H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 April 2019) – Microsoft Surpasses $1 Trillion Valuation

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 April 2019) – Microsoft Surpasses $1 Trillion Valuation

Companies

• US adds Pinduoduo to list of counterfeit facilitators (Nikkei); Pinduoduo founder calls for openness in e-commerce as battle with Alibaba and JD.com escalates (SCMP); Pinduoduo’s struggles are like ‘Yao Ming in elementary school’: CEO (Technode)
• Meituan unites with small ride-hailing players to take on Didi (KRA)
• Live streaming app Inke turns on parental controls (KRA)
• Terumo has grown rapidly in the Chinese market in recent years, selling guidewires, catheters and other interventional products, but not coronary stents (MTI)
• Nintendo Tie-Up Hints At Tencent’s New Strategy For Gaming In China (Forbes); Nintendo: flipping out; Obstacles ahead even with a rumoured cheaper version of Switch to come (FT); Nintendo Moves Toward Highly Anticipated Mario Kart Tour Release (Bloomberg); Nintendo Disappoints With Tepid Outlook, No Date for New Switch (Bloomberg)
• Innodisk with Uncompromising AIoT Solution for the Medical Field (PRNW)
• Vitrox 1Q profit up 16%, declares 4 sen dividend (Edge)

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

• Alibaba’s B2C platform Tmall aims to double sales volume by 2021 (KRA)
• Samsung looks to diversify with $116bn bet on logic chips (Nikkei)
• SoftBank and Google parent tie up on flying 5G stations for phone services using balloons and drones (JT)

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

• Amazon’s best weapons are sprawl and usefulness (Reuters)
• Amazon raises stakes for rivals with one-day delivery goal after profit surge (Reuters)
• Amazon’s Supercharged Growth Is Gone (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft Surpasses $1 Trillion Valuation (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s dating apps are experimenting with livestreamed matchmaking (TNW)
• China’s New Nasdaq-Style Exchange Is Almost Ready, But Where Are The Unicorns? (Forbes)
• China’s e-commerce start-ups lose favour with private equity funds as Beijing-backed chip makers steal their thunder, study finds (SCMP)
• Founder Ren Zhengfei says Huawei should learn from Apple – and set higher prices (SCMP)
• Indonesian live auction platform WowBid raises USD 5 million (KRA)
• Grocery delivery startup Honestbee is running out of money and trying to sell (TC)
• AI-powered NeuroTags helps businesses eliminate counterfeits of their products from the market (e27)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• SalesLoft nabs $70M at around $600M valuation for its sales engagement platform (TC)
• Online learning startup Coursera picks up $103M, now valued at $1B+ (TC)
• Walmart unveils an AI-powered store of the future, now open to the public (TC)
• Disney Stock Is Rising Because It Might Buy Comcast’s Hulu Stake (MW)
• Government innovation in cloud drives another strong quarter for ServiceNow (Diginomica)
• Visualization Startup Hover Just Raised Another $25 Million To Digitize Home Renovation Planning (Forbes)
• Can Uber ever make money? A ride back through history offers sobering lessons (Economist)
• Grubhub profit better than expected, shares soar (Reuters)
• Slack Finds New Ways to Fit In at the Office, Ahead of Stock Debut (Bloomberg)
• Uber Aims for an IPO Valuation of as Much as $90 Billion (Bloomberg)

Life