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 […]
View More Autonomous truck startup TuSimple hits unicorn status in latest roundCategory: Weibo
TikTok is giving China a video chat alternative to WeChat
ByteDance, the world’s most-valued startup, just launched a new social media product under its Douyin brand in what many people see as a serious attempt to challenge WeChat. Tencent has long dominated China’s social networking space with WeChat and QQ. WeChat claims to have one billion monthly active users worldwide, most of whom are in China. […]
View More TikTok is giving China a video chat alternative to WeChatLinkedIn now requires phone number verification for all users in China
LinkedIn’s China site looks and functions just like LinkedIn everywhere else, except now it asks users in the country to verify their identities through phone numbers. The American company is requiring both new and existing users with a Chinese IP address to link mobile phone numbers to their accounts, TechCrunch noticed this week. LinkedIn had […]
View More LinkedIn now requires phone number verification for all users in ChinaChina’s Baidu says its answer to Alexa is now on 200M devices
A Chinese voice assistant has been rapidly gaining ground in recent months. DuerOS, Baidu’s answer to Amazon’s Alexa, reached over 200 million devices, China’s top search engine announced on its Weibo official account last Friday. To put that number into context, more than 100 million devices pre-installed with Alexa have been sold, Amazon recently said. Google just […]
View More China’s Baidu says its answer to Alexa is now on 200M devicesAutonomous trucking startup TuSimple is taking 3 to 5 commercial trips a day
A little more than a year ago, autonomous trucking startup TuSimple —flush with a fresh round of venture capital — was preparing to scale up its testing to two full truck fleets in China and the U.S. TuSimple, a China-based company with an R&D facility in San Diego and test operations in Tucson, has put that […]
View More Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple is taking 3 to 5 commercial trips a dayIn major TV push, China’s Xiaomi buys 0.5% stake in TCL
A veteran TV maker just got a notable refresh as it enters the age of connected devices. Xiaomi, the Beijing-based firm best known for budget smartphones, has bought 65.2 million shares, or 0.48 percent, of Chinese home appliance maker TCL, said TCL in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Sunday. Shares of TCL, the world’s third-largest […]
View More In major TV push, China’s Xiaomi buys 0.5% stake in TCLHuawei reportedly punishes staff for New Year’s Eve tweet sent from an iPhone
As predicted, Twitter’s subtle new feature showing which clients tweets are sent from is already embarrassing brands. Following on from a Korean boyband sponsored by LG and Apple’s own Music staff, Huawei is the latest to be embarrassed after it sent a New Year’s Eve message using an iPhone. A since-deleted message included the embarrassing tell-tale […]
View More Huawei reportedly punishes staff for New Year’s Eve tweet sent from an iPhoneA Chinese ecommerce app that lures grocery shoppers with cash just raised $100M in Series B
There is no shortage of up-and-comers jostling for a spot in China’s massive ecommerce industry, and oftentimes they pick a niche market and present a novel business model different from the establishment of Alibaba or JD.com . Chinese social ecommerce app Fresh Buddy announced on Tuesday that it has raised $100 million in a series B funding […]
View More A Chinese ecommerce app that lures grocery shoppers with cash just raised $100M in Series BThe forgotten ‘Facebook of China’ is sold for $20M
Renren, which was once heralded as the ‘Facebook of China’ and later became China’s answer to MySpace after falling out of fashion among its core young users, is selling its social networking business. Renren’s parent company Beijing Qianxiang Wangjing has agreed to sell all tangible and intangible assets of renren.com to Beijing Infinities Interactive Media, […]
View More The forgotten ‘Facebook of China’ is sold for $20MChina’s frenzy over League of Legends championship sheds light on esports growth
When China’s Invictus Gaming defeated European squad Fnatic in the League of Legends 2018 finals this past Saturday, China’s social media platforms became awash in ecstasy and pride. “It’s like winning an Olympic gold, a teenage dream come true,” writes one thirty-something audience of the competition on his WeChat feed. Many others share that sentiment. […]
View More China’s frenzy over League of Legends championship sheds light on esports growthThe ‘falling stars’ challenge is the latest way rich kids are flaunting their wealth
You ever fall out of your Lambo with armfuls of your luxury items just to flex on the proletariat?
The “Falling Stars” challenge is the latest trend sweeping Weibo and Instagram as the elite youth flaunt their wealth on social media. According …
China’s fast-rising Bullet Messenger hit with copyright complaint
Bullet Messenger, a fast-rising Chinese messaging upstart that’s gunning to take on local behemoth, WeChat, has been pulled from the iOS App Store owing to what its owners couch as a copyright complaint. Reuters reported the development earlier, saying Bullet’s owner, Beijing-based Kuairu Technology, claimed in a social media posting that the app had been taken down […]
View More China’s fast-rising Bullet Messenger hit with copyright complaint