Overseas:
2. Volkswagen, Siemens to collaborate on industrial cloud technology
3. Rakuten says to book $990 million gain on Lyft investment
4. Valve is building its own high-end VR headset called ‘Index’
5. Cloud computing company ServiceNow teams with Workplace by Facebook on service chatbot
6. Gym Giant Technogym Joins In On Fitness Streaming Trend With Live Digital Platform
7. Viacom-owned kids streaming service Noggin acquires educational app Sparkler
8. Toast, the restaurant management platform, has raised $250M at a $2.7B valuation
9. 1stdibs, the high-end online marketplace, just nabbed $76 million in Series D funding
10. CMU team develops a robot and drone system for mine rescues
China:
1. Shanghai Celebrates Launch of World’s First District-Wide 5G Network
2. Taobao live broadcast in 2018 turnover exceeded 100 billion, the store conversion rate is over 65%
3. Hong Kong retail giant AS Watson to spend HK$1 billion on digital transformation in the next decade
4. Vipshop 唯品会 will open 3 offline stores in Tianjin, Shenyang and Anhui
5. China’s grocery delivery battle heats up with Meituan’s entry
6. Bytedance acquires cloud-based productivity tool Mubu 幕布
7. SoftBank leads $89m round in Chinese online pharmacy Dingdang Kuaiyao 叮当快药
8. Industrial Internet company huaruixinzhi.com 华瑞新智 won 30 million yuan A round of financing
9. Health service robot company jimkoala.cn 吉姆考拉 received 10 million yuan angel round financing
10. SF Express 顺丰速运 shutters grocery stores amid slowing e-commerce growth
11. Profits for Midea-backed robot maker Kuka 库卡 fall 80% in 2018
Cross-border:
1. China’s Huawei to expand footprint in Kenya’s IT solutions market
Emerging Market:
2. Lazada was Southeast Asia’s top shopping app by active users in 2018
3. The Financial Times reportedly acquires Singapore-based tech media Deal Street Asia
4. Gobi Partners launches a US$20M Pakistan dedicated fund with Fatima Ventures
5. Thai online marketplace Tarad.com pivots to full-service e-commerce provider
Cover picture credits from China Daily.