H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (19 January 2019) – Chinese drone maker DJI uncovers corruption, sees $150 million loss; SaaS stocks are coming back to life

January 19, 2019 Leave a comment

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (19 January 2019) – Chinese drone maker DJI uncovers corruption, sees $150 million loss; SaaS stocks are coming back to life

Companies

  • China’s largest online ticketing site lowers IPO ambition; Maoyan Entertainment looks to raise $345m, down from $1bn target six months ago (FT)
  • NetEase to limit the amount of time China’s youth spend gaming (Technode)
  • As Xiaomi Shares Sink, a Russian Investor Is Still Up $1 Billion (Bloomberg)
  • ID Technologies and Getac Announce Partnership to provide mission-focused, secure solutions to support the unique and complex requirements of the U.S. Department of Defense. (BW)
  • Booming payments business Afterpay Touch has seen sales on its platform more than double in the latest half to $2.2 billion, as it stepped up its expansion both domestically and into the massive United States market.(Age); Afterpay wants to break free of Millennial stereotype (AFR)
  • Reliance Industries Ltd. will roll out its online shopping platform to 1.2 million retailers and store-owners in western India, starting on an ambitious plan to take on Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart on its home turf. (Bloomberg)

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

  • Alibaba to Postpone Some Hiring and Cut Travel Spending (Bloomberg)
  • Alibaba doubles down on enterprise transformation with A100 program (Technode)
  • Bytedance’s Snapchat clone isn’t a WeChat killer. But Tencent should worry (Technode)
  • With a Billion Users, Tencent Faces Middle Age. That’s a Worry for the Stock. (Barron’s)
  • A WeChat program shows when people on a credit blacklist are near you (TIA)
  • How Softbank’s Massive Vision Fund Shares Profits-and Losses (Bloomberg)

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

  • Amazon built an electronic vest to improve worker/robot interactions (TC)
  • Alphabet’s Verily scores FDA clearance for its ECG monitor (TC)
  • Microsoft is calling an audible on smart speakers (TC)
  • Is Google an evil genius? Big Tech does not control its users, however much it may want to (Economist)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

  • Chinese drone maker DJI uncovers corruption, sees $150 million loss (Reuters)
  • China education platform lands $255m from Warburg Pincus, others (TIA)
  • Pearl Abyss works on mobile game for Samsung’s foldable smartphone (Investor)
  • South Korean smart solutions firm BIStel says Made in China 2025 upgrading is why it plans to invest more (SCMP)
  • Paytm partners with Zomato to enable in-app food ordering (TC)
  • Warburg Pincus Bets On Vietnamese Mobile Payment Market Leader Momo’s Series C (CB)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

  • SaaS stocks are coming back to life (TC)
  • Zipwhip raises $51.5M for businesses to text customers from any kind of phone line (TC)
  • Whyd now helps companies create their custom voice assistant (TC)
  • Sony’s venture capital arm has invested in what3words, the startup that has divided the entire world into 57 trillion 3-by-3 meter squares and assigned a three-word address to each one. (TC)
  • Technology is changing how we grow old and die (CNN)
  • Infor Gets $1.5 Billion Investment and Looks Toward IPO (Barron’s)
  • Spotify to release voice-controlled music player for cars; Streaming group hopes to push into hardware with new entertainment device (FT)
  • Electronic Arts and Activision Are Struggling to Survive a Fortnite World (Barron’s); Fortnite outplays media titans in a battle royale (Reuters)
  • Luxury online reseller The RealReal in talks with banks for IPO: sources (Reuters)
  • Industrial Exoskeletons Give Workers a Lift; Ford, Boeing, Toyota and others are equipping workers with wearable devices that enhance strength and endurance. “Iron Man”-style powered suits could be next (WSJ)
  • A Silicon Valley Startup Blames the Trade War for Going Bust (Bloomberg)
  • Consumer giants spurn risks to chase online subscribers (Reuters)
  • Airbnb Has Held Talks to Buy Hotel Tonight; A deal would give the home-sharing company more inventory and help it move into hotel bookings (WSJ)
  • General Contracting Startup Pro.com Secures $33M Series B, Adds Redfin To Board (CB)

Life

  • The Bright and Dark Sides of Optimism and Pessimism (Medium)

Filed under Innovation

About bambooinnovator
Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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