Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) launched a new pilot program for RMB cross-border settlement service, allowing five third-party payment companies, namely, All In Pay, 99Bill, ChinaPay, EasiPay, ShengPay to handle this business in cooperation with their bank partners (via Tech Sina). In order to carry out the service, each of the five payment service providers will […]
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Shou65: Tourism Platform Helps You Travel Like a Local
More and more Chinese travelers hit the road for backpack tours rather than the old-fashioned escorted tours to experience a more adventurous journey filled with unpredictable possibilities, like opportunities to meet new friends and to experience local lives. Shou65, a peer-to-peer tourism service platform, is dedicated to connect individual backpack travelers and local travelling guides […]
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Taobao Now Supports NFC Mobile Payments by Hong Kong Octopus Users
Taobao and Alipay of Alibaba Group just rolled out NFC mobile payment solution, named OOP (Octopus Online Payment), together with Octopus Cards Limited (OCL). Octopus mobile app users now can make payments, through their NFC-enabled mobile devices, for purchases on Taobao marketplace. OOP charges a 1.5% fee of the total transaction amount. It sets a daily payment limit […]
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Mobile Browser Becoming Irrelevant: Mobile-only UC Web to Launch Browsers for PC and Smart TV
Chinese mobile browser brand UCWeb announced last month that it was developing browsers for PC and Smart TV and would launch them in the coming March or April (Update: The PC browser is launched on April 10, 2014.). No questions for the Smart TV part, but it’s interesting to hear the company who took pride […]
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Interior Decoration Platform To8to Nets $16.48 Million of Series B Funding from Sequoia Capital
Decoration service platform To8to recently announced that it raised around 100 million yuan ($16.48 Million) of Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital and followed by Series A investor Matrix Partners (source in Chinese). Launched in 2009, To8to is a third-party platform for customers, decoration companies, designers and construction material providers. One of the company’s core […]
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[Update] Education Service Uniquedu Gets $20 Million Series A Funding
Uniquedu, a leading comprehensive educational solution provider, announced that it has secured $20 million of Series A financing from Fosun Group’s venture capital arm Fosun Venture Capital Investment and an unnamed investment institution. Uniquedu is dedicated to train the talents of software development professionals and project management in the areas of mobile Internet, cloud computing, […]
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Tencent-backed Kamcord Expands to China’s Mobile Gameplay Recording and Sharing Market
Kamcord, based in San Francisco, US, is bringing its mobile gameplay recording and sharing solution to China. The company provides SDKs for Android/iOS-based mobile games that enable game players to record gameplays, or share onto Kamcord’s online community or other social networks. Kamcord began to test the waters in Asian markets in last September. A Chinese version is already available. […]
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China’s App Download Rush Kicks off Chinese New Year
As more than more Chinese people leave their hometowns to work in big cities, the Lunar New Year has become a rare once-a-year opportunity for migrant workers to spend coveted time offline and engaged in IRL (in-real life) activities with their loved ones. The 7-day Chinese New Year holiday saw huge downloads, which in turn, […]
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China’s Mobile Payment Turnover Soared 317% YOY to $1.59 Trillion in 2013: PBOC
The turnover of Chinese mobile payment industry rocketed 317.56% year-over-year to 9.64 trillion yuan ($1.59 trillion) in 2013, while the number of orders hiked 212.86% year-on-year to 1.67 billion, according to the bank-level data released by Chinese central bank-People’s Bank of China. E-payment business grows rapidly in 2013, recording 25.78 billion orders and a turnover of 1,075 […]
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Xiaomi Injects $20mn into Game Developer Westhouse
Xiaomi Ventures, the VC arm of Xiaomi, has bought USD20 million worth of shares in gaming company Westhouse Group. Xiaomi will own 4.71% of Westhouse when the deal is completed. Westhouse Group, including WestGame and WestGame Founders, was founded as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kingsoft as early as in 1995. Kingsoft also invested USD5 million in Westhouse this […]