Beijing took a proactive step to unveil a “data security initiative” that it believes can serve as “a global standard for data security.” The Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, appearing in a video during a closed-door meeting in Beijing on […] → Read More
China bans Scratch, MIT’s programming language for kids –
China’s enthusiasm for teaching children to code is facing a new roadblock as organizations and students lose an essential tool: the Scratch programming language developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. China-based internet users can no longer access Scratch’s website. Greatfire.org, an organization that monitors internet censorship in China, shows that […] → Read More
Qualcomm-powered Chinese XR startup Nreal raises $40 million –
Nreal, one of the most-watched mixed reality startups in China, just secured $40 million from a group of high-profile investors in a Series B round that could potentially bring more adoption to its portable augmented glasses. Kuaishou, the archrival to TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin, led the round, marking yet another video platform to establish links […] → Read More
Xiaomi backs Dyson’s Chinese challenger Dreame in $15 million round –
Once known for its affordable smartphones, Xiaomi has in recent years been transforming itself into an online mall for consumer electronics by cutting checks and building relationships with hundreds of hardware and lifestyle startups. And some of its allies are now going after the Western market with their high-end, China-made products. Beijing-based Dreame, which produces […] → Read More
PropertyGuru lands $220M from KKR and TPG to conquer Southeast Asia –
Southeast Asia’s leading property listing company PropertyGuru is making great strides across the region as it secures a fresh investment of SG$300 million ($220 million), it announced this week. The proceeds, financed by existing investors KKR and TPG, both buyout titans, will fuel PropertyGuru’s already ambitious push across its main market Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam […] → Read More
China’s logistics titan YTO nets close to $1B from Alibaba in overseas push –
E-commerce has brought in a logistics boom in China over the last decade, transforming small-town delivery businesses into multinational corporations. One leading player, YTO, is gearing up for international expansion after it secured 6.6 billion yuan or $970 million from its long-time ally and client, Alibaba. 20-year-old YTO announced this week it will sell 379 […] → Read More
TikTok parent ByteDance says it will ‘strictly follow’ China export controls –
While Beijing has repeatedly spoken out against Washington’s pressure on Huawei, it has remained relatively quiet amid TikTok’s recent struggles in the U.S. As the red-hot video app approaches a final sale in the U.S., however, the Chinese authority moved unexpectedly to make the deal more complicated to go through. On late Friday, China’s Ministry […] → Read More
Podcast is social: How China’s Lizhi makes audio interactive –
For Marco Lai, the founder of Chinese podcast network Lizhi, radio has always been social. Twenty years ago, the entrepreneur was a host at a radio station in southern China. He ran a late-night program where listeners could call in and chat about anything as they wished, often riffing on feelings, relationships or other intimate […] → Read More