Overseas:
- Lyft jumps into the bikesharing space with startup Motivate, the company behind Citibikes and Ford GoBikes.
- Facebook buys UK’s Bloomsbury AI to ramp up natural language tech in London and combat fake news.
- Dell is going public again.
China:
- Apparel inventory distribution app Aikuncun 爱库存 completes RMB 580M Series B led by Legend Capital.
- Alibaba-backed Babytree, online parenting community and e-commerce service, plans Hong Kong IPO.
- Alibaba’s CDR release plan was postponed this month.
- Internet home improvement platform, Qijia.com, postpones IPO to July 12.
- Toutiao will release a new paid reading function.
- Tech company HTC lays off 1500 people in Taiwan in its manufacturing department.
- Pony.ai gets autonomous-driving T3 license in Beijing.
Cross-border:
- Uzabase, Japanese new media company, buys New York-based online business outlet Quartz to expand out of Asia. The sale will cost between $75M and $110M.
- India-based HR tech provider Leena AI joins Y Combinator.
- Investment firms London-based Centricus and Chinese companies China Merchants Group and SPF Group are teaming up to launch a $15B fund to acquire and invest in tech companies, primarily those in China.
Blockchain:
- Thai security firms to team up for crypto exchange launch.
- BTCC, one of the longest running and once top-three trading platforms in China, is relaunching its exchange business with a plan to issue its own tokens.
Mobile:
Emerging Market:
- Singapore-based Trax, computer vision and image recognition platform for food and drink retailers, raises $125M Series E led by Boyu Capital.
- Singapore-based Ocean Freight Exchange, AI analytics startup for marine logistics, raises $3.3M in seed funding.