Editor’s note:
China’s top ride-hailing company Didi made two big moves in the past week: acquiring the beleaguered bike-sharing startup Bluegogo, and buying Brazilian car-hailing company 99.
At home, China’s Uber faces challenges from Meituan. The group-buying website recently launched its car-hailing services in several major cities in China, offering subsidiaries to drivers and coupons to customers.
At the same time, stepping into the Brazilian market has long been in Didi’s agenda, as the company has invested in 99 nearly one year ago. In Latin America, Uber holds dominant market shares in the local ride-hailing industry. Didi, if it seeks to beef up its presence in the region, is likely to face a fierce fight.
In Didi’s position, it must feel like rowing a boat upstream. If you stop moving forward, you fall back.
Kr-ASIA Weekly Roundup highlights tech & startup news of the past week, with a focus on Southeast Asia and China. We also pick up the best features from Kr-Asia and the web that are worth your time. Also, there is always something cool for the weekend.
News of the week:
Didi acquired Brazilian taxi and car-hailing company 99, bolstering its international presence in a major ride-hail market. (KrAsia)
Didi has acquired the bike-sharing startup Bluegogo, foraying into the bike-sharing industry. The company also have previously invested in ofo and is said to be working on its own bike-sharing brand. (KrASIA)
Alibaba is reportedly in talks to pick up a significant minority stake in India’s logistics company XpressBees, investing up to $100 million, taking on homegrown Flipkart and global rival Amazon. (Economic Times)
SoCar, South Korean ride-sharing startup, is set to launch its service in Malaysia, marking the foray into its first overseas market for expansion, according to a report by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. (Deal Street Asia)
oBike announced to have logged over 10 million rides in 60 cities. The bike-sharing startup has set up a franchising program to work with external partners to help run its operations. (e27)
JD opens off-line fresh food store, 7 Fresh, planning to open over 1000 more in 3 to 5 years. (Sina)
Intel share price has dropped over 5% since a report on the vulnerability of its chips that give hackers accesses to sensitive data. (Bloomberg)
Best of Kr-Asia Features:
6 Fatal Mistakes in Starting a Startup, the VC Behind Didi & Ofo Explains with Classical Examples (Part 1).
Collapse or Reborn? The Media Industry in the Age of AI (Part 2).
Blog posts that worth your time:
Startup owners and investors always need to do a lot of referencing in their business. Here are some thoughts from a VC with more than 30-years experience.
This is how it feels like to live in the Hollywood home of social media’s stars.
Why and how should non-engineers learn to use GitHub? Engineer at E-commerce website Thread explains with examples from his company.
Cool thing of the week:
Memories are the safest secrets, well that’s still true for now. Japanese scientists may have opened the door to a strange future scenario where we could possibly recode or playback people’s memories.
In its nascent stage, the technology can already figure out what someone is looking at. Here is a video showing how good is the technology at the moment.
