Welcome back, Lots happened last week so this is a larger-than-usual ATR. I really enjoy publishing t
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April 29 · Issue #112 · View online |
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Welcome back, Lots happened last week so this is a larger-than-usual ATR. I really enjoy publishing this newsletter â it is my way to ensure I kept up with what happened on my beat â and hope it adds value to you, too. Do consider sharing it with friends or colleagues who you think might appreciate it. And do feel free to drop into the Telegram chat group, which is here, to say hello. Ok, pitch over⌠on to this weekâs update đ
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Following the publishing of an explosive paper from two academics â shared in last weekâs newsletter â Chinaâs tech industry has been mulling the question of who owns Huawei. Professors Christopher Balding and Donald Clarke dug into the issue and found that, contrary to what Huawei says, it isnât the employees. In a press conference set up with a selection of media, Huaweiâs chief secretary spoke for 90 minutes but the ultimate message is that employees are offered a profit sharing scheme but whether they have actual ownership is more complicated. Huawei is majority owned by its workerâs union, but that has no say over shaping policy and operations. Indeed, employee shares are virtual and CEO Ren Zhengfei has veto over high-level issues such as strategy, new hires, etc. Huawei argued that the unionâs main activity is arranging sports events, collecting dues, etc. Why does this matter?
- Huawei is often accused of maintaining close links to the Chinese government and the idea of it being state-owned, or partially owned, is sure to raise already high security concerns.
- Huawei has become so powerful with its role of supplying mobile carrier technology, that many governments are seeking a level of transparency.
- Critics argue that if Huawei canât be honest about the basics, i.e. its ownership, what other untruths is it telling?
A tweet from Balding, co-author of the paper that looked into Huaweiâs ownership
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Here is a recap of the Huawei issues that I put together. What is notable is that basically Huawei has conceded the factual and legal analysis @ and I did about their ownership. Huawei's defense now is the union only organizes hiking trips https://t.co/VpnotwrUha
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Further reading: If youâre an FT subscriber, the pink paperâs summary ( here) is another good read.
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A lot of what I write at TechCrunch is news-related, so once in a while I get my teeth into something a little deeper: this week that was Honestbee, the grocery delivery startup that operates in 8 markets in Asia.
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Grocery delivery startup Honestbee is running out of money and trying to sell
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Tech In Asia last week broke news of the company laying off staff and âpausingâ operations in the Philippines, one of its major markets. That was a little frustrating as I was working on a story of my own â but fair play to TIA â and ultimately, beyond those layoffs, Honestbee is in a more serious situation. The company is talking to a range of suitors, including Grab and Go-Jek, over an acquisition because it is close to running out of money. Honestbee confirmed it plans to lay off 6% of its staff and it has âpausedâ food delivery service in Taiwan and Thailand. But that doesnât tell the full picture:
- Staff in a least one market, Singapore, wonât be paid this month.
- Suppliers across the region are owed outstanding payments
- Honestbee closed R&D centers in Vietnam and India
- A number of top executives have departed in recent months
The crux of the problem is financial. Honestbee is losing $6.5M per month, as of December at least, but it is known to have raised just over $60 million since its 2014 launch. It seems likely, then, that it would have raised more. But little is known of Honestbeeâs financing since all major decisions, particularly around money, are tightly managed by CEO Joel Sng. Current and former employees I spoke to had no idea how much Honestbee has raised to date and, in many cases, even where the money came from. Formation Group, a VC started by LG scion Brian Koo, is one major investor â its previous Formation8 fund appeared to transferred it stake after shuttering â while Tech In Asia has dug up filings that show Korean chaebols have invested. Iâm an Honestbee customer â and still a fan of the service â but thereâs a lot bubbling away here. If you, or someone you know, has more information, please do get in touch. Beyond email, details of how to reach me securely can be found at the bottom of my story here.
