Overseas:
1. Menlo Ventures just raised a new $500 million fund to invest in Series B and C rounds
2. German insurance giant Allianz increases its VC fund to $1.1 billion
3. Talent investor Entrepreneur First closes the first US$115M worth of global fund
4. EU countries back copyright reforms aimed at Google, Facebook
5. Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures has invested in a U.S. cybersecurity firm Armorblox
6. SoftBank’s Vision Fund leads a $200 million investment in Clutter at a $600 million valuation
7. WhatsApp bug lets users bypass new privacy controls
8. Uber fixes bug that exposed third-party app secrets
9. Lyft reportedly plans to debut on Nasdaq next month
10. QuizUp founder launches Teatime, a mobile gaming platform with built-in video chat
11. Morgan Stanley: Push to electric vans and trucks will be led by Amazon and other ‘megafleets’
12. Microsoft is taking a slow and steady approach toward integrating GitHub, job listings suggest
13. Image recognition startup ViSenze raises $20M Series C
China:
1. PC maker Lenovo returns to profit in third-quarter on strong performance across business groups
2. Tencent says it will not scale back on investments this year
3. Baidu bucks the capital winter to play catch-up to Alibaba, Tencent in outside investments
4. Meituan claimed that it’s impossible to integrate Dianping to Meituan app.
5. NetEase Q4 2018 Earnings Release – $2.89billion revenue in Q4 2018.
6. Vipshop Q4 2018 Earnings Release – $26.1billion revenue in Q4 2018
9. Logistics booking platform Huolala 货拉拉 secured an investment of $300million in Series D.
10. Streaming media platform Douban FM 豆瓣FM received investment from Tencent music group.
Cross-border:
1. Chinese electric car maker Kandi shares rocket 40% on approval of US imports
2. On-demand shuttle startup Via enters South American market
Mobile:
1. Samsung just announced the first foldable phone you can buy and it will cost $1,980
2. Xiaomi’s Mi 9 includes a triple lens rear camera and wireless charging
Emerging Market:
2. Indonesia-based fintech platform InfraDigital raises seed funding from Fenox Ventures
3. Dentsu Aegis Network acquires digital agency Happy Marketer
4. Singapore-based social media platform Bigo to invest over US$100M for India expansion
cover picture credits from Jing Daily.