H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 August 2018) – Koh Young Posts Record Q2 Revenue + Li Lu on Charlie Munger’s Greatest Influence: “Yet throughout all these blows, I’ve never seen him being pessimistic or desperate. He’s never complained about those terrible blows either. His attitude towards them is to take them as graceful and competent as he can.”

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 August 2018) – Koh Young Posts Record Q2 Revenue + Li Lu on Charlie Munger’s Greatest Influence: “Yet throughout all these blows, I’ve never seen him being pessimistic or desperate. He’s never complained about those terrible blows either. His attitude towards them is to take them as graceful and competent as he can.”

Companies

• Weibo revenue surges as China tech groups lift advertising; Social media operator attracts big spenders like Alibaba (Nikkei)
• China’s Dada-JD Daojia raises $500 million from Walmart, JD.com (Reuters)
• Koh Young Posts Record Q2 Revenue; Coupled with powerful software, the Zenith handles an enormous amount of real data, which helps engineers gain insight into the reflow process and enables faster, better decision making. (iconnect)
• Kakao’s net profit more than doubles in Q2; operating profit fell 38.2 percent to 27.5 billion won in the second quarter from 44.6 billion won a year ago, as the company spent more in marketing costs to promote new businesses (Investor)
• IRESS has announced its new collaborative design initiative, IRESS Labs, would allow financial advisers to test and provide feedback on prototypes during a development phase before co-designed features are released. (MM, IFA)
• 3D vision systems to drive growth for Vitrox (Star)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• The Amazing Ways Alibaba Uses Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning (LinkedIn)
• SoftBank is helping Alibaba create a formidable rival to Meituan; Ele.me looks forward to fresh capital to capture larger market share. (KRA)
• Tencent-backed Q&A Platform Zhihu Reportedly Raises $270M Series E Round (CMN)
• SoftBank in Talks to Invest Up to $750 Million in Zume, the Startup That Sells Robot-Made Pizza; Zume uses robots and software to deliver food. (Bloomberg)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Amazon basically wants to turn Whole Foods into a drive-thru (FastCo)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Hong Kong’s IPO Takeoff Is Running Out of Runway; Repeated flops are causing investor fatigue. (Bloomberg)

• Chinese Truck-Hailing App On Course for $10 Billion Valuation; Manbang Group is speaking to U.S.-based mutual funds and late-stage investors as it looks to raise $1 billion (WSJ)
• Meet the Shenzhen billionaire behind the world’s thinnest flexible display (SCMP)
• How Tik Tok became China’s top short-video app in 500 days (TIA)
• AI giant SenseTime leads $199M investment in Chinese video tech startup (Techcrunch)
• Tech start-up funds plummet in China as easy money dries up, signalling big boom may be over (SCMP)
• Fresh robot-baked bread hints at future of retail in China; Local juice company aims to turn errands into entertainment (Nikkei)
• Japan plans 10 ‘AI hospitals’ to ease doctor shortages; Computers will fill in patient records and analyze blood tests (Nikkei)
• Japan’s Spectee, news video aggregator for press, ready for North America expansion (Bridge)
• South Korean social referral recruitment platform Wanted has a big plan for Southeast Asia; Can Wanted beat its competitors, which include traditional recruitment agencies, by offering cash rewards? (KRA)
• Revolution Precrafted recently became the Philippines’ first “unicorn” by supplying limited-edition, luxury prefabricated homes to a global market primed for new modular dwelling options. Despite its high valuation, the company is yet to (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• These soft, tiny robot spiders might operate on you someday (TNW)
• The ultra-pure, super-secret sand that makes your phone possible; Unimin’s North Carolina quartz operations supply most of the world’s high and ultra high purity quartz. (Wired)
• Zillow Struggles to Find New Growth (Barron’s)
• A quantum computing startup tries to live up to the hype (Japan Times)
• DreamWorks Looks to Reanimate Business With Advanced Analytics; Approximately 600 terabytes of storage and 120 million core hours of rendering go into each animated feature-length film (WSJ)
• com Adopts CEO Structure With Spotty Record; Salesforce.com’s elevation of Keith Block to co-chief executive creates a power-sharing structure that hasn’t always worked out for other companies (WSJ)
• Match Group: Tinder, and the Shares, Stay Hot (Barron’s)
• The World’s Most Peculiar Company; How does catalog-loving retailer Hammacher Schlemmer, famous for such eccentric and extravagant products as the Navigable Water Park, continue to survive in the age of Amazon? (CM)
• Pinterest shapes up for anti-millennial IPO (Reuters)

Life

• Li Lu on Charlie Munger’s Greatest Influence. The biggest blow during the past 15 years, was the passing away of his second wife Nancy, who had been with him for more than 50 years when she died in 2010. Less than a year later, he almost became completely blinded due to an accident. He’s already lost sight on one of his eyes previously due to a surgery operation. So I’ve witnessed him recovering from such hard blows one by one. Yet throughout all these blows, I’ve never seen him being pessimistic or desperate. He’s never complained about those terrible blows either. His attitude towards them is to take them as graceful and competent as he can. He’s objective and rational in everything. There is a Chinese saying that goes, “One should neither be pleased by external gains, nor be saddened by personal losses.” Charlie is one of those people who can achieve such a state of mind. At the same time, Charlie is also curious and enthusiastic about all issues, especially about how the business world works. This curiosity and enthusiasm has continued to this day. At age 95, he doesn’t work less every day than when I first met him 15 years ago. When he finds interesting books and materials, he will even read them until 4 a.m. in the morning until he finishes them, sometimes in one go. (GF)
• Rare Charlie Munger and Li Lu Interview – Part I (GF)
• Investing in an age of disruption (Todd Wenning)