China’s tech startups: July 2021 news headlines
– articles, downloads, reports & more
Tech and startup news headlines from China in July of 2021 covered items including: China’s digital currency, the e-CNY; Alibaba’s latest venture fund; government scrutiny of the online tutoring industry; insurance payments using China’s ‘digital yuan’; provincial government initiatives to boost blockchain use in the country; limits on time spent gaming by younger players; and many others.
Each China-focused tech news item below links you to the full article behind it, online and free-to-read with no middleman services, interstitial ads or other unnecessary extra steps.
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- ICYMI: Huawei partners Saudi Arabia’s Technical and Vocational Training Corp for initiative to train tech up to 20K Saudi students in free program built around Huawei tech
- ICYMI: JPMorgan bank to exclude Huawei dollar bonds from some investment indices from the end of August, responding to US sanctions on Chinese tech firms
- China: Tencent had invested in 62 gaming companies by the end of June, a new deal every 3 days, seen in part as defensive move against ByteDance’s gaming growth
- Video: ‘In China, The Future of Shopping Is Already Happening’ a 10-minute dive into livestreaming e-commerce from Bloomberg Quicktake
- China’s TikTok short video platform moves into longer-format territory with 3-minute video option rolled out, taking cues from YouTube’s growth strategy
- China: Freetech autonomous driving firm lands $100M Series A with 40-plus OEM partnerships in place for scale, and current trial of self-driving minibuses
- China-ASEAN New Smart City Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition 2021 edition applications open now, looking for smart city solutions to implement in Nanning
- China: Tech giant Tencent to roll out facial recognition to stop young gamers playing between 10pm and 8am, with ban requiring ID registration linked to national database
- Download: Digital China 2021 from We Are Social and Hootsuite, a look at data, trends and insights on China’s internet, mobile, social media and e-commerce spaces (pdf)
- Download: Unchaining Blockchain in China – From Wild West cryptocurrenciest o strategic technology, via MERICS, March 2021 (pdf)
- China: An overview of Wisdon, using cloud-based AI and Internet of Things tech to make city infrastructure ‘smarter’, automating water, electricity and gas meter processes
- China: Alibaba e-commerce giant to launch $257M venture fund to invest in startups in the Greater Bay Area, with Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund as anchor
- China: Government publishes new regulation around cyber vulnerability disclosure, preventing private sector experts from on-selling serious breach information
- China: AutoX self-driving vehicles startup unveils Gen5 self-drive system designed for robotaxis, built on NVIDIA DRIVE auto grade GPUs
- China: TikTok has now been downloaded more than 3 billion times around the world, a number previously only reached by Facebook and its apps
- China: Shanghai announces municipal Artificial Intelligence plan to look at rule changes around digital tech, technical standards risk monitoring
- “Out of China’s 34 provinces and province-level cities, 33 have enacted policies to accelerate blockchain innovation…”
- China: Bianlifeng cashierless stores firm set to IPO in the US, targeting $500M, with QR code based technology
- China: Central bank claims ‘digital yuan’ reached $5BN transaction value by end of June, across 70.5M transactions, 21M personal wallets and 3.5M enterprise wallets
- China: WeRide autonomous driving firm acquires MoonXAI autonomous trucking startup, widening focus from driverless cars and taxis
- China: A deep-dive look at Xiaohongshu aka Little Red Book, social shopping platform with more than 100M users and a focus on fashion, luxury, health and beauty
- China: A look at the trials of Tsinghua Unigroup, highlighting the complexity of China’s state-directed capitalist model in its quest to achieve microchip self-sufficiency
- China: Ping An subsidiary in Shenzhen launches COVID-19 insurance plan for medical staff in which users who pay premiums in ‘digitial yuan’ receive discounts
- China: InferVision gains $139M with platform AI to screen, diagnose and treat cancers, and cardiovascular and infectious diseases
- “China wants its online tutoring companies to go non-profit. This…could not only destroy its $100BN edtech market but also benefit countries like India…”
- China’s digital currency moves: “… Bloomberg estimates the e-CNY could capture about 9% of China’s market by 2025.”
- China’s Ant Group likely to sell 5% of 30.33% stake in India’s Paytm parent company, in bid to to comply with Securities and Exchange Board requirements
- South Korea’s Sandbox Network, country’s largest multichannel network, makes major expansion in China, establishing local entity, Shanghai Sandbox Media
- South Korea’s SK Group holding company partners China’s Joyvio Group food firm to create $86.7M fund for food-tech startups, focusing on the growing alternative foods market
- Thai financial regulators hit Binance cryptocurrency exchange with criminal complaint around digital asset trading, adding to issues in UK, Germany, Japan and the US
- “Nestled between the two global powers, geographically and strategically, South Korea is already a major player in chip manufacturing and it’s not going to give up its position without a fight.”
- e-news, latest issue: Antler Demo Day, Australian crypto tax, Indian HRtech, China’s semiconductors…
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