News Display

 Bike-sharing is the year’s hottest tech trend in China. The two biggest startups in the space have pulled in more than $1 billion cumulatively from VCs this year alone, and at valuations that exceed $1 billion — yet their businesses, and the bikes themselves, are not well known in the U.S. and other parts of the world outside of China. During our recent TechCrunch China event… Read More from TechCrunch via April 13, 2018 at 01:00PM

 I got a glimpse into the future world of our robot overlords today. It was nervy at times. I watched two robots go on stage at a tech event to “debate” the future of humanity with each other. The robots in question are Sophia and Han, and they belong to Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong-based company that is developing and deploying artificial intelligence in humanoids. The duo took to… Read More from TechCrunch via March 31, 2018 at 01:00PM

 The Ticwatch, a worthy (and more affordable) alternative to the Apple Watch, is back with two new models. You may remember the second-generation Ticwatch from last year. The watch raised over $2 million on Kickstarter and now parent company Mobvoi, which includes Google and VW among its financial backers, has introduced a new model aimed at a younger audience (Ticwatch E) and a sporty… Read More from TechCrunch via March 05, 2018 at 01:00PM

 Two of the largest communities for chatbot developers are joining forces with the belief that bots are only just getting started. Howdy, a company backed by Bloomberg Beta and Slack among others, announced that it has acquired Bot Metrics, a year-old company funded by Social Capital and Graph Ventures. The deal is undisclosed, and it will see Bot Metrics founders Arun Thampi and Sandeep… Read More from TechCrunch via February 06, 2018 at 01:00PM

 China’s latest move to crackdown on VPN software that enables people to circumvent its internet censorship system appears to be a very worrying one. Bloomberg reports that the government has requested that state-run telecom operators prevent their customers from running VPN apps on their network. Citing sources, the publication said that the government intends for the VPN block to come… Read More from TechCrunch via December 02, 2017 at 01:00PM

 Payment enabler Stripe just announced two significant tie-ins that could help its pool of merchants make money from consumers in China. U.S. firm Stripe said today that it has agreed to global deals with Alipay and WeChat Pay, two digital services that dominate consumer spending in China. Alipay, which is managed by Alibaba affiliate firm Ant Financial, counts over 500 million users, while… Read More from TechCrunch via November 17, 2017 at 01:00PM

 It isn’t often that you see startups buying chunks of large corporates, but that’s what has happened in Thailand this week. Following the closure of its $25 million ICO token sale yesterday, Asian fintech startup Omise has bulked up its core payment business after it acquired Paysbuy from Thailand-based mobile operator Dtac. The deal will see Omise take over Paybuy’s assets… Read More from TechCrunch via September 02, 2017 at 01:01PM