October, November & December 2020
China’s tech news
The quarterly round-up of China’s technology news gathered here provides a single source for Q4 2020’s technology, startup and funding news headlines from China across October, November and December of 2020, drawn from Startup News Asia’s monthly China startup news summaries.
Similarly to our monthly news collections, headline items listed are hyperlinked to each original, free-to-read online article behind each headline – no middle-man platforms, no misappropriation of authorship, and providing China tech readers with instant access to the news platforms and tech journalists behind each article.
October 2020 | November 2020 | December 2020
December 2020
- US House of Representatives to vote on legislation potentially forcing delisting of stocks including China’s Alibaba, Pinduoduo and JD over auditing requirements
- China’s Xiongan New Area: “The [JD Digits] system collects not just traditional government data, but also voice and video data and…travel and consumption records”
- US firm KnowSeaFood partners China’s VeChain to use StoryBird, supply chain traceability platform powered by the VeChain blockchain
- A 2-part deep dive into Tencent, possibly the biggest company the world knows the least about
- An overview of how Ping An, an insurer, became a fintech super-app, built on a 110,000-strong technology development team
- ICYMI: 71-page report concludes that “Up to 90 per cent of live-streaming revenue from YY’s live-streaming platform, YY Live, is fraudulent”
- Suzhou city gov’t to distribute 100K virtual red packets for Double Twelve shopping festival as part of digital currency trial, each containing US$31 in value
- JD Digits, e-commerce giant’s fintech affiliate, to launch CBDC pilot program, becoming the country’s first online mall to use the digital yuan
- Baidu search and technology giant gains approval to test 5 autonomous Baidu Apollo vehicles on public roads in Beijing, a first for the capital
- “Mass adoption of the digital RMB would mark a fundamental shift away from commercial digital payment systems like WeChat Pay and Alipay to the central bank.”
- Macau casino operators reportedly approached by regulator to discuss feasibility of using China’s digital yuan to buy Hong Kong dollar-denominated casino chips
- ICYMI: London Stock Exchange-owned FTSE Russell Index to drop 8 Chinese firms following US blacklisting, including Hikvision
- Suzhou city’s CBDC trial recipients gain added spending options for ‘digital yuan’ via Meituan bike-sharing platform, Didi taxi service and Bilibili video-sharing site
- JD e-commerce giant invests $700M in Xingsheng Selected community group buying platform, part of growing move into emerging online grocery industry
- Triastek raises $15M Series A+ with focus on using 3D printing for pharmaceuticals
- China’s TikTok to launch its own TV service across Europe following deal with Samsung, making content available via a pre-installed app
- ICYMI: Brazilian government reportedly looking for a legal way to exclude Huawei from 5G networks in the country
- PonyAI gains permit from Guangzhou authorities, allowing testing of autonomous trucks on public roads
- JD-built AI system rolled out in Hebei province, automatically adjusting variables controlling coal-fed thermal boilers in power plants
- US lawmakers set to back $1.9BN technology swap-out fund, aiming to remove Huawei, ZTE and other designated national security risks from networks
- Online financial service providers including JD Digits, Tencent, Baidu halt deposit-taking products in anticipation of tightening regulations on fintech sector
- Yumi Granary home appliance startup makes $750K seed bet with smart rice bins, internet-connected storage units
- Zuoyebang online education app raises $1.6BN, in part from Alibaba, with online courses, live lessons and homework help for kindergarten to 12th grade
- A brief look at G7, logistics and data firm monitoring over 1.8M vehicles, backed by Tencent and aiming to digitize the entire chain from warehouse to delivery
- HK Monetary Authority and Digital Currency Institute of China’s central bank discussing pilot testing of e-CNY, digital renminbi, for cross-border payments
- China’s Huawei in advanced talks with Solomon Islands gov’t to build 200 broadband towers around the country, raising financing concerns and ability to cover cost
- Taiwan, Chips, and Geopolitics: TSMC is a critical part of the global semiconductor supply chain. What does that mean for the US and China’s Taiwan policies?
