Chinaccelerator Daily Digest 2020/02/26

CHINA:

1. Newzoo: Global esports will top $1 billion in 2020, with China as the top market

2. Chinese cellphone shipments slump nearly 40% in January

3. Megvii to refile expired IPO application: report

4. Nio to establish China headquarters in Hefei as it launches EC6 production

5. Chinese bubble tea chain Naixue 奈雪的茶 seeks $400m in US IPO

6. Foxconn offers $1,000 to new workers in bid to resume production

7. TikTok competitor Kuaishou announced DAU of over 300 million

8. Driverless car startup Pony.ai raises $462 million at a $3 billion valuation

9. Blockchain security startup CoolBitX raises $16.75M Series B

10. GGV leads $14m in Chinese tax and accounting startup Rongyisuan融易算

11. Beijing-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) startup Hugo Biotech raises nearly $14m from Northern Light

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MOBILE-ONLY MARKETS:

1. Singapore’s state-owned Temasek to freeze pay, cut senior bonuses as coronavirus hits its Chinese investments

2. Grab raises up to $856M to boost payments business as rumors swirl of a merger with rival Gojek

3. Indonesia’s Indogen Capital to raise USD 50 million venture fund, says managing partner

4. Indonesian ride-hailing giant gojek denies report on merger talks with rival Grab

5. Intudo Ventures leads USD 3.25 million investment in Indonesian entertainment company Visinema

6. Chinaccelerator Batch 8 edtech company Snapask raises $35m from Asia Partners, Intervest

7. Indian tech gig company Indiez to merge with CrewScale

8. UK’s CDC leads $20m Series B funding in India’s iMerit Technology

9. Gold-backed lending startup Rupeek raises $60m from GGV Capital, others

CROSS-BORDER:

1. China’s Didi set to challenge Uber Eats with Japan expansion

2. Korean electronics giant Samsung might back Indian food delivery unicorn Swiggy

3. British supermarket giant Tesco exits China with US$357 million sale of stake to state-owned partner

OVERSEAS:

1. $19.4B Invested In Agri-FoodTech In 2019 According To AgFunder

2. Amazon is opening its first full-size, cashierless grocery store.

3. Salesforce grabs Vlocity for $1.33B, a startup with $1B valuation

4. Facebook acquires the VR game studio Sanzaru Games behind one of the Rift’s best titles

5. Comcast acquires free streaming service Xumo

6. Qualcomm and ZeroLight debut end-to-end 5G Boundless XR system

7. Checkout.com, a London-based payment platform, acquires payment optimization startup ProcessOut

8. Speedinvest raises new €190M fund to continue backing early-stage European tech startups

9. TripActions, a corporate travel-focused unicorn, secures $500M credit facility for its new corporate travel product

10. S Korea’s Big Hit Entertainment picks JPMorgan, others for IPO

11. SambaNova Systems raises $250 million for software-defined AI hardware

12. Molekule raises $58 million to take pollutants out of the air in the age of wildfires and viruses

13. Flock Freight raises $50 million to match shippers with freight transportation

14. Ripcord raises $45 million to digitize paper records with robotics and AI

15. Troubled Eaze finally closes $35M funding to to sell its own cannabis

16. French startup Cityscoot raises another $25.6 million for its electric moped service

17. FogHorn raises $25 million to support edge AI app development

18. L1ght raises $15 million for AI that protects children from online toxicity

19. Pipe, A Financing Platform For SaaS Companies, Raises $6M Seed

20. Last Energy raises $3 million to fight climate change with nuclear energy

21. Revl raises $5.2 million to stitch together videos with AI

22. Insurance platform Collective Benefits raises £3.3M to give gig economy workers a safety net

23. VCs bet millions on Microverse, a Lambda School for the developing world

24. App Samurai, a platform to market mobile apps, closes a $2.4M Series A funding round led by 212 Ventures

Image Credits: Tech in Asia