In recent years, the internet has become more and more integrated into finding transportation, leading to revolutionary new industries like online taxi-hailing, bike and car rental, and e-buses. At the same time, AI technology like smart traffic lights and autonomous vehicles continues to develop and reshape the transportation industry.
At the upcoming TechCrunch International Innovation Summit, these industry leaders and visionaries will gather together and discuss the future of intelligent transportation.
Han Mei, HelloBike co-founder and COO
As co-founder of Hellobike, Han Mei was COO of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, moving from top of business operation to management; from B2B supplier to Alipay; from Alibaba to entrepreneur. With 10 years of experience in marketing, operation management in a large-scale internet company, she was responsible for Alipay’s national services of overseas bank accounts from 2011-2014; and served thousands of companies during her time in B2B business from 2004-2011. Hellobike received $350 million for its D1 round of funding at the end of last year, led by Ant Financial, Deep Ventures Fujitec, and Weimar Automobile.
Hellobike: A dark horse on the cusp of victory
While the two giants of bike-rentals fought, Hellobike broke into the industry, shocking the world. Bike-rental had been a vertical with a period of fast growth but had finally slowed down with Mobike and Ofo dominating. It wasn’t long, however, before both companies began struggling with internal issues. After Meituan bought Mobike, major overhauls were done throughout their staff, limiting their ability to watch their competitors. Ofo was also plagued with rumors of layoffs, executives resigning, and whether they were even making a profit.
Hellobike has an entirely different strategy. Instead of focusing on putting bikes in large Tier 1 cities, where Mobike and Ofo make most of their money, Hellobike is focusing on Tier 2 cities. By avoiding their only other competitors, Hellobike hopes to succeed. Through analyzing big data on city operations, they determined that a single bike-rental model won’t meet the transportation needs of a modern city.
So they decided to come up with a new strategy. When they introduced it to their audience, Ant Financial took an interest. With no deposit required, they supported Hellobike in pursuing any sustainable strategies they could think of, flying in the face of how things had been done in the industry thus far.
These factors are what allowed Hellobike to flourish as a bike sharing company. At TechCrunch, CEO of Hellobike Han Mei will speak about how Hellobike is taking over the industry as the dark horse in the race that nobody saw coming.
Victor Tseng, Ctrip Vice President
Victor Tseng is responsible for investor relations, international public relations, and international business development. Over the past 17 years, he has acquired a wealth of experience in the internet and TMT fields. Most notably, he is the CFO of China’s largest real estate chain, helping them raise about RMB 6 billion in Series B financing. He has also served as CFO of Anjuke, China’s leading online real estate platform, which helped and promoted the $267 million M&A deal with Nasdaq.
Ten years ago, he was vice president and chief officer of Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, as well as a Chinese internet analyst. Victor graduated from Tsinghua University School of Economics and MIT Sloan School of Management.
Ctrip: How smart technology is making traveling easier
Two months ago, Ctrip announced that its car services have gotten permission to operate from the Tianjin Transport Administration Commission, which will allow it to operate across China. Online ride-hailing has become a hotly-competitive market once again, especially as Didi now faces another rival alongside Meituan and Amap.
While they are launching a taxi service, they are more oriented to serving tourists. They cover pickups and dropoffs to and from airports, train and bus stations, and scenic spots. This allows them to avoid competition with alternative and more popular online ride-hailing services, like Didi. Interest from hotel chains indicate that if Ctrip can refine its business and prove it will be successful, they could build an entire ecosystem for tourists.
At TechCrunch’s main stage, Victor Tseng, Vice President of Ctrip, will speak about how smart technology has made traveling and tourism easier.
Shen Haijun, Singulato co-founder and CEO
Shen Haijun has a bachelor’s degree in automation and industrial management from Shanghai Jiaotong University. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the Internet industry. In hardware, search, advertising, games, and e-commerce, she has even more. She oversaw the research, development, and manufacturing of China’s mobile internet-connected electric smart car.
In March 2016, China released the first electric smart car that had any anticipation and launched a whole new car brand: Singulato. A little later that year, in November, Sentinel announced the construction of an electric smart car with a 200,000 capacity battery in their base in Tongling. April 2017 saw Singularity announce the first production model, the Singulato iS6. Sentinel USA R&D and Innovation Center was established in January 2018, with the first experience room in Beijing.
In March 2018, Sentinel CEO Shen Haiyu announced they would be partnering with Suzhou City, Xiangcheng District, and High-Speed Rail New City to invest 15 billion yuan in the next 5 years to build Sentinel’s global R&D Center and Singulato Suzhou Production Base, and establish a joint venture with 100 Billion’s electric smart car industry investment fund. At 2018’s Beijing International Auto Show, they announced that they will cooperate with BAIC New Energy to produce the first electric smart SUV. The iS6 is expected to launch in the second half of 2018.
Singulato: Creating brand new energy sources and developing autonomous driving
There are few things that have disrupted people’s lives in the modern era like AI has. It’s showing up in every aspect of our lives, and now, that includes the auto industry. Making cars “smart” has become a trend among auto companies, and this is being seen as the perfect opportunity to integrate internet connectivity to our vehicles as well.
Singulato has a vision: to make every trip a beautiful memory. They are dedicated to bringing smart cars and services to their users, making sure that they always offer a personalized and memorable experience. As Co-Founder of Singulato Haiyin Shen said, “It’s difficult to build cars, but it’s even more difficult to build them well. Without a good foundation and support of solid technologies, success wouldn’t last.”
Additionally, Singulato and BAIC will start collaborating with a shared vision of smart technology, eco-friendliness, safety, and convenience, and they are dedicated to pushing the development of China’s new electric smart cars forward. Haiyin Shen will speak at TechCrunch Main stage on how Singulato will take advantage of new resources in order to always craft smart cars on the cutting edge of what technology can offer.
At TechCrunch Hangzhou, we’ve set up a side stage dedicated to leaders in the autonomous driving industry to talk about their revolutionary projects. From developing chip algorithms to designing sensors, drawing accurate maps, coding applications and forecasting capital gains, everything you want to know about the past, present, and future of autonomous driving will be right here!