Overseas:
- SoftBank, others in talks to invest $1 billion in Uber’s self-driving unit
- Apple Music launches on Amazon Fire TV
- Apple Acquires Laserlike, a Machine Learning Startup in Boost for AI Group
- Walmart to introduce tablet under its ONN store brand
- Newsela raises $50M to expand a content repository for K-12 learning that replaces traditional textbooks
- Sketch, maker of popular design tools, just landed $20 million in Series A funding from Benchmark in its first outside round
- Automation Hero, which automates back-office processes, picks up $14.5 million led by Atomico
- Determined AI nabs $11M Series A to democratize AI development
- Top gamer ‘Ninja’ made $1 million to promote EA’s ‘Apex Legends’ launch
- Ysplit wants to make it so you never owe your friends money again
China:
- TCL Intelligent Terminal Business Group plans to generate 200 billion yuan in revenue in 2023
- China Unicom: 5G investment should be more cautious, investing 6 to 8 billion yuan this year
- Haier, Midea, and Panasonic hold a press conference on 2019 AWE to announce their plans for smart home solutions.
- Xiaomi applied for 684 patents in the AI field, ranking 11th in the world
- China’s first intelligent ECG diagnostic platform, 18ecg.com 琅瑞医疗 completed Pre-A round of financing
- 52TOYS which builds IP product strategies for clients strengthens its social-commerce and creative design after securing Series A funding
- HappyFi.com 乐融 launches the fifth generation of super TV in this year
- Yunmi 云米 released Airbot, an advanced kitchen hood in-built with AI
- AI surpasses humans in comprehension test through the DCMN program developed by both Chinese tech company CloudWalk Technologhy and Shanghai Jiaotong University
- In China, you’ll soon be able to pay your subway fare with your face
Cross-border:
- Google has quietly added DuckDuckGo as a search engine option for Chrome users in 60 markets
- YouTube Music and YouTube Premium come to India
- Rakuten TV to expand movie streaming to 42 European countries
- Drivezy, India’s vehicle-sharing startup, is raising $100M+ at a $400M valuation, eyes US expansion
- Wattpad, an Internet storytelling community gains strategic investment from Times Bridge to further expand in India
Emerging Market:
- BlackBuck, Bangalore-based B2B logistics startup gets up to $150m funding from Accel, Goldman Sachs
- Acko, a digital insurance provider in India, raises another $65M at a $300M valuation
- AgroStar gets $27M Series C to give more Indian farmers increased crop production with data analytics
- Israeli HR tech firm Hibob raises $20 million
- India VC Lightbox bets $4m in women’s wellness startup
Cover picture credits from Yi Cai.