China’s startup news
~ In May 2018 ~
= China at a glance =
Population: 1BN 376.049M
Internet users: 721,434,547
Internet penetration: 52.20%
Without internet: 660,888,785
- United States to shorten visa length for Chinese tech students in bid to fight IP theft
- Google to host its first Demo Day for Asian startups in Shanghai in September
- $391m AI fund established in Guangzhou
- 60,000 schools taking part in test to use artificial intelligence to grade homework
- China’s Oceanalpha working on building the world’s first autonomous cargo ship
- ZhongAn insurtech giant signs over 100 hospitals to improve claims processing via blockchain
- Forward X startup to crowdfund for autonomous robot suitcase equipped with facial recognition
- Ant Financial raises $10BN at a valuation of $150B, becoming the world’s highest-valued startup
- 100 of Baidu’s self-driving buses to be deployed in July
- Another look at the state-forced closure of Neihan Danzi humor app
- CITYBOX smart vending machine startup secures over $100M funding
- Codemao kids coding education platform secures $18M
- Jollychic Middle East focused e-commerce firm backed on $1BN valuation
- A stark look at the demise of investigative journalism in China
- Gaming market, valued at $32.5BN, now driving mobile e-sports to new heights
- Caofeidian Port now fully robotic with autonomous trucks and cranes
- NOLO VR startup secures $10M backing
- Microsoft to set open platform with 4 universities to share AI data and tools
- Sinovation Ventures VC launches $391M AI fund in Guangzhou
- China’s CloudWalk to provide facial recognition software to Zimbabwean government
- 40-ton driverless truck tested in Shanghai
- City of Shenzhen turning to blockchain tech to fight fake invoices and prevent tax evasion
- Hangzhou Blockchain Industrial Park to offer subsidies to entice startups, domestically and globally
- Smartisan startup unveils smartphone that can run a PC
- Hangzhou high school using facial recognition to ensure students pay attention
- A podcast intro to Clobotics, computer vision startup using AI for complex tasks
- ‘Rage comics’ the latest to be banned online, following jokes about communist martyr
- An intro to VeChain, using blockchain to build proof-of-provenance in China’s $2.8BN wine industry
- A look back at Nvidia’s Metropolis AI smart cities platform partnership with China’s tech giants, Alibaba and Huawei
- Orbbec motion sensing startup backed for $200M by Ant Financial
- Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone announces Unicorn Investment Foundation with scale of $1.5BN
- A brief look at investment in unmanned retail, good and bad
- CowaRobot raises $21.2M for ‘smart suitcase’ that follows its owner
- Hema Xiansheng supermarket chain – 46 stores, 13 cities, facial recognition payment systems
- Xunlei file sharing firm launches blockchain ecosystem
- Government-backed industry organization reports that, as of April, it has found 421 fake cryptocurrencies
- Suzhou city and Houston TX partner on biomedical innovation center
- China central bank official: ‘Blockchain should stay away from finance and currency’
- Tianjin City launches $15.7BN fund-of-funds focused on AI and ‘smart industry’ tech
- Sky9 Capital VC firm closes $200M fund with early-stage focus
- Roadstar self-driving vehicles startup secures $128M, industry’s largest investment to date
- National Supercomputing Center to build $470M next-gen supercomputer, 10x faster than world’s current fastest
- China aiming to challenge SpaceX reusable rockets dominance by 2020
- China’s Huobi cryptocurrency exchange preps for Vietnam blockchain market entry
- World’s first human-free ‘robot bank’ branch opens in Shanghai
- An intro to China’s moves to tie digital IDs to mobile payments
- HTC sets $158M VR fund with support from Shenzhen Government
- An overview of China’s dynamic, fast-growing mixed reality market
- A comprehensive look at China’s Cyber Security Law
- A look at Xiao Xieyi blockchain mini-program on WeChat that drafts contracts for app users
- VC market tops world rankings with $15.6BN deployed in April alone
- Shenma rural mobility-focused financing startup secures $47.3M
- Meilishuo online fashion retailer preps for $500M IPO
- A look at 10 major AI companies challenging US tech leadership
- Unisound AI-driven voice technology firm lands $100M, plans IoT-focused chip
- CES Asia 2018 to showcase over 100 startups from 13 countries
- AtWork coworking launches accelerator program in Xiamen aimed at Belt-and-Road initiative
- Meiweibuyongdeng mobile app for restaurants to manage bookings backed for $63M
- China Startup Outlook 2018: Key insights from the Silicon Valley Bank Startup Outlook Survey (pdf)
- Uoko long-term apartment rental firm raises $157M
- Chinese Intelligent Medicine Association established to speed AI integration with healthcare
- China’s XtalPi to collaborate with Pfizer around AI-driven drug modeling
- WeDoctor raises $500M, reaching $5.5BN valuation
- Following the closure of ZTE’s main operations, what can be expected from China in the tech space?
- Canaan bitcoin mining machine maker preps for $1BN IPO in Hong Kong
- A look at the recent Huawei and ZTE scandals around tech and security
- She Power consulting platform for female professionals and entrepreneurs backed to $1.5M by coworking giant ucommune
- Wuxi Vision secures $12.6M for ophthalmic medical device
- Singapore’s Anacle Systems smart city solution set for rollout across 10 towns
- Ubtech raises $820M for AI-driven humanoid robotics
- Baihe online and offline dating service backed for $631M
- VeChain cryptocurrency startup backed by PwC
- Coolhobo brings augmented reality to millennial shoppers
- Ucommune coworking giant merges with Workingdom, adding 20 locations and 15K members
- Industrial and Commercial Bank’s 1st blockchain patent aims to improve certification authenticity
- 2050 volunteer-run youth-focused unconference set for end of May
- Huobi Labs, Huobi’s crypto exchange incubator, to establish $1BN global fund for blockchain startups
- Huya e-sports video streaming platform sets sights on $165M via US IPO
- China’s Alibaba rolls out blockchain focused on fake food products
- Byton electric vehicle startup in talks to raise over $400M
- A look at the wild world of China’s online P2P lending sector
- PatPat baby products shopping platform backed to $48M
- Yunji social e-commerce platform lands US$120M for growth – on daily sales of US$44M and annual turnover of US$1.58BN
- An overview of Beijing’s moves towards becoming a global tech capital
- First AI textbook for high school students released
- Baidu raises over US$1.9BN for AI-powered finance arm
- China’s Xiaomi set to disrupt TV market in India, just like it did for smartphones
- India: China’s Xiaomi rolls out ‘Mi Credit’ for instant loans
- India’s Oyo Rooms launches in China after Dubai, Malaysia and Nepal
- India: NASSCOM launches Digital Collaborative Opportunities Plaza platform in China for IT market access
- An overview of 11 billion-dollar mega-projects transforming the world’s greatest cities by 2035
= HASHTAGS =
#startupCN and #startupChina are the most obvious tags to search with in English, although these obviously won’t capture items reported in Chinese character sets, whether Traditional or Simplified, or in area- or city-specific terms.
