KrASIA Weekly: China’s Largest News Aggregator Toutiao Under Pressure from Cyberspace Administration

Good Sunday evening. It’s Xiaochun. 

In the past week, Toutiao was under pressure. Its flagship news aggregator, Jinri Toutiao, was removed from local apps stores for 3 weeks. Regulators also shut down its joke app Neihan Duanzi over vulgar content.

In short video streaming, Tencent upgraded its revived app Weishi and is reportedly recruiting content makers, locking horns with Toutiao‘s video-streaming unit Tik Tok.

Here are some stories and ideas from last week that you shouldn’t miss.

CHINA

China’s Jinri Toutiao News App Removed from Local App Marketplaces

Tencent Bets on Its Revived Weishi App to Take on Toutiao’s Tik Tok in Short Video Streaming

Tencent Leads China’s Fastest-Growing E-commerce Startup Pinduoduo’s $3 Billion Round, Upping Rivalry with Alibaba’s Taobao

Toutiao Invested in China’s Google Docs-like Shimo, Paving Out Its Way to Tap into the Enterprise Services

Ant Financial Invests in China’s Third-Largest Hellobike’s $700 Million Round

WeWork China Merges with Local Rival Naked Hub to Beef up Presence in China

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial to Raise $9 Billion, Become World’s Biggest Unicorn

Southeast Asia

Insurance giant Allianz confirms $35M investment in Asian ride-sharing unicorn Go-Jek

Singapore taxi firm ComfortDelGro to acquire AZ Bus charter assets for $10.25m

Grab Philippines says can keep Uber app running only until April 15

SoftBank Ventures invests $23.5m in Singapore’s IYUNO Media Group

Razer’s gaming ecosystem gets bigger with the launch of its online game store

Noteworthy Startups

Tencent Invests in L Square Studio Tens of Millions of Yuan B Round Financing

Chinese Equivalent of SpaceX Raises US$ 32 Million in Series B Round to Develop the Country’s First Privately Funded Liquid Rocket Engine

Piaoniu.com, a Ticketing Platform Offering Data Service for Companies in Upstream Markets, Finishes Series B Funding

B2B Supply Chain Platform Xianshiji.com Rakes In Series B of Nearly US$15.9 Million Led by IDG Capital and HJ Capital

Innoven Capital and BAI Invest Hundreds of Millions of Yuan C Round Financing in Rural Credit Company NongFenQi

Benchmarked against Pilot Flying J, Shenghai Truck Station Builds One-stop Truck Service Centers in China