What critics get wrong about the “American AI Initiative”

Sujai Hajela Contributor Share on Twitter Sujai Hajela is co-founder, president and CEO of Mist, which develops self-learning wireless networks using artificial intelligence. There’s been a bit of hysteria – AIsteria, if you will – over the Trump administration’s recently issued American AI Initiative, formally known as ‘Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial […]

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JD.com shares take off despite slowing revenue growth

Shares of JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce service that rivals Alibaba, are on the rise today after the online retailer announced better than expected results for Q4 2018, bucking uncertainty around tech companies in China. The company reported net revenue of RMB 134.8 billion ($219.6 billion) for the final quarter of last year. Despite representing the […]

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Many popular iPhone apps secretly record your screen without asking

Many major companies, like Air Canada, Hollister and Expedia, are recording every tap and swipe you make on their iPhone apps. In most cases you won’t even realize it. And they don’t need to ask for permission. You can assume that most apps are collecting data on you. Some even monetize your data without your knowledge. […]

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Indonesia e-commerce leader Tokopedia raises $1.1B from Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision Fund

Indonesia-based e-commerce firm Tokopedia is the latest startup to enter the Vision Fund after it raised $1.1 billion Series G round led by the SoftBank megafund and Alibaba. SoftBank and Alibaba are existing investors in the business — the Chinese e-commerce giant led a $1.1 billion round last year, while SoftBank recently transitioned its shareholding […]

View More Indonesia e-commerce leader Tokopedia raises $1.1B from Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision Fund

Korean e-commerce firm Coupang raises $2 billion from SoftBank’s Vision Fund

Just days after a CIA report concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, SoftBank’s Vision Fund — the gargantuan investment vehicle anchored by a $45 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign fund — is back in check-writing action. Coupang, Korea’s largest e-commerce firm, revealed today that it has […]

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Local venture capital fund formation is on the rise in Africa, led by Nigeria

Jake Bright Contributor Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City. He is co-author of The Next Africa. More posts by this contributor E-moto startup Alta Motors reportedly powers down African financial technology startups move beyond payment services Africa’s VC landscape is becoming more African with an increasing number of investment funds […]

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Chipmaker Renesas goes deeper into autonomous vehicles with $6.7B acquisition

Japan-based semiconductor firm Renesas — one of the world’s largest supplier of chips for the automotive industry — is scooping up U.S. chip company IDT in a $6.7 billion deal that increases its focus on self-driving technology. Renesas produces microprocessor and circuits that power devices, and automotive is its core focus. It is second only to NXP […]

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Alibaba shrugs off China concerns as revenue jumps 61%

Tencent had an unexpected miss this week, but Chinese rival Alibaba experienced no such issue today as it beat analyst expectation after clocking 61 percent annual revenue growth. The Chinese e-commerce giant reported total sales of 80.92 billion RMB ($12.2 billion) for its Q1 2019, fractionally beating Bloomberg’s estimate of 80.88 billion RMB. The firm record […]

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Costco now supports Apple Pay across all of its US stores

Apple has landed a big new partner for Apple Pay in the U.S. after Costco began accepting the mobile payment service across 750 stores. The retailer plans to include support at its gas stations, but that isn’t yet complete. The rollout — first reported by MacRumors — follows limited trials at selected Costco outlets, including […]

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Chinese Tesla rival Nio files to raise $1.8 billion in US IPO

Tesla may be looking to go private, but Chinese rival Nio is going the other way after it filed to raise $1.8 billion in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Nio was started in 2014, initially as NextCar, by Bin Li, an entrepreneur who founded online automotive services platform Bitauto. The company is backed by Chinese […]

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Twitter posts record $100M profit but loses 1M users

The social media apocalypse is on us this week. Days after Facebook’s stock took a record $123 billion plunge on a poor earnings report, Twitter’s shares are down nearly 20 percent after the company announced falling users numbers. The microblogging service recorded a drop of one million monthly users in Q2, with 335 million overall and […]

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