Overseas:
1. U.S., China take the lead in race for artificial intelligence
2. Kleiner Perkins gets back to early-stage with its $600M 18th fund
3. TCV closes record $3B fund to invest in consumer internet, IT infrastructure and services
4. Amazon sales outlook falls short after record holiday quarter
5. Amazon removes numerous products from India site as new e-commerce rules bite
6. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin signs launch deal with Canada’s Telesat
7. Sprint beats on revenue, loses fewer phone subscribers
8. PayPal’s Venmo had a break-out quarter with payments surging 80%
9. Twitter cuts off API access to follow/unfollow spam dealers
10. Clutter is raising $200-250M led by SoftBank for on-demand storage and moving
China:
1. Tencent moves into automotive with $150M joint venture
2. Foxconn is killing a second $9B factory
3. ByteDance slashes ‘lucky money’ for Year of the Pig as founder warns of challenging 2019
4. WeChat will launch emoji red pocket during Chinese New Year holiday.
5. Chinese EV carmaker NIO raises $650 mln via convertible bond
6. AI healthcare technology and service provider Jiankangyouyi 健康有益 raised 8-digit in Series A.
Cross-border:
Leaked TikTok ad deck suggests it has 17M+ MAUs in Europe
Emerging Market:
1. Go-Jek confirms first close of $2B Series F round at $9.5B valuation
2. Grab raises $200M from Thailand-based retail conglomerate Central Group
3. Grab to host video streaming platform Hooq
4. On-demand specialty coffee startup Fore Coffee secures US$8.5M funding from East Ventures
5. AI-predictive maintenance startup Avanseus secures US$1.3m funding from TNB Aura
6. Singapore Medical Group backs the launch of telehealth platform HiDoc
7. Grab to build a US$135M new headquarters in Singapore
Cover picture from SCMP