November 2020
- A brief overview of the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, released for public consultation in October
- Yuemia raises $1.5M pre-A funding with focus on digitization of marketing and streamlining of academic publications in the pharmacueticals and medical industry
- Japan’s trading house Itochu launches online bespoke clothing system with China’s Tozi, providing clothing production using photos and AI-driven 3D imaging
- An intro to the 6 startups selected for the current ProVeg Incubator batch, working on sustainable food solutions ranging from algae-based dairy to vegan chocolate
- Tencent hist record of 100M daily users on Honor of Kings mobile game
- “The same problems plaguing the yuan will plague China’s digital currency” – a brief look at the challenges for the DCEP
- AutoX to expand autonomous driving tests to four more cities; also soon to test technology with Fiat Chrysler Pacifica minivans
- ‘Understanding TikTok & ByteDance’, a deep dive taking you behind the scenes at TikTok parent company ByteDance, available to download now
- UnionPay payments giant to support cryptocurrency via South Korea-developed crypto with addition of ‘virtual card’, opening up spending via 30M merchants
- ICYMI: 2 European Union bodies found to be using thermal cameras from Hikvision in COVID-19 detection, firm linked to persecution of Uighurs and minorities in Xinjiang
- VIPThink / Wandou Siwei education-tech firm secures $180M with focus on online math lessons for ages from 2-12 years, and recent merge with Magic Ears for online English
- ByteDance subsidiary takes 11% stake at $170M in Zhangyue online literature firm, app-based platform for novels, magazines, anime and audiobooks
- An overview of the 100 top-performing Chinese brands, estimated to have a combined market value of $996BN
- Bits x Bites VC firm closes $30M of new $70M fund, focusing on tech in China’s agri-food supply chain
- ProVeg Incubator unveils 5th plant-based foods accelerator intake, including China’s Haofood and India’s Naka Foods
- Gov’t intros antitrust guideline to control tech giants, instantly wiping $102BN from Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan stocks
- Alibaba e-commerce giant intercepted 2.2BN cyber-attacks in just 24 hours on last year’s Singles Day, deploying 3K specialists and 1258 algorithmic models
- Huawei to sell Honor, budget-brand smartphone unit, in $15.2BN deal to consortium including government of Shenzhen
- Ant Group IPO: “Commercial banks…have been losing cash deposits to non-banking payment platforms…Alipay taking 55% of the market and WeChat Pay having 39%”
- Yumi Granary lands $750K seed money with tech-enabled rice keepers, seeing untapped market in comparison to Japan and South Korea
- Zilliz raises $43M with open-source software for processing unstructured data
- China’s Ping An Smart City and Hong Kong-based Sino Group launch PropXTech program with broad property-tech and real estate tech aims
- Baidu search giant to acquire YY Live live-streaming’s China business for $3.6BN in move to diversify from search, and maintain competitiveness with ByteDance
- XAG agricultural drone firm raises $182M with six product lines incorporating IoT and unmanned vehicles
- Target set for 1M fuel-cell vehicles in operation by 2030, most likely hydrogen-based, despite only 2700 such cars selling in the country last year
- China Construction Bank partners Labuan-based Fusang digital asset exchange for issuance of $3BN worth of debt securities using blockchain tech
- Tencent reports that monthly active users of WeChat grew by 5.4% year-on-year to over 1.2BN in Q3 2020
- Tsingtech Microvision raises $15M with intelligent driving systems using AI and cloud-based data analysis
- China Construction Bank planned listing of $3BN Bitcoin and dollar-tradable bond via Malaysian cryptocurrency branch has been shelved
- Double 12 shopping festival in Suzhou to hold lottery trial digital yuan, following on from recent trial in Shenzhen
- PBOC Fintech Research Centre launches, a fintech research institute under the country’s central bank
- PBOC Fintech Research Centre launches, a fintech research institute under the country’s central bank
- Full Truck Alliance raises $1.7BN with ‘truck hailing’ service connecting truck drivers with shippers, claiming 10M drivers and 5M shippers
- Authorities clamp down further on livestreaming, banning virtual gifting for teens, spending caps for users, assigning content moderators, promo campaign registrations and more
- Police seize over $4.2BN worth of crypto assets in clampdown on Plustoken Ponzi scheme
- ICYMI: UK Government launches Digital And Tech China website to aid companies in understanding potential risks as well as advantages of working with China’s tech firms
- India: Access blocked to 43 more Chinese apps, including AliExpress and WeDate, for activities ‘prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India’