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Starbucks rival Luckin Coffee files to go public in the US
My former colleague and now Crunchbase editor Alex Wilhelm called the filing âamazing.â âI have no idea what this company is worth, how big it will get, or what itâs current health is,â said Wilhelm, who has looked through filings on a near-daily basis for going on a decade. His is the link you can read here â if youâre going to test the public markets in the US, test the media in the US first â but there are plenty of reports from Asia-centric reporters covering the company with more local context. In case you never heard of it: Luckin is aiming to displace Starbucks in China using a strategy that puts significant emphasis on delivering orders placed through a mobile app. Starbucks is famous for its real estate play, Luckin is nearly entirely digital, at least in its customer touch points. Mostly it has collection stations where it makes and ships out orders, but there are some coffee shops. Already, the Luckin factor forced Starbucks into a digital delivery deal with Alibaba â I wrote about that last year â and similar startups have already sprouted in Southeast Asia, including Indonesiaâs Fore Coffee which has already raised $9.5M. Itâll be interesting to see how the listing fares.
Further reading: My TechCrunch colleague Rita Liao wrote about Luckinâs âmoney is no objectâ strategy earlier this year link
Meanwhile, a Luckin clone â Coffee Box â just raised $30M link
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Surveillance tech built in China is being used extensively in Ecuador link
Huawei went on the offensive with its first âquarterly reportâ â devoid of full numbers, company said it shipped 59M smartphones in Q1 as overall revenue rose 39% year-on-year to nearly $37B link
Chinese startups are rushing to list on Shanghaiâs next tech board link
Didi said it is getting close to break-even link
Tencent has cloned PokĂŠmon Go link
Pinduoduo joins Alibaba on the US governmentâs naughty list link
Notes on what a âgovernment-led tourâ to Xianjing is like link
A list of WeChat words that will trigger censorship link
đ¸Deals đ¸ Douyu, âChinaâs Twitch,â is raising $500M in a US IPO ( link) Tencent invested in an app that teaches Chinaâs seniors to dance ( link) Ctrip now owns nearly half of Indiaâs MakeMyTrip ( link)
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Uber's retreat from India
I sound like a stuck record, but The Ken is a subscription thatâs great value if you want to go deeper than tech news in India. This story covers Uberâs lack of commitment to the India market, which was once seen as a hugely important play for the US startup. Now its presence seems very token. Indeed, days later, Uber announced a change to its leadership of Asia Pacific, handing the top job to a Europe-based executive whose responsibilities already include âleading our Rides teams across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.â So, basically, Uberâs focus is US, Latin America â where it is battling Didi â and then ârest of the world.â Iâm trying to imagine Travis Kalanickâs reactionâŚ
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"Uber remains deeply committed to the Asia Pacific region..." We'll make the India head as APAC head, who then decides to move on and then hand over APAC ops to another exec who already takes care of EMEA. OK. https://t.co/WWzrO8NLA7 https://t.co/ACd8NkDwLn
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Streaming service Gaana now has 100M users and it is moving into video content link
The Vision Fund is reportedly considering an investment in Jio link
Perhaps related, Jio is preparing to move into e-commerce link
A look at how Paytm, an early pace-setter in mobile payments, has struggled to push on despite investment from Alibaba link
ByteDance plans to invest $1 billion in India over the next few years link
Ola may work with Audi and Mercedes on its self-drive (car rental) service link
đ¸Deals đ¸ gaming startup Mobile Premier League raised $35.5M from investors including Go-Jekâs VC arm for expansion into Southeast Asia ( link) Vue.ai, an offshoot of AI startup Mad Street Den thatâs focused on e-commerce, raised $17M ( link) Digital health startup Mfine raised $17.2M ( link) ZestMoney, which offers consumer loans, raised $20M ( link) Routematic raised $2.5M ( link) UK-based CDC invested $40M into BigBasket ( link)
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Nintendo forecasts modest Switch growth as sales overtake the N64
Nintendo isnât predicting much growth for the Switch, which is now two years old, despite rumors of a new, cheaper model and the recent acquiring of a license to sell the console in China in partnership with Tencent. Nintendo missed its original sales target for the console this year, despite generally promising sales, and analysts think it is lowballing this year to avoid having to backtrack again.
