H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 April 2019) – How Setbacks Help Us Discover What We Truly Love: “The truth is, we just don’t know whether we actually are in love with the process until we experience the setbacks.”

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 April 2019) – How Setbacks Help Us Discover What We Truly Love: “The truth is, we just don’t know whether we actually are in love with the process until we experience the setbacks.”

Companies

• Meituan downsizes fresh grocery business a year after launch (Technode)
• Japanese semiconductor company Ferrotec Holdings has decided to shut down its business in Korea (KT)
• Terry Gou will resign as Foxconn’s chairman to run for president of Taiwan (TC); Gou’s Taiwan presidential bid raises Foxconn succession question; Founder’s key lieutenants face strategic challenge as iPhone shipments fall (Nikkei)
• CCL firm Ventec listed on TWSE, poised to grab 5G opportunities (Digitimes)
• Atlassian shares hit on Q3 guidance (AFR)
• ReadyTech up 18 per cent on debut; flagship product is a cloud-based student management system, which has a strong presence in TAFEs and mid-tier universities (AFR)

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

• Can Foldables Revive Flagging Smartphone Sales? Samsung And Huawei Bet They Can (Forbes); How Samsung engineered its folding phone; South Korean company’s innovations included batteries, hinge design and even glue (FT)

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

• How Instagram Is Turbocharging Facebook’s Earnings (Barron’s)
• Facebook and Snapchat turn to Chinese giants for growth tips; US social media experiment games and payment, straight from Tencent’s playbook (Nikkei)
• Amazon reportedly withdrawing from China (Technode)
• Apple in talks with potential suppliers of sensors for self-driving cars – sources (Reuters)
• Netflix casts India as its new star; US streaming giant launches aggressive plan as home growth slows (Nikkei)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Investors cool on Chinese education start-up; Tighter regulation and evidence of market fatigue hit stocks (FT); Investors turn cold on Chinese education start-up VIPKID; Fast-growing group connects teachers in US with vast pool of Chinese students (FT)
• Shanghai tech board to push semiconductor independence (Technode)
• China’s electric car makers face ‘critical’ maturity period over the next two years, KPMG says; Consolidation likely as electric car makers face tighter capital markets, end of government subsidies next year (SCMP)
• The man who ushered in China’s battery vehicle boom wants to do the same for fuel cells (qz)
• Douyin folds in e-commerce with mini-programs (KRA)
• Robo-Rigs: The Scientist, The Unicorn And The $700 Billion Race To Create Self-Driving Semi-Trucks (Forbes)
• Airbnb begins to recover in Japan, a year after crackdown (Nikkei)
• Big Tech to face antitrust law on user data in Japan; Tokyo looks to protect consumers from unfair privacy policies (Nikkei)
• Korea launches robo investing apps for 1st time. They not only provide financial advice, but also manage customer’s investments without human intervention. (Investor)
• AIA Singapore partners with WhiteCoat for telemedicine service (e27)
• Acquisitions are a way to grow: Carousell co-founder and CEO Quek Siu Rui with an outlook post-Naspers deal; The presence of Facebook Marketplace might accelerate further consolidation among classified marketplaces in Southeast Asia (KRA)
• Malaysian logistics startup TheLorry secures strategic investment from Unilever (KRA)
• InMobi wants to glue your attention to your lock screen; With its new ‘screen zero platform’ called Glance, the ad-tech company will push bite-sized videos, news items and games to consume without unlocking your phone, curated from its m (Forbes)
• Duterte, the economy and the elusive Philippines unicorn (Nikkei)
• Thai Baht’s Slide Fuels One of Emerging Asia’s Top Sector Rallies; Thai electronics parts makers jumped about 10% in April (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Aidoc, the AI solution for medical imaging analysis, raises $27M Series B (TC)
• Emotionally intelligent AI will respond to how you feel (TNW)
• PathAI raises $60 million for its computer vision-based pathogen detection technology (TC)
• Strong investor demand boosts Pinterest and Zoom IPOs (FT)
• Unpacking Pinterest’s IPO expectations (TC); Meet Pinterest’s Little-Known Third Cofounder, Who Has A $675 Million Stake (Forbes); Pinterest prices shares at $19 in ‘down round’ IPO (FT); Pinterest’s IPO Could Be Make or Break for Uber and Other ‘Unicorns’ (Barron’s)
• Zoom Video IPO: 5 things to know about the videoconferencing company (MW); Video conferencing start-up Zoom prices shares at $36; IPO sets market capitalisation at $10.5bn, ten times higher than last funding valuation (FT)
• Salesforce is buying MapAnything, a startup that raised over $84 million (TC)
• Aptiv takes its self-driving car ambitions (and tech) to China (TC)
• NXP eyes China’s auto radar market with investment in Hawkeye Technology (KRA)
• Back on trend? H&M makes AI, loyalty drive to ride fashion cycle (Reuters)
• Hey, Siri: from virtual assistant to BFF? If we end up befriending AIs, will we still want to set them mundane tasks? (FT)
• Roku Stock Rises After Analyst Says Disney+ Will Add $1 Billion in Value (Barron’s)
• Square Stock’s Rally Is Running Out of Steam, Analyst Says (Barron’s)

Life

• Chinese used car online seller Uxin’s share price plummeted 36% on Tuesday after a short-seller issued an report saying the company was notorious in China “as a cheat.” (Technode, JCR)
• How Setbacks Help Us Discover What We Truly Love: “The truth is, we just don’t know whether we actually are in love with the process until we experience the setbacks.” (Heleo)
• A Stoic’s Key to Living with Presence: Seneca on How to Manage Your Time (BP)
• How To Adapt The “Serenity Prayer” For Business Decision-Making (LinkedIn)