China’s startups
News from May 2020
The monthly China startup news summary for May 2020, drawn from the daily Startup News Asia news feed.
The China startup news headlines below each link to one of the original online news articles that published the item concerned. Each article either directly covers Chinese tech startups, or deals with issues of importance to China’s startups in some way.
News headlines featured here are the Chinese tech startup news items pulled from our daily startup news coverage, which currently covers 17 primary locations across Asia and Oceania. News sources we pull from are agnostic; we find and aggregate news about China’s tech startups from online outlets large and small, based purely on relevance to individuals, and organisations, interested in China’s tech startups.
Additional subject-focused news summaries are also online, covering the month’s blockchain news, artificial intelligence, digital currency news, cybersecurity and datasec, and a broad collection of fintech news.
- China’s TikTok passes 2BN downloads, building on record-breaking Q1
- China: Tencent launches Tencent Industrial Accelerator for blockchain-focused startups and companies, with applications closing June 6th
- China’s Alibaba gains US patent for blockchain-based system to identify and protect music copyright
- China: TikTok’s mainland version, Douyin, now testing Connections, function enabling users to video call strangers to play games
- China: Xiaomi mobile giant browsers found to be recording millions of people’s private web and phone use worldwide
- China: Inceptio autonomous trucking startup raises $100M with over 100 logistics and freight firms already signed up for Smart Truck Asset Service
- China: TikTok owner Bytedance launches Viamaker video-editing app overseas, building on presence in the video-streaming space
- China: Merck pharma giant backs SynSense AI-focused chip startup via China Seed Fund, focusing on next-gen ‘neuromorphic computing’
- China: Nervos Network launches $5M virtual incubator for early-stage startups and blockchain teams building decentralized applications
- China: WeChat found to monitor international user content in order to build censorship algorithms imposed on China-registered accounts, further fuelling data security concerns
- China’s TikTok now testing in-video ‘shop now’ ad format for influencer videos, splitting revenue from video-driven sales
- China: Shanghai’s Double Five shopping festival delivers major boost to consumer spending in COVID-19 outbreak – $2.2BN sales inside 24 hours
- China: E-sports market breaks $16BN value, with 470M consumers; 47% in mobile games and 24% in PC games
- China: “…in February alone Taobao, the platform which sees the largest number of live-streaming sales, saw an increase of 719% in new sellers across the country”
- McKinsey’s take on how COVID-is 19 accelerating underlying trends in China’s medtech industry, and the new business models that may emerge
- China: TikTok to launch new augmented reality advertising format, introducing interactive effects to user videos taking cues from the user’s physical environment
- China: Motovis autonomous driving tech firm secures $14.1M
- China: A look at Huawei’s moves with HiCar, Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything, 5G and more, aiming for central presence across vehicle movement, charging and built environment
- ICYMI: British Telecom signs US supplier to help limit reliance on China’s Huawei in construction of nationwide fiber-optic system
- China: “…so many…retailers ended up embracing livestreaming that they’ve kicked off a new boom in Chinese ‘shoppertainment’ that lets retailers interact with distant customers…”
- China: ByteDance, parent company of TikTok, leads $6M investment in Lingxi, AI startup applying machine intelligence to financial services including debt collection and insurance
- China: Fiscal package $1.4 trillion set for sign off, aiming to reduce dependence on foreign technology and echoing objectives of ‘Made in China 2025’ program
- China: Advisers propose regional digital currency for trade backed by Japanese yen, Korean won, HK dollar and the yuan, essentially a knock-off of original vision for Facebook Libra
- China: A look at how Luckin Coffee’s collapse highlights and amplifies China’s Wall Street-related issues around false accounts, financial information and verification
- China: Missfresh reportedly on the verge of closing $500M in new financing to expand in response to bolstered demand for fresh groceries due to COVID-19
- China: Tencent tech giant announces plan to invest $70BN over 5 years in tech infrastructure including cloud computing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity
- Israel reportedly likely to join ranks of countries rejecting bids from China for role in 5G network infrastructure due to security concerns
- China: City of Hangzhou announces plans for code-and-scoring system to monitor citizen health status at all times – regardless of whether there is a public health emergency
- China: AliExpress, Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce business, to enlist over 100K online influencers globally this year alone to create content to attract new customers
- China’s Tencent acquires 5% stake in Australia’s Afterpay buy-now-pay-later consumer lending startup
- An intro to the 9 startup solutions selected under the UN Environment Programme’s 2020 Asia-Pacific Low Carbon Lifestyles Challenge
- Myanmar: Wave Money mobile financial services platform gains $73.5M investment from China’s Ant Financial, operator of Alipay
- ICYMI: US gov’t imposes new restrictions on China’s Huawei, severely limiting ability to use American tech in semiconductor design and manufactured overseas
- Big tech: YouTube found to be automating deletion of Chinese-language comments critical of the Communist Party, even though YouTube is officially banned in the country
- Myanmar: A look at how China’s Tencent has taken the lead in the country’s music streaming space with its Joox service
- ICYMI: Estonia parliament approves new Electronics Communications Act to ensure security reviews for telecom gear, dubbed the ‘Huawei law’