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But, in good news for Nintendo fans, Mario Kart is inching closer to mobile after a beta test for Android users was announced â a full release is due this summer link
Sony launched a taxi-hailing service in Tokyo link
Meanwhile, SoftBank and Didiâs ride-hailing service expanded from Tokyo into 13 more cities link
Japan is about to enter a new imperial era, but, perhaps little known, is that it needs to make IT and software updates. The deadline is May 1 so the rush is on! link
đ¸Deals đ¸ SoftBankâs HAPSMobile invested $125M into Alphabet spinout Loon ( link)
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Samsung delays its $2,000 folding phone after test units break
Galaxy Fold devices sent to reporters for review have had major issues and prompted the pushback of the launch, which was scheduled for April 26.
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Samsung is reportedly developing its own blockchain, it may consider issuing its own crypto token link
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FT parent Nikkei confirms it has acquired Deal Street Asia
The Nikkei is on a media buying spree after it bought The Next Web (my former employer) earlier this year. The Deal Street Asia move also taps into a new media company that runs tech event but, beyond, I understand Nikkei is considering new subscription bundles that will include DSA content â DSA already has a paywall. The deal values Deal Street Asia at up to $10 million, and it includes around $3 million in fresh funding as well as a buyout of existing investors.
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Grabâs CTO is leaving for family reasons, thereâs no replacement yet link
In turn, Go-Jek hired a former Misfit founder and Facebook country manager as its new lead in Vietnam link
Go-Jek partnered with JD.com to add e-commerce in Indonesia link
Meanwhile, Grab launched its âsuper appâ in Singapore â the strategy is already in place in Indonesia link
Grab also announced an investment in logistics startup NinjaVan link
Indonesiaâs Sicepat, yet another logistics startup, raised a $50M Series A from corporate backers link (wow, that is a large A round)
Malaysiaâs sovereign wealth fund closed its London office amid reports it is cutting costs overseas link
Binance launched a much-anticipated crypto exchange in Singapore, but it is underwhelming link
đ¸Deals đ¸ Saleswhale, a YC graduate that brings AI to sales/marketing emails, raised $5.3M ( link) grocery delivery service (and Honestbee rival) HappyFresh raised $20M ( link) Philippines-based Ayala is the latest conglomerate in the region to launch a fund, $150M ( link)
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Sir Lanka: The government shut down a range of social media services following the recent terrorist attack link
More: That shutdown indicates how little trust there is in social media link
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Four leaders of Hong Kongâs 2014 Occupy protests were sentenced to prison link
Twitter said it added the option to report misleading tweets ahead of elections in the EU and India link
Facebook canât cope with content moderation following the âfloodâ of non-English languages link
Pollution is impacting tourism potential in some (many?) parts of Asia link
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TechCrunch is hiring a senior editor to help run our news team â do note this is a US-based position but youâd get to work with me đ link
This is a semi-regular feature when I find opportunities that I think are interesting, none of the above are paid for listings
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Splice Beta: May 1-3 in Chiang Mai, Thailand link
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SaaStock Asia: May 14-15 in Hong Kong link
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E27 Echelon: May 23-34 in Singapore link
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Tech Sauce: June 19-20 in Bangkok, Thailand link
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Innovfest Unbound: 27-28 June in Singapore link
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Wild Digital: 3-4 July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia link
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Rise: July 8-11 in Hong Kong link
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Deal Street Asiaâs PE-VC Summit: 17-18 September in Singapore link
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Tech In Asia Conference: 8-9 October in Jakarta, Indonesia link
If you run a tech event not listed here or want to recommend an addition, please email me
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