TikTok parent Bytedance is getting serious about games

A turbulent 2018 for China’s gaming market hasn’t held back newcomers. Bytedance, the world’s most valuable startup behind a collection of rising new media apps including TikTok and Jinri Toutiao, is making a further push into video games after it took control of a mobile game developer through a roundabout deal. According to a business registration […]

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Surging costs send shares of ecommerce challenger Pinduoduo down 17 percent

China’s new tech force Pinduoduo is continuing its race to upend the ecommerce space, even at the expense of its finances. The three-year-old startup earmarked some big wins from the 2018 fiscal year, but losses were even greater, dragging its shares down 17 percent on Wednesday after the firm released its latest earnings results. The […]

View More Surging costs send shares of ecommerce challenger Pinduoduo down 17 percent

China’s Qutoutiao is burning millions of dollars to take on TikTok parent

Chinese startup Bytedance is finding itself surrounded by challengers as its empire of new media products, including global video app TikTok and Chinese news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, gather steam. Tencent tried to play catch-up with a handful of new short-video services, and a Facebook clone of TikTok was reportedly in the making. Less famous players also […]

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Elon Musk says Tesla Model Y will be revealed at its LA design studio on March 14

Tesla will pull back the curtains and unveil its Model Y crossover vehicle at an event in Los Angeles on March 14th, according to a tweet from chief executive Elon Musk. Model Y unveil event on March 14 at LA Design Studio — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019 It’s the fifth new car design […]

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As shared kitchens heat up, a China-based startup, Panda Selected, nabs $50 million led by Tiger Global

A few weeks ago, we told you that former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick looks to be partnering with the former COO of the bike-sharing startup Ofo, Yanqi Zhang, to bring his new L.A.-based company, CloudKitchens, to China. Kalanick didn’t respond to our request for more information, but according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), his […]

View More As shared kitchens heat up, a China-based startup, Panda Selected, nabs $50 million led by Tiger Global

Alibaba takes an 8% stake in Tencent-backed anime streaming site Bilibili

Ecommerce giant Alibaba is continuing its push into the world of youth culture after it scooped up an 8 percent stake in anime streaming and game publishing company Bilibili. According to a securities filing on Thursday, Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace has acquired about 24 million shares in Bilibili, the Shanghai-based firm that has captured 93 million monthly users […]

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Autonomous truck startup TuSimple hits unicorn status in latest round

Another autonomous vehicle unicorn has joined the herd. TuSimple, a self-driving truck startup running daily routes for customers in Arizona, has raised $95 million in a Series D funding round led by Sina Corp. as the company prepares to scale up its commercial autonomous fleet to more than 50 trucks by June. The startup, which launched […]

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WeWork could challenge Starbucks in China with new on-demand service

The rise of Starbucks in China, like that in the west, is closely linked to its function as a “third space” for people to hang out between home and work. In recent years, a bevy of coffee entrepreneurs are trying to topple the American giant’s dominance in China and lately, an unexpected contender — WeWork […]

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Meet the little-known Chinese WiFi startup that rubs shoulders with WeChat and Alipay

A service that connects people to WiFi hotspots for free turned out to be one of China’s most popular apps, nestling in the top ranks with Tencent’s WeChat messenger and Alibaba’s digital wallet affiliate Alipay. According to a report from app tracking service App Annie, WiFi Master Key was China’s fifth-largest app and the world’s ninth […]

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Tesla breaks ground on Shanghai factory which will product Model 3 EVs for China

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the company’s first overseas factory in Shanghai will focus on producing Model 3 vehicles for the Chinese market only. Musk is currently in China to break ground on the new factory today, which is being developed in partnership with the Shanghai government — an ally that is likely to […]

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Chinese stocks plummet as Huawei CFO arrest raises trade fears

A string of Chinese stocks fell hard on Thursday after the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver deepened concerns over US-China trade tensions. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong was off 2.76 percent as of 12:40 p.m. On the Mainland side, the CSI 300 […]

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Meituan, China’s ‘everything app’, walks away from bike sharing and ride hailing

A major player in the race to transport Chinese people around is losing steam. Meituan Dianping, the Tencent-backed all-encompassing platform for local services, continues to put the brakes on bike-sharing and ride-hailing, the company said on its earnings call on Thursday. The eight-year-old firm is best known for competing with Alibaba-owned Ele.me in food deliveries […]

View More Meituan, China’s ‘everything app’, walks away from bike sharing and ride hailing