Shai Oster
The Information
Hong Kong
Contact shai
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Past articles by shai:
SVB’s Chinese Customers Face Logjams In Moving Money
As customers of the failed Silicon Valley Bank rush to open new accounts at other banks, SVB’s China-based customers are in a bind. They face far more obstacles than their American counterparts when it comes to setting up new U.S. bank accounts, making an immediate switch from SVB much harder. ... → Read More
SoftBank Ramps Up Software Bets With $1.3 Billion Tungee Talks
SoftBank is ramping up its software bets—as aggressively as ever. The investment firm is in talks to invest in Chinese software as a service firm Tungee at a $1.3 billion valuation, even as a group of other venture capitalists are investing in the firm at a $1 billion valuation, two people with ... → Read More
ByteDance Investors Say CEO Change Is Reaction to Beijing’s Tech Crackdown
Two investors in TikTok owner ByteDance said they supported Thursday’s surprise announcement by founder Zhang Yiming that he is stepping down as CEO of the world’s most valuable privately-held technology company. The move by Zhang to play a less prominent role and hand the reins to a trusted ... → Read More
Upstart Courier Service Raised More than $2 Billion To Fight Alibaba-Backed Rivals
J&T Express, an upstart Southeast Asian logistics and courier service that has expanded aggressively in China, has raised more than $2 billion to fund its fight against rival parcel delivery companies backed by Alibaba, people familiar with the matter said. It’s another example of how control of ... → Read More
China’s $6 Billion Social E-Commerce App Hires CFO as It Eyes U.S. IPO
The list of Chinese tech firms heading to the public markets is getting longer. The latest to lay the groundwork for an initial public offering is Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like social e-commerce platform. The company recently hired a chief financial officer and is considering going public in ... → Read More
How Singapore’s Sea Used Facebook to Become an E-Commerce Giant
Five years ago, Facebook was a catalyst for e-commerce across Southeast Asia, where cheap smartphones were changing consumer behavior in a region with twice the population of the U.S. On the Facebook and Instagram apps, local merchants and shoppers were able to find each other and arrange sales, ... → Read More
Briefing: Hillhouse Invests $830 Million in Healthcare Arm of China’s JD.Com —
Chinese online retailer JD.com is deepening its push into healthcare, raising $830 million from private equity firm Hillhouse. JD.com’s healthcare unit, JD Health, had already raised $1 billion and will use the money to broaden its pharmacy supply chain. The Covid-19 epidemic has accelerated trends to move medicine online in China, where there’s a shortage of doctors to treat a rapidly aging → Read More
Briefing: U.S. Treasury to Submit Recommendation on TikTok to Trump This Week —
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that a government review assessing if the app TikTok poses a threat to national security will present its findings to President Trump this week. The administration has said it i concerned about TikTok’s access to the personal data of American users because it is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance. TikTok says it keeps all data offshore. → Read More
Briefing: Google to Invest $10 Billion in India —
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Google would invest $10 billion over five to seven years in India, underscoring how the nation with the world’s second-largest population of internet users is becoming a key tech battleground. The announcement comes on the heels of Facebook’s investment in India’s Jio Platforms, the wireless carrier network controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s retail-to-oil → Read More
Briefing: Alibaba’s Jack Ma Sells Nearly $10 Billion of Alibaba Shares —
Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma has sold $9.6 billion of Alibaba shares, reducing his stake in the company to 4.8% from 6.4%, based on current prices, Reuters said. The founder of China’s leading e-commerce website stepped away from operations of the company last September to focus on philanthropy. Alibaba’s Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai also cut his stake, to 1.6% from 2.3%, according to → Read More
Briefing: Ride-Hailing Giant Didi Tries Out China’s Digital Currency for Payments —
Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing will start a trial using China’s new digital currency for payments on its app, a first step in the commercial rollout of the government-backed token. China’s government is pushing ahead with a digital currency which could give the government more control over the flow of money. China’s virtual currency is called theDigital Currency Electronic Payment. While → Read More
How 5 Biotech Investors Are Responding to the Covid-19 Crisis —
When an oxygen tank exploded aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 in 1970, a team of NASA engineers used cardboard, plastic bags and duct tape to rescue the astronauts on board.Andreessen Horowitz general partner Vijay Pande, who invests out of the firm’s $750 million biotech fund, likens the Apollo ... → Read More
Five Startups Bidding to Be China’s SaaS Stars —
So far, China hasn’t spawned any breakout enterprise software companies as successful as Salesforce.com and others of its kind. But venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in the country are more determined than ever to build one.The weekslong lockdown prompted by the coronavirus forced millions ... → Read More
Exclusive: Top Didi Executive Outlines How Ride-Hailing Will Bounce Back —
After a two-month lockdown, China is coming back to life. Even without a big marketing push or substantial discounts, Didi Chuxing has seen use of its ride-hailing apps recover to about 70% of their levels before Covid-19, as The Information previously reported. But Didi’s senior vice president ... → Read More
Coronavirus Spurs Demand for Touchless Technology —
Until recently, many people didn’t think twice about signing their name on a store payment screen at checkout, or touching a door handle on the way out of the office. But now, communal surfaces are feared as potential sources of contagion, leading U.S. consumers to rethink a host of behaviors ... → Read More
SoftBank-Backed Tourism App Klook Eyes Expansion in Europe —
Japan is a popular travel destination, but planning visits to lesser-known sights can be hard for foreigners. Online booking isn’t always available on local websites, and information in English can be limited. That’s where Klook, a fast-growing global tourism app, comes in. Its offerings in ... → Read More
Uber’s Stock Drop Weighs on Didi Chuxing’s Valuation —
Uber’s disappointing IPO and WeWork’s recent implosion are casting a shadow over another of SoftBank’s big bets: Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.Some of Didi’s existing shareholders are looking to sell their stakes on the secondary market at much lower prices than the company’s most ... → Read More
Chinese VC Money Pours Into India —
For the last two years, Chinese venture capitalist Geng Yixuan traveled to India every month or two to meet local startups. Geng’s firm, Shunwei Capital, is backed by Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, the most popular smartphone brand in India, which gave Geng a solid entree to Indian ... → Read More
In India, Many Internet Users, but Little Ad Revenue —
India, home to 1.3 billion people, offers a temptingly huge target for global tech companies: one of the world’s fastest growing economies and more than half a billion internet users, second only to China. American titans like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Walmart and Uber, as well as China’s ... → Read More
This Chinese Startup Is Bringing AI to Heart Disease Treatment —
Shukun Technology, a startup founded two years ago in Beijing that uses artificial intelligence to diagnose heart disease, is developing a technology that could help tackle one of China’s most urgent medical problems: a shortage of doctors to treat a rapidly growing population of older, sicker ... → Read More