When I first read Ray Kurzweil’s The Age of Spiritual Machines (I actually had no idea what it was the time, but was on a “spiritual” kick when I found it), I suddenly realized that much of what I had read by William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and other science fiction authors could actually come to […]
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Tencent bets on online flea market with $200m investment in Zhuan Zhuan
The decades-long rivalry between Tencent and Alibaba spans almost every hot tech vertical in China. It’s no exaggeration to say that where there’s Tencent, there’s Alibaba and vice versa. The competition between the two Chinese internet giants is now entering another field – second-hand goods trading market. According to the official announcement, Tencent has injected […]
China’s “Apple of electric scooters” announces new series aimed at broader user base
Niu (小牛 in Chinese) has announced the launch of a new line of electric scooters: the U series. Short for “Ultra lite,” the U1 is designed for a broad market. Whereas the N and M series are for enthusiasts, the U series references the electric bicycles seen on many of China’s streets. The U series […]
Join us for the biggest TechCrunch event in China!
What: TechCrunch Shenzhen 2017 When: June 17-20th, 2017 Where: I-Factory, Nanshan District, Shenzhen It has been four years since TechCrunch.cn and the TechCrunch China Summit landed in China. In that time, we have seen 6 sessions in Beijing and Shanghai with more than 300 speaker, including the world’s most famous entrepreneur, venture investor like Alphabet/Google […]
Chinese electric carmakers might not be ready, but the money is
In recent years, a raft of Chinese entrepreneurs have been going around pitching and fundraising for their electric vehicle startups, but consumers haven’t seen much of those promises materialize until recently. On October 12, XPeng Motors unveiled its first pre-production run of 15 electric cars in China’s east-central city of Zhengzhou, where XPeng’s OEM partner—local automaker Haima Automobile’s subsidiary—is located. This batch, […]
Why WeChat is going to win the instant app battle in China
To great anticipation, WeChat rolled out Mini Programs—embedded instant apps—in January this year. As a major feature release, the buzz surrounding the Mini Programs piled up months before its actual launch. Discussions among industry insiders went from the actual form of Mini Programs to its potential to disrupt the traditional app store paradigm. In contrast to […]
As outbound tourism grows, China’s giants are following along to fuel their global expansion
Not long ago, taking vacations away from home was only eligible for a small group of wealthy people in China. But now, thanks to the country’s quick economic growth as well as the stable rise of average incomes, this is no longer the case. China’s tourism industry has witnessed unprecedented development in recent years. The […]
Why more trains may lead to more unicorns in China
Editor’s note: This was contributed by Hans Tung in collaboration with Zara Zhang. Hans Tung is a Managing Partner at GGV Capital. A five-time Forbes Midas Lister, he has been a US/China investor for more than a decade. Zara Zhang is an analyst at GGV Capital. She has written for The Information, The Harvard Crimson, Harvard Magazine, among other publications. When I […]
6 takeaways on Thailand startup ecosystem: Q&A with TechSauce CEO Oranuch Lerdsuwankij
Thailand may be an appealing top 2 travel destination for Chinese people, but now startups can consider expanding their business to this neighboring country as well. Chinese startups are eyeing Southeast Asia as the next market for their global expansion, and burgeoning Thailand is one of the markets to consider. To explore this booming market, TechNode […]
Making waves: TechCrunch 2017 comes back to Shanghai
When I wrote this, I was attending the TechSauce Global Summit held by my friend in Bangkok, Thailand. On the stage, the host introduced that our annual TC International City Event in China has attracted a lot of entrepreneurs from other countries in Asia. Below the stage, friends from Southeast Asia said: Hey, I have […]