Chinaccelerator Daily Digest 5/14/2019

Overseas:

1. Latest omnichannel report by Gartner L2: a choose-your-own-adventure interactive that illustrates the relative strengths of each digital marketing platform and reveals optimal tactics for your brand

2. Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs

3. Here’s everything that’s new in Apple’s revamped TV app launching today

4. WhatsApp exploit let attackers install government-grade spyware on phones

5. YouTube’s Bumper Machine offers an automated way to create six-second ads

6. Mailchimp expands from email to full marketing platform, says it will make $700M in 2019

7. Spotify is testing its own version of Stories called ‘Storyline’

8. ServiceNow acqui-hires mobile analytics startup Appsee

9. Crowned by Burger King, meat replacement company Impossible Foods raises $300 million

10. Denmark’s Pleo raises $56 million to reinvent how companies make spending decisions

China:

1. Top 10 most valuable Chinese brands – Alibaba, Tencent, ICBC and more

2. China’s Parcel Delivery Sector Broke Trillion Barrier Last Year

3. All language editions of Wikipedia have been found to be blocked in China since around April 25, reported by OONI

4. HK’s Dignari Capital Partners closes second China private credit fund at $626m

5. HK-based secondaries investor TR Capital targets $300m for new PE fund

6. Chairman of Ant Financial Service: Alipay has more than 300,000 connected merchants in Japan

7. A Feud Threatens to Tear Apart Convenience Store Chain FamilyMart 全家

8. Alibaba productivity tool DingTalk suspends social feature after reprimand

9. Huawei ramps up China cloud competition with database tool

10. JD.Com to Take Stake in Logistics Firm Xinning Modern With Bonded Warehousing Business

11. Tencent Music’s total revenue for the first quarter was 5.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.4%

12. Smart Cinema’s new version V2.0 embraces social innovation

13. Lu Jin Suo 陆金所 is the first pet medical insurance in the industry to launch AI face recognition for cats and dogs

Cross border:

1. China’s Kunlun Tech agrees to U.S. demand to sell Grindr gay dating app

2. HK’s Ally Bridge Group leads $65m financing for US-based Pulmonx

3. Microsoft Will Spend $100 Million on African Development Center

4. Burger King Sees a Selling Opportunity to Deliver its Hambugers to Drivers Stuck in Traffic

5. Spotify brings its slimmed-down ‘Lite’ app to India

Blockchain:

– Blockchain monitoring startup Merkle Science raises US$804K in seed funding round led by LuneX, SGInnovate

Mobile:

1. T-Mobile and Sprint Consider Concessions to Save Their Merger

2. Huawei phone with child monitoring customizations spark debate

Emerging Market:

1. Here are Singapore’s top e-commerce apps for mobile shopping – Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee, Taobao and more

2. Hive Up and Wealth in Asia merge, rebrand as one-stop financial platform

3. InnoVen Capital raises additional US$200M capital commitment from Temasek, UOB

4. India’s Locus raises $22 million to expand its logistics management business

5. Singapore-based college admissions platform Cialfo lands $3m in series A round

6. Insurtech Maria Health raises additional seed funding from tryb Group

Image credit: 36Kr