Chinaccelerator Daily Digest 4/10/2019

Overseas:

1. Facebook’s AI team maps the whole population of Africa

2. Google Cloud challenges AWS with new open-source integrations

3. YouTube Is Developing Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Programs

4. Accenture announces intent to buy French cloud consulting firm Cirruseo

5. Walmart is expanding its use of robots in stores as it seeks to keep labor costs down

6. Qualcomm Announces New AI Chip for Cloud Data Center Servers

7. Fantasy sports platform Dream11 nets $1 billion valuation following new investment

8. Travel activities platform Klook raises $225M led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund

9. Private equity firm STG takes 70 percent stake in cybersecurity firm RedSeal, a deal worth about $70m

10. Expanse, which offers real-time visibility into the ways its customers’ digital assets aren’t safe, has raised $70 million in new funding

11. Teeth straightening startup Candid raised another $63.4 million in a Series B round

12. PubNub nabs $23M as its infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) network hits 1.3T messages sent each month

13. Mobile shopping startup Dote raises $12M and introduces live-streamed Shopping Parties

14. Labelbox raises $10 million for its services to support machine learning applications

China:

1. China to become world’s largest cloud market by 2023, according to IDC’s latest cloud computing monitoring report

2. Internet Society of China 中国互联网协会 established an online platform for users to complain about 11 companies, including Alibaba, Baidu, Didi and others

3. Alibaba’s Cainiao 菜鸟 to raise delivery fleet wages 20% within 3 years

4. Alipay revealed that the number of users of its small program exceeded 100 million after 3 months

5. China’s private equity firm Harvest Capital holds first close for consumer fund at $446m

6. China game-streaming firm Huya 虎牙 launches $343 million follow-on offering

7. Membership e-commerce platform yunji 云集 plans to raise US$200m before going public in the US on Wednesday

8. Chinese plastic surgery services platform So-Young files for $150m US IPO

9. Online language education brand yunshuxie 云舒写 received series B investment of nearly RMB 100 million by Gaochun Capital 高瓴资本

10. Minieye, a visual perception solution provider for vehicles, raises $22m as it eyes autopilot industry

11. Chinese video streaming company LeTV 乐视视频 is RMB 12 billion in debt, may face delisting

12. Technology service provider Shenzhen Zhongshunyi Financial Services 中顺易金融服务 announced that it has completed nearly $3m financing

Cross-border:

1. Google Cloud is bringing two new data centers online in 2020 in Seoul, South Korea and Salt Lake City, Utah

2. Tech giant Alphabet launches drone delivery service in Australia

3. Amazon Go Faces Unlikely Challenge From Checkout-Free Portuguese Startup Sensei in Europe

4. German HR and recruiting platform Personio acquires Spanish payroll startup Rollbox

5. Cashfree, an India-based startup that specializes in making corporate banking services more accessible, has closed a $5.5 million Series A round by Korean games firm Smilegate

6. Myanmar-based IT services provider MM Digital raises a six-digit funding from Singapore-based Seed Myanmar

7. Air taxis from German aviation start-up Volocopter due to start trials in Singapore from June 2019 onwards

Blockchain:

1. Regulators in China are weighing a ban on Bitcoin mining

Emerging Market:

1. Indian social commerce startup GlowRoad raises $10M Series B

2. Women-focussed media Clozette secures US$10M funding from Cool Japan Fund

3. Co-living startup Hmlet signs Singapore-based dedicated co-living building as serviced apartment units

Cover picture credits to TechCrunch.