H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (2 April 2019) – No escape? Chinese VIP jail puts AI monitors in every cell ‘to make prison breaks impossible’; Minority Report-style crime prevention with artificial intelligence is fast becoming reality; The Outlandish Story Of Ollie’s: A $5 Billion Retail Empire That Sells Nothing Online (But Is Beating Amazon)

April 2, 2019 Leave a comment

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (2 April 2019) – No escape? Chinese VIP jail puts AI monitors in every cell ‘to make prison breaks impossible’; Minority Report-style crime prevention with artificial intelligence is fast becoming reality; The Outlandish Story Of Ollie’s: A $5 Billion Retail Empire That Sells Nothing Online (But Is Beating Amazon)

Companies

  • Thunisoft – No escape? Chinese VIP jail puts AI monitors in every cell ‘to make prison breaks impossible’ (SCMP)
  • Saudi Telecom Company Solutions to utilize Trend Micro products under its cloud offerings (SG)
  • Nexon/Tencent/Bain: no stroll in the park; The price of acquiring NXC’s video gaming business could reach as high as $14bn (FT)
  • Delta acquires Amerlux, enhances its IoT-based solutions for smart cities (EENE)

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

  • Tencent Holdings to buy back 10 per cent of shares to shore up stock price (SCMP)
  • As Facebook looks to WeChat, China’s digital world is wowing the West, and globalisation is no longer a one-way street (SCMP)

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

  • Artificial Intelligence Should Boost Amazon Stock, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
  • Alphabet and Apple take divergent paths in health; Drug companies bet technology can revolutionise the $65bn market for clinical trials (FT)
  • When it comes to disclosing sponsors, your Google Assistant may be mute (Reuters)
  • Unfazed by trade war, Google collaborates with Huawei on health care AI initiative; Huawei’s new Track AI product for diagnosing eye conditions was built with Google’s TensorFlow software (SCMP)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

  • Startups power Shenzhen’s rise as high-tech hub; City produces more than half of China’s international patent filings (Nikkei)
  • Digital Manufacturing Has A China Dilemma (Forbes)
  • China drone maker EHang delays IPO plan, eyes private funding: sources (Reuters)
  • How Japan’s Aging Society Paves The Way For The Era Of Digital Health Care (Forbes)
  • EV battery sector emerges as S. Korea’s new growth engine (Investor)
  • Jio Health combines online and offline healthcare in Southeast Asia, starting in Vietnam (TC)
  • Now Zomato users can order from Bulandshahr, Rewari, Gurdaspur, others as food delivery expands to 213 cities (FE)
  • Brisbane startup Explorate wants to become the shipping industry’s answer to Webjet (CM)
  • S. family tracking app Life360 seeks investors for Australia IPO (Reuters)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

  • Minority Report-style crime prevention with artificial intelligence is fast becoming reality (SCMP)
  • On-Demand Startups Are Hemorrhaging Tens of Billions a Year (Bloomberg)
  • SambaNova Systems, A Startup In The Hot AI Hardware Space, Scores $150 Million Investment From Intel And Alphabet (Forbes)
  • Schwab Subscription Move Could Change the Game (MW)
  • Why New Technologies Take Decades to Change the Economy (Barron’s)
  • Financial Times reaches a million paying readers (Reuters)
  • Profit questions throw Lyft shares into reverse; Car-booking group’s stock falls nearly 12% to drop below Friday’s listing (FT)
  • How Disney grew its $3 billion Mickey Mouse business-by selling to adults (FastCo)
  • Airbnb to invest $100-200 million in India’s OYO – source (Reuters)

Life

  • The Shadow Side of Greatness (JC)
  • The Outlandish Story Of Ollie’s: A $5 Billion Retail Empire That Sells Nothing Online (But Is Beating Amazon) (Forbes)
  • A Convenient Fortune: Soaring Stock Of Circle K’s Parent Company Creates New Billionaire (Forbes)

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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