- ICYMI: Romania joins list of countries excluding Huawei from participation in 5G network and developments
- Thailand: Huawei to invest $23M in building its 3rd data centre in the country
- Thailand: FinVest online wealth management platform for retail investors launched by partnership between Kasikornbank and Singapore subsidiary of China’s Lufax
- The ethical questions in facial-recognition research: “…scientists should also acknowledge the morally dubious foundations of much of the academic work in the field”
October 2020
- Hema, also known as Freshippo and owned by Alibaba, opens its first X member store, direct competitor to Costco and Sam’s Club
- An overview of the country’s lag in the software-as-a-service field
- ICYMI: German government avoids outright Huawei ban, but sets IT law bar on ‘high-risk’ vendors at a level that makes participation unlikely
- ICYMI: UK cybersecurity evaluation body last year found “critical, user-facing vulnerabilities” in Huawei fixed-broadband products caused by poor code and old OS
- Xpeng Motors, fast-growing electric vehicle firm, to build second manufacturing plant with heavy backing from Guangzhou GET Investment
- The Mobile Economy 2020 report is available to download from GSMA, covering the country’s mobile and 5G market
- Tencent to take Sogou private (country’s 2nd-largest search engine) merging it with 3 wholly-owned subsidiaries, in retreat from tighter US capital market rules
- People’s Bank of China claims to have processed over 3M digital yuan transactions since piloting central bank digital currency, totalling $162M
- UK Government finds ‘clear evidence of collusion’ between Huawei and the ‘Chinese Communist Party apparatus’, likely bringing forward 5G rip-and-replace deadline
- Central bank digital currency trials of ‘digital yuan’ set for toy vending machines that accept cashless payments, reportedly in preparaton for 2022 Olympics
- 50,000 residents of Shenzhen to receive over $1.5M worth of the upcoming digital yuan as part of public trials, with 3389 outlets reportedly participating
- Huohua Siwei education-tech firm secures $100M led by Tencent, claiming 85,000 daily learners for livestreamed online learning
- Jointech medical robot developer raises $14.72M with artificial intelligence-driven orthopedic surgical robots focusing on joint replacement surgeries
- DODO decentralized exchange raises $5M
- 11 gas stations in Shenzen now reportedly accepting digital yuan as part of ongoing pilot scheme, with or without internet connection
- Available now: Attention Factory, The Story of TikTok and China’s ByteDance – 300+ pages of original analysis and reporting on China’s fastest-growing tech company
- Huawei enters talks with Digital China Group ands to sell parts of Honor smartphone unit, resetting priorities on high-value activities as US sanctions bite
- Alibaba to invest $3.6BN in Sun Art Retail Group, doubling its stake and taking control of China’s largest hypermart chain in move to fend off e-commerce rivals
- Enovate EV firm gains $741M in new financing, led by government industry guidance funds and large state-run banks
- Huohua education-tech startup gains $100M in round led by Tencent, with AI-powered interactive courses focusing on K-12 students
- Bamboocloud secures $44.4M with wide-angle AI-driven identity management and access control suite
- Yuanfudao online education firm raises $2.2BN, backed in part by Tencent
- Wallets for holding China’s central bank digital currency are already being counterfeited, says head of CBDC research institute
- Download: A risk profile of Ant Technology Group as it approaches what may be world’s largest IPO
- TikTok partners Shopify e-commerce company to provide US merchants with advertising options, direct from Shopify dashboard
- TikTok parent company ByteDance launches consumer hardware product, Dali ‘smart lamp’ with display, aimed at schoolchildren in move into the education market
- China’s Tencent Music takes minority stake in UK’s Instrumental, data-driven A&R startup
- Xiaomi to invest $20M in Dongyi Risheng home improvement firm in push into smart home systems powered by IoT-connected home products
- Pakistan’s telecom regulator bans China’s TikTok over content concerns, adding it to dating apps banned previously including Tinder and Grindr
- A brief look at the 4 finalists selected for the inaugural DBS Foundation Social Impact Prize
- Sri Lanka: Mobitel and Huawei launch country’s first mid-range 5G smartphone
- Nokia selected for Belgium’s 5G networks, ousting Huawei – significant as Brussels is home to the NATO alliance and the European Union executive and parliament
Asia’s tech news, today
All-day technology news looking at 17 primary locations in South & Southeast Asia, Australia & New Zealand:
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