Rita Liao
TechCrunch
China
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Recent articles by Rita:
Xbox teams up with Tencent’s Honor of Kings maker TiMi Studios –
TiMi Studios, one of the world’s most lucrative game makers and is part of Tencent’s gargantuan digital entertainment empire, said Thursday that it has struck a strategic partnership with Xbox. The succinct announcement did not mention whether the tie-up is for content development or Xbox’s console distribution in China but said more details will be […] → Read More
Prime today, gone tomorrow: Chinese products get pulled from Amazon –
If you ever bought power banks, water bottles, toys, or other daily goods on Amazon, the chances are your suppliers are from China. Analysts have estimated that the share of Chinese merchants represented 75% of Amazon’s new sellers in January, up from 47% the year before, according to Marketplace Pulse, an e-commerce research firm. Chinese […] → Read More
Prime today, gone tomorrow: Chinese products get pulled from Amazon –
If you ever bought power banks, water bottles, toys, or other daily goods on Amazon, the chances are your suppliers are from China. Analysts have estimated that the share of Chinese merchants represented 75% of Amazon’s new sellers in January, up from 47% the year before, according to Marketplace Pulse, an e-commerce research firm. Chinese […] → Read More
Lidar startup Innovusion closes $64M round led by Temasek –
More investors are joining the wave to bet on lidar, the remote sensing method that uses laser light to measure distances and has garnered ample interest from automakers in recent times. But it’s also a technology that has long been scorned by Elon Musk partly due to its once exorbitant costs. Innovusion, a five-year-old lidar […] → Read More
Crypto asset manager Babel raises $40M from Tiger Global, Bertelsmann and others –
Three years after its inception, crypto financial service provider Babel Finance is racking up fundings and partnerships from major institutional investors. The startup said Monday that it has closed a $40 million Series A round, with lead investors including Zoo Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Dragonfly Capital, Bertelsmann and its Asian fund BAI Capital, and Tiger […] → Read More
Juul inventor’s Myst lands funding as institutional investors turn to China’s e-cigs –
Over the past several years, institutional investors had largely shied away from China’s e-cigarette makers, an industry that was teeming with shoddy workshops and lacked regulatory oversight. But investors’ attitude is changing as China sets in motion its strictest ever regulation on electronic cigarettes. Myst Labs, a Chinese e-cigarette maker co-founded in 2019 by Chenyue […] → Read More
SoftBank leads $15M round for China’s industrial robot maker Youibot –
SoftBank has picked its bet in China’s flourishing industrial robotics space. Youibot, a four-year-old startup that makes autonomous mobile robots for a range of scenarios, said it has notched close to 100 million yuan ($15.47 million) in its latest funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia, the Seoul-based early-stage arm of the global investment behemoth. […] → Read More
Tesla supplier Delta Electronics invests $7M in AI chip startup Kneron –
Despite a persistent semiconductor shortage that is disrupting the global automotive industry, investors remain bullish on the chips used to power next-generation vehicles. Kneron, a startup that develops semiconductors to give devices artificial intelligence capabilities by using edge computing, just got funded by Delta Electronics, a Taiwanese supplier of power components for Apple and Tesla.… → Read More
Apple sales bounce back in China as Huawei loses smartphone crown –
Huawei’s smartphone rivals in China are quickly divvying up the market share it has lost over the past year. 92.4 million units of smartphones were shipped in China during the first quarter, with Vivo claiming the crown with a 23% share and its sister company Oppo following closely behind with 22%, according to market research […] → Read More
PayPal’s ambition and uphill battle in China –
Over the last few months, PayPal has been quietly gearing up for its expansion in China. At the recent Boao Forum for Asia, China’s answer to Davos, the American payments giant said its strategy for China is not to challenge the duopoly of Alipay and WeChat Pay. Instead, it wants to focus on cross-border business […] → Read More
Ushopal looks to charm China’s beauty lovers with niche Western brands –
What will China’s answer to Estée Lauder look like in the digital age? According to Ushopal, it will provide a seamless online and offline shopping experience, where China’s savvy beauty shoppers get to discover niche, tasteful brands and learn their stories. Ushopal was founded in 2017 by J&J veteran Lu Guo as an “omni-channel” partner […] → Read More
China’s e-commerce giant JD.com starts paying some staff in digital yuan –
China’s plan to introduce its digital currency is getting a lot of help from its tech conglomerates. JD.com, a major Chinese online retailer that competes with Alibaba, said Monday that it has started paying some staff in digital yuan, the virtual version of the country’s physical currency. China has been busy experimenting with digital currency […] → Read More
Westward plans a $30M debut fund to take Chinese indie games global –
In Hefei, a Chinese city known for its relics from the Three Kingdoms period and its manufacturing industry today, Maxim Rate was thrilled to find a small studio crafting a Western role-playing game, a genre that attracts lovers of gritty aesthetics and dark storylines. “The design and computer graphics are really good. You can’t tell […] → Read More
Laiye, China’s answer to UiPath, closes $50 million Series C+ –
Robotic process automation has become buzzy in the last few months. New York-based UiPath is on course to launch an initial public offering after gaining an astounding valuation of $35 billion in February. Over in China, homegrown RPA startup Laiye is making waves as well. Laiye, which develops software to mimic mundane workplace tasks like […] → Read More
Tesla mulls cars tailored to China amid mounting criticisms –
Tesla is working on vehicles tailored to Chinese consumers as complaints about the quality of its electric vehicles send shock waves through the internet in the country. The American EV giant is mulling new products that will be designed from the ground up for China, Grace Tao, a vice president at Tesla, told 21st Century […] → Read More
Huawei is not a carmaker. It wants to be the Bosch of China –
One after another, Chinese tech giants have announced their plans for the auto space over the last few months. Some internet companies, like search engine provider Baidu, decided to recruit help from a traditional carmaker to produce cars. Xiaomi, which makes its own smartphones but has stressed for years it’s a light-asset firm making money […] → Read More
Volvo to supply Chinese ride hailing giant Didi with autonomous driving cars –
As the autonomous driving race in China heats up, Didi is rushing to expand its car fleets by picking Swedish automaker Volvo, an old partner of Uber, as its ally. Didi said on Monday it will be using the XC90 SUVs of Volvo, which has been owned by Chinese auto company Geely since 2010, for its […] → Read More
China’s Xpeng in the race to automate EVs with lidar –
Elon Musk famously said any company relying on lidar is “doomed.” Tesla instead believes automated driving functions are built on visual recognition and is even working to remove the radar. China’s Xpeng begs to differ. Founded in 2014, Xpeng is one of China’s most celebrated electric vehicle startups and went public when it was just […] → Read More
Jack Ma’s Ant called to end anti-competition in payments –
The details for Ant’s restructuring plan after its IPO was called off have arrived. Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba controlled by Jack Ma, will be restructuring as a financial holding company, China’s central bank said on Monday. Ant, which provides online infrastructure for payments and other financial services, needs to “correct its anti-competitive […] → Read More
China gets serious about antitrust, fines Alibaba $2.75B –
Chinese regulators have hit Alibaba with a record fine of 18 billion yuan (about $2.75 billion) for violating anti-monopoly rules as the country seeks to rein in the power of its largest internet conglomerates. In November, China proposed sweeping antitrust regulations targeting its tech industry. In late December, the State Administration for Market Regulation said […] → Read More