H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9-10 May 2019) – The Company Behind Gore-Tex Is Coming for Your Eyeballs; W.L. Gore, the classic American innovator, is building artificial corneas, and reinventing itself in the process.

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9-10 May 2019) – The Company Behind Gore-Tex Is Coming for Your Eyeballs; W.L. Gore, the classic American innovator, is building artificial corneas, and reinventing itself in the process.

Companies

• Online lesson platform GSX Techedu plans US IPO (KRA, Nikkei)
• China’s CAR Rental raises USD 200m via bond sales to repay old debt (KRA)
• Recruit invests in Indian AI chatbot platform Techbins (SI)
• Daifuku’s visualisation and simulation approach to baggage handling (IAR)
• Sony’s market value stays discounted even as profits pick up; Investors balk at array of businesses with capitalization at half of peak (Nikkei)
• Trend Micro Reports Solid First Quarter 2019 Results (BW)
• Recruit invests in Indian AI chatbot platform Techbins (SI)
• Terry Gou’s right-hand woman tipped to become next Foxconn chief; ‘Money Mama’ Huang seen maintaining mogul’s ties to group (Nikkei); Foxconn to shift some output from Shenzhen to Taiwan (Nikkei)
• Innodisk Displaying IoT-Ready Solutions and Resolution at IoT World 2019 (PRNW)
• Shopee beats Lazada in terms of number of visits across Southeast Asia in Q1 2019 (KRA)
• Afterpay forced to change name for UK launch by Dutch rival (Age)
• Atlassian shares hit a record after Goldman analysts recommend buying the stock (CNBC)

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

• How Garena became extremely important for Tencent’s future (e27)
• Tencent and Ant Financial win Hong Kong virtual bank licenses; Xiaomi- and Ping An-backed ventures also gain approval from monetary authority (Nikkei)
• Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi units win Hong Kong online banking license (Reuters)
• WeChat users can now add songs to the videos they post (M(
• Alipay’s mutual aid platform Xiang Hu Bao now covers senior citizens in China (KRA)
• Masayoshi Son claims Vision Fund LPs are already up 45% – but that’s mostly paper gains (TC); SoftBank profit grows 36% relying heavily on investment stakes; Vision Fund generates returns but debt and thin cash flow cast shadow (Nikkei); SoftBank’s Son declares second $100bn tech fund will launch soon (Nikkei); Son’s $100 Billion Mammoth Can Still Move Fast; The SoftBank Vision Fund just had its busiest and most profitable quarter, and it still has the Uber IPO to come. (Bloomberg); SoftBank’s Big Bets Start to Pay Off With $3.8 Billion Uber Gain (Bloomberg); What Uber’s IPO Tells Us About SoftBank’s Big Ride-Hailing Bet (Bloomberg); Son’s $100 Billion Mammoth Can Still Move Fast; The SoftBank Vision Fund just had its busiest and most profitable quarter, and it still has the Uber IPO to come. (Bloomberg)
• Samsung unveils world’s highest-resolution image sensor (Investor)

