Chinaccelerator Daily Digest 2020/03/05

CHINA:

1. AI is the fastest expanding discipline in China’s universities, with 180 more approved to offer it as a major

2. Ride-hailing and food delivery plummet due to coronavirus, while online grocery shopping sees uptick

3. Chinese giant Ping An earmarks US$1.7 billion for technology that will bring its insurance, health care businesses together

4. Suning.com’s group-buying app reports 2,061% YoY sales growth in February

5. Chinese carmarker Geely 吉利 plans to launch two satellites this year for self-driving cars

6. Shenzhen-listed voice recognition giant iFlytek reveals 1.19% stake in AI chip unicorn Cambricon

7. Cybersecurity company Qihoo 360 accuses CIA of 11-year espionage offensive

8. Foxconn expects 15% hit to Q1 revenue from Covid-19

9. Chinese online real estate brokerage platform Beikezhaofang 贝壳找房 closed D+ round, raising over 2.4 billion USD from Softbank, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital. 

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MOBILE-ONLY MARKETS:

1. Sea increases 2019 adjusted revenue threefold to $2.9b

2. Singaporean logistics startup Moovaz raises Series A from SCangels, SGInnovate

3. Fintech, data science company Oriente secures US$20M from Silverhorn Group

4. Driven by payment services, Indian fintech investments double in 2019

5. Zomato’s acquisition of Uber Eats India valued at $206m

6. Indian agri services firm Arya raises $6m from Omnivore, LGT Lightstone Aspada

CROSS-BORDER:

1. Chinese payments giant Ant Financial buys a stake in Swedish fintech start-up Klarna

2. Huawei to build French factory regardless of 5G decision, executive says

3. Resso, ByteDance’s music streaming app, officially launches in India, sans Tencent-backed Universal Music

4. Short-video app Kwai is hiring for its expansion in Mexico and Argentina

5. U.S. senator wants to ban TikTok for federal workers, citing Chinese government ties

6. SoftBank-backed CloudMinds blocked from exporting U.S. tech to China

7. Pay-later startup Hoolah banks 8-figure investment from Genting Ventures, others

OVERSEAS:

1. Facebook gives WHO unlimited free ads to battle coronavirus disinformation

2. Ex-Uber self-driving head owes $179 million to Google in contract dispute

3. GM launches advanced electric batteries to power its EVs

4. Finland’s Nokia enters 5G partnership with Marvell Technology

5. New Zealand launches $300m venture capital fund Elevate NZ

7. Subscription streaming service Quibi closes on $750 million as its date with destiny approaches

8. Investors Serve Up $53M In Series C Funding To Web Dev Platform Netlify

9. Co-living European startup Colonies raises $34M

10. SiLC Technologies raises $12 million for long-range lidar sensors

11. Mexico City-Based TrueHome, a Tech-Enabled Real Estate Broker, Raises $8.8M Series A

12. Mavenoid raises $8M Series A to apply AI to technical product support

13. Esports Players League secures $1 million, 500 Startups leads investment

14. Remote Workstation Startup Growrk Sees Surge In Demand Amid Coronavirus Fears

Image Credits: KrAsia