China’s credit card management app 51 Credit Card Manager announced it has secured US$50 million of Series B financing led by GGV Capital at a valuation of nearly US$300 million. The company had closed a combined US$15 million of Series A and A+ round in 2013 from SIG, Crystal Stream and Meridian Capital China. The angel round was received […]
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Social media curation platform PikiCast appeals with selected content
Social curation media platform PikiCast selects the best media content and broadcasts it on social media networks via curation. PikiCast’s contents are mobile optimized with a simple, intuitive user interface, while features like categorization and personalized cards allow users to customize content. PikiCast’s mobile app was released on January 2014 and has had an outstanding performance […]
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Chinese Mobile Phone Distributors See Profits Plunge in 2014
Two of the leading Chinese mobile phone distributors, isidi and TELLING, saw sharp declines in their profits during 2014, according to their pre-announcements of annual earnings. TELLING expects to report a net loss of RMB323-357 million (US$52-58 million) despite turning a profit the previous year. isidi estimates its profit for 2014 was down by 97-99%. […]
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OUYA CEO Talks Alibaba Investment and China Plans
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has made a new investment in OUYA, an U.S. game console manufacturer and open game platform for television. The investment comes to US$10 million according to a WSJ report, though the Santa Monica-based startup declined to comment. OUYA is best known for releasing an Android-powered video game console in a […]
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China Reaches 649M Internet Users in 2014: Report
The year 2014 marked twenty years of the internet on mainland China. Internet users in world’s most populous country reached 649 million as of the end of 2014, a 5% annual growth, according to the latest annual report by CNNIC. Some 27% of internet users were from rural areas. The total internet access rate increased 2% […]
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Alibaba’s Finance Arm Reportedly to Launch a Stock Trading App
In late 2014, Alipay Wallet, the mobile app under Alibaba’s finance arm Ant Financial, added a stock portfolio tracker for users to monitor the performance of their portfolios, and read news or other information about listed companies, apart from making mobile payments, paying utility bills, buying mutual funds such as Yuebao, amongst others. More recently Alipay […]
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Car Rental Service Zuche Jumps into Ride-sharing Market as China Cracks Down on Private Cars
Chinese car rental service CAR Inc., more commonly known as Zuche, has rolled out a ride-sharing service UCAR Zuche Tailored Car Service (our translation), adding another competitive player to China’s booming taxi-calling industry. The company is planning to launch the service in 60 cities around the country, according to CEO Charles Lu. He said that Zuche, which has started […]
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China’s Over-The-Air App Testing Services Aim For Global Expansion
China has become the world’s second largest app economy and the market is still growing, with the number of Chinese mobile app developers nearly doubling each year. To develop quality apps that stand out from the crowd, beta testing is becoming an indispensable step in app development, as it gives developers the chance to improve their product […]
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MySimax, the Fascinating Homecoming Story of a China-based African Tech Company
Editor’s Note: This post is contributed by Thibaud Andre, a French consultant working at Chinese market research firm Daxue Consulting. He likes to share insights about emerging markets. In particular, he like to identify emerging trends and innovations that may change economic landscape in these countries. Following recent annual tradition, NewAfrican Magazine published a special edition listing […]
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MalangStudio Gets You Going with AlarmMon’s Games and Rewards
As your phone’s alarm rings and you waken and turn it off, it then takes you to a simple game followed by a reward. MalangStudio gets the cobwebs out of your eyes with a character-led, gamified alarm clock app AlarmMon. What makes the game most engaging is the company’s self-designed animation characters. The company has contracts for Xiaomi’s Mi […]