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

• Break up Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is too strong, says company’s co-founder (JT)
• Amazon upgrades its Blink outdoor security camera with better battery, two-way talk (TC)
• Amazon Hit by Extensive Fraud With Hackers Siphoning Merchant Funds (Bloomberg)
• Google and Qualcomm launch a dev kit for building Assistant-enabled headphones (TC)
• Google Maps’ AR navigation makes walking directions foolproof (Age); Assistant thinks on the fly, and other Android updates coming soon (Age)
• Google Fights Back (BT)
• Waymo at 1,000 Riders: The Self-Driving Frontrunner Inches Forward (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft is building a virtual assistant for work. Google is building one for everything else (qz)
• The $1 trillion miracle of Microsoft; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has a completely different style to that of his predecessors, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. It’s helped turn the tech giant from a market laggard into the world’s most valuable company (AFR)
• Netflix acquires kids’ educational content co. StoryBots (TC)
• Services are the new battleground for Apple (AFR)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• WeChat challenger Toilet pivots to e-commerce, rebrands as Haoji (TN)
• Chinese mom-focused social commerce platform Beidian raises USD 126 million; Anyone can open a shop on Beidian to sell and share products, and receive commissions from sales. (KRA)
• Co-chiefs of China’s top chipmaker SMIC fighting over strategy; Pair battle over whether to pursue profits or state demands for cutting-edge technology (FT)
• Chinese fintech firms cosy up to banks as collaborators instead of disrupters they shift towards retail banking (SCMP)
• Slump in China Stocks Threatens to Spoil Tech Board Plan (Bloomberg)
• China’s Robocars Are Being Lapped By Their U.S. Competitors (Bloomberg)
• Chinese AI unicorn Megvii raises US$750 million ahead of planned IPO (SCMP)
• China now has 202 unicorns, says report (KRA)
• Three shifts in Chinese clean tech recast climate villain as savior; Solar is finally cheaper than fossil fuels; wind and EVs are not far behind (Nikkei)
• Douyin set to add “Products” category to its search bar (KRA)
• China’s Microsoft challenger Kingsoft files for Shanghai tech board listing (TN)
• Toyota, Panasonic to set up company for ‘connected’ homes (Reuters)
• Taiwanese solid-state battery maker ProLogium seeing adoption in electric vehicles (TN)
• Seoul to spend W240b for next-generation chip tech (Investor)
• How HaloDoc aims to open greater access to healthcare for all Indonesians; Medical facilities in Indonesia are not evenly distributed. HaloDoc wants to help tackle this challenge (e27)
• RIP Indian Handsets: Micromax, Intex, Lava and Karbonn hold only 3 percent market share (Forbes)
• BigBasket gets funds from Alibaba, Mirae as investors bet on Indian startups; Online grocery retailer receives $150 million (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• How Artificial Intelligence could help with early detection of breast cancer (MW)
• SaaS startups are changing the founder/investor dynamic (TNW)
• com to bolster caregivers’ screening checks (MW)
• Uber’s global ‘alliances’ create frenemies that cloud long-term prospects (TN); Data and delivery: how Uber aims to move things around the world (Age); Uber Is Going Public: How Today’s Tech; I.P.O.s Differ From the Dot-Com Boom (NYT); The answer to Uber’s profit challenge? It may lie in its trove of data (Reuters); Uber has recipes to avoid delivery indigestion (Reuters); Uber’s losses are nothing like young Amazon’s (Reuters)
• Lyft stops providing key data after IPO, then insults investors’ intelligence (MW); How Lyft disguises its losses (qz); Lyft takes some gas out of Uber’s IPO (Reuters)
• Square teams up with Postmates for delivery partnership (MW)
• Roku stock surge adds another $100 million to short sellers’ paper losses this year (MW)
• IBM Could Struggle in the Cloud, Analyst Says – and Watch Out for Activist Investors (Barron’s)
• Citron Research’s Andrew Left slams Jumia as a ‘fraud’ and ‘worthless’ (MW)
• With new Fit technology, Nike calls itself a tech company (TC); Sick of Getting Returned Sneakers, Nike Tries a New Sizing App (Bloomberg)
• Symantec CEO to step down in abrupt departure as company warns on profit (Reuters)
• Rent the Runway just opened its largest brick-and-mortar store yet (TC)
• Pandora expands its music-and-podcasts product Pandora Stories with help from SiriusXM’s guests (TC)
• Pearl, the healthcare spinout from LA-based AI startup, GumGum, raises $11 million (TC)
• Robotics startups won’t win without also incorporating AI, as Karakuri’s fundraise shows (TC)
• Printify raises $3M to expand its marketplace for custom printing (TC)
• Slack: Why your company needs to find its hedgehog (TNW)
• How 5G will transform the way we use computers (Age)
• Live music streaming pioneer Boiler Room touches down in China (KRA)
• Disruptions of the last decade: How technology has changed the way we live, work and socialise (Forbes)
• TripAdvisor Stock Tumbles Because Investors Don’t Like the Look of the Road Ahead (Barron’s)
• “ServiceNow’s differentiated technology in automation and process management positions them well to build a strong ecosystem connecting all major portions of the company’s IT and business operations” (Barron’s)
• WeWork: leaser of last resort (FT)
• How Intel found itself ‘in a little bit of a bathtub’; Chief Bob Swan cautions chipmaker faces anaemic revenue growth and slipping margins; Intel’s stock is down almost 20 per cent in the past two weeks alone (FT)
• BrainBox AI has announced the launch of a new product that combines deep learning, cloud-based computing and algorithms to support a self-sustaining commercial building (BK)
• Managing data as an asset: An interview with the CEO of Informatica (MK)
• Disney Writes Off Its Vice Stake in Latest Sign of Trouble (Bloomberg)
• New York Times Company Continues to Add Online Subscribers as Digital Advertising Grows (NYT)
• Real Estate’s Latest Bid: Zillow Wants to Buy Your House (NYT)

Life

• The Company Behind Gore-Tex Is Coming for Your Eyeballs; W.L. Gore, the classic American innovator, is building artificial corneas, and reinventing itself in the process. (Bloomberg)
• Asia is home to 50% of world’s fastest growing companies; Tencent leads 1,679 ‘ten baggers’ and India emerges as top incubator, data show (Nikkei)
• How toxic company culture is derailing billion-dollar M&As (TNW)
• SGX to Best World: Is main customer in China a related party? Firm had declared Changsha Best an independent party in offensive against short-seller; separate report says Dora Hoan’s brother-in-law is behind it (BT)
• Berkshire Takes Tax Hit as Victim of ‘Ponzi-Type’ Solar Scheme (Bloomberg)