Chinaccelerator Daily Digest 2020/02/11

CHINA:

1. Coronavirus outbreak sees Chinese businesses seek billions in bank loans

2. E-commerce companies, Alibaba, JD, Meicai and more, offer temporary jobs to thousands amid coronavirus outbreak

3. Meituan helps to launch real-name registration for public transit

4. iFlytek seeks US trade ban exemption for medical supplies

5. Chinese online insurance platform Huize 慧泽 trims IPO target to $48m

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MOBILE-ONLY MARKETS:

1. Caldera Pacific raises $250m for debut SEA fund, to deploy half of it in Vietnam

2. Vietnam’s largest e-commerce platforms Tiki and Sendo in merger talks

3. Jakarta-based FMCG marketplace GudangAda banks double-digit millions

4. Singapore-based digital telco Circles.Life raises funding round by Warburg Pincus, reportedly closer to unicorn status

5. XanPool, Singapore-based fiat-to-crypto exchange platform, launches platform to enable P2P transactions from local currency to cryptocurrency in SEA

6. Indian online furniture retailer Pepperfry raises $40m and more updates

7. Indian govt plans to ease rules on foreign investment in education sector

8. Indian tea cafe chain Chaayos raises $21.5m led by Think Investments

CROSS-BORDER:

1. Apple iPhone maker Foxconn approved to resume Shenzhen plant production

2. Tencent invests in Berlin-based game studio Yager Development

3. Xiaomi invests $6m in recruitment platform WorkIndia

4. Uber turns focus to car rentals, shuttles to trump key rival Ola in India

5. Temasek-backed Iora Health raises $126m led by India’s Premji Invest

OVERSEAS:

1. Web traffic increases in 2019 were driven by mobile; top 100 sites saw average of 223B monthly visits

2. U.S. appeals court denies Apple bid for rehearing in VirnetX patent case

3. U.S. judge expected to rule in favor of merger of Sprint, T-Mobile

4. Judge denies Uber’s, Postmates’ request to halt California gig worker law

5. Google plan to buy into largest African wind farm ended by delay

6. Facebook quietly acquired another UK AI startup Scape Technologies and almost no one noticed

7. SoftBank-owned Arm to launch new AI chip for small devices

8. Samsung unveils new foldable phone in surprise ad during the Oscars

9. Amazon hires former Sony executive for top video entertainment role

10. Nearly 70% of US smart speaker owners use Amazon Echo devices

11. With $800M in new capital, Vantage Data Centers acquires Etix and expands to Europe

12. UK’s Tiney raises $6.5M to source, train and connect childminders to improve early years care

13. Starling Bank, the U.K.-based challenger bank, raises another £60M from existing backers

14. Impala raises $20 million to build the API of the hotel industry

15. SoftBank-backed e-commerce company Brandless shuts its doors for good

16. Australian video creation startup Clipchamp bags $8.8m in Tola Capital-led round

Image Credits: Venturebeat