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What China’s fintech market can teach the world
If you want to know what the future of finance looks like, head east, where it’s already been laid down in China. Digital payments through mobile phones are ubiquitous, and there is incredible innovation around lending, investments and digital currencies that are at the vanguard of global financial innovation. Take the cover photo of this…
Tech companies around the world are still identifying the “next big thing” enabled by 5G connections. Some, such as Oppo, are betting it will be augmented reality. The Chinese smartphone…
Sequoia-backed recycling robot maker AMP Robotics gets its largest purchase order
AMP Robotics, the manufacturer of robotic recycling systems, has received its largest purchase order from the publicly traded North American waste handling company Waste Connections. The order, for 24 machine…
Baidu to acquire Joyy’s Chinese live-streaming service YY for $3.6B
Baidu said on Monday it is acquiring Joyy’s live-streaming service YY Live in China for $3.6 billion in an all-cash deal as the Chinese internet giant makes a further push…
Ride Vision raises $7M for its AI-based motorcycle safety system
Ride Vision, an Israeli startup that is building an AI-driven safety system to prevent motorcycle collisions, today announced that it has raised a $7 million Series A round led by…
Zilliz raises $43 million as investors rush to China’s open-source software
For years, founders and investors in China had little interest in open-source software because it did not seem like the most viable business model. Zilliz‘s latest financing round shows that…
Former WeWork China exec launches a ‘startup studio’ for real estate
The real estate industry has been slow to adopt technology compared to many other sectors. So when Dominic Penaloza left his job at WeWork China as the head of innovation…
The US government sends mixed messages about TikTok’s future
The fate of TikTok in the United States got even more confusing this week. The U.S. Justice and Commerce Departments sent conflicting messages today about TikTok’s future, which is now…
Amazon sues online influencers engaged in a counterfeit scheme
Amazon on Thursday announced a lawsuit against more than a dozen bad actors, including online influencers and other businesses, who attempted to evade Amazon’s anti-counterfeiting measures by promoting luxury counterfeit…
PUBG announces India return plan with new game and $100 million investment
PUBG Mobile plans to return in India in a new avatar, parent company PUBG Corporation said on Thursday. TechCrunch reported last week that the South Korean gaming firm was plotting…
China to ship 3 billion parcels during post-COVID Singles’ Day
China’s e-commerce behemoths Alibaba and JD.com again claimed to have set records during the world’s largest shopping event, Singles’ Day. The figures can often be gamed to paint a rosy…
London and SF have become Impact Tech hubs, with 280% increase in VC in 5 years
New research has found that San Francisco and London have become two of the world’s leading hubs for VC investment into tech solutions that address one or more of the…
ByteDance asks federal appeals court to vacate US order forcing it to sell TikTok
In a new filing, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance asked the federal appeals court to vacate the United States government order forcing it to sell the app’s American operations. President Donald…
Renewable power represents almost 90% of total global power capacity added in 2020
Bucking the slowdown in most of the power sector caused by responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, renewable energy actually grew in 2020, and will represent about 90% of the total…
China proposes antitrust law ahead of Singles’ Day shopping spree
Debates over anti-competitive practices amongst China’s internet firms resurface every year in the lead up to Singles’ Day, a time when online retailers exhaust their resources and deploy sometimes sneaky…
Despite global headwinds, Chinese hardware startups remain to take on the world
Bill Zhang lowered himself into lunges on a squishy mat as he explained to me the benefits of the full-body training suit he was wearing. We were in his small,…
As Ant Group seizes the world’s attention with its record initial public offering, which was abruptly called off by Beijing, investors and analysts are revisiting the fintech interests of Tencent,…
Beyond Meat earnings miss big on declining food service and consumer demand
Beyond Meat’s partnership with McDonald’s to develop the McPlant burger wasn’t enough to keep shares from collapsing after the company posted third-quarter earnings that fell far below analysts’ expectations. The…
Beyond Meat shares rise on news that it collaborated with McDonald’s on the McPlant options
After tumbling earlier today, Beyond Meat shares are shooting upward on news that the company did indeed collaborate with McDonald’s on its new McPlant vegetarian menu. McDonald’s made waves this…
Apple places supplier Pegatron on probation over labor conditions
Apple has suspended new business with supplier Pegatron after the Taiwan-based original equipment manufacturer misclassified student workers. Apple also said Pegatron broke its Code of Conduct for suppliers. In a…
This is The TechCrunch Exchange, a newsletter that goes out on Saturdays, based on the column of the same name. You can sign up for the email here. Are you tired? I…
PUBG Mobile plots return to India with Microsoft deal
PUBG Mobile, the sleeper hit title that was banned in India two months ago over cybersecurity concerns, is plotting to make a return in the world’s second largest internet market,…
China’s cash-burning video sector: How Kuaishou lost $1B in 6 months
Rumors have been floating for months that ByteDance is going public with TikTok and Douyin separately. Just last night, Bloomberg reported that ByteDance is seeking a pre-IPO round of $2…
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is reportedly looking for $2B before its Hong Kong public offering
ByteDance, the company behind the social media sensation TikTok, is in talks to raise another $2 billion before the initial public offering of a large chunk of its international businesses…
Alibaba passes IBM in cloud infrastructure market with over $2B in revenue
When Alibaba entered the cloud infrastructure market in earnest in 2015 it had ambitious goals, and it has been growing steadily. Today, the Chinese e-commerce giant announced quarterly cloud revenue…
While short videos are what drive ByteDance’s revenues and give the Chinese startup international recognition, the firm is expanding into numerous new areas like other tech giants to fuel growth.…
Report: US visas granted to students from mainland China have plummeted 99% since April
It’s no secret that the Trump administration has pursued a variety of avenues to keep foreigners out of the U.S., including through a recent overhaul of the H-1B visa program…
China postpones Ant’s colossal IPO after closed-door talk with Jack Ma
The Shanghai stock exchange announced postponing Ant Group’s colossal initial public offering, a day after Chinese regulators weighed a slew of new fintech rules and summoned Jack Ma and other…
Warren gets $1.4 million to help local cloud infrastructure providers compete against Amazon and other giants
Started as a side project by its founders, Warren is now helping regional cloud infrastructure service providers compete against Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google and other tech giants. Based in Tallinn,…
Tencent claims record 100M daily users on mobile game Honor of Kings
At its five-year anniversary gala graced by celebrities, esports stars and orchestras, Tencent’s mobile game Honor of Kings said it has crossed 100 million daily active users. The title has…
