Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing raises another $600m – one month after it got $1bn from Apple June 13, 2016 Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing has just unveiled another $600m (£423m) round of funding – exactly one month after Apple ploughed $1bn into it. China Life made an equity investment of $300m and a long-term debt investment of two billion yuan, about $305m. Didi Chuxing said the two companies had committed to a partnership on internet-powered financial innovation and other initiatives – [...]
Apple just ploughed $1bn into this Chinese taxi startup May 13, 2016 So now we've found out exactly what Apple was planning to do with (some of) the vast amount of cash it has sloshing around its bank account. Overnight Didi Chuxing, a Chinese rival to Uber, which describes itself as "the world's leading one-stop mobile transportation platform", issued a rather gleeful statement overnight saying it had made [...]
Beware fintech’s pivot to China April 12, 2016 Ever since former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins declared an ”Uber moment” for banks, the powers that be from the Square Mile to Canary Wharf have rushed to defend themselves against a herd of ambitious fintech unicorns. But if recent collaborations between financial titans and spritely startups are anything to go by, it appears the [...]
Blockchain just had two major firsts with new social payment app Circle, Barclays and Britain’s financial regulator April 6, 2016 London may be the centre of fintech innovation, but there’s one huge trend we’ve failed to jump on board with yet – social payment apps. Messaging your mate with that fiver you owe for last night’s round at the pub and a big smiley face emoji is pretty common in the US and China, especially [...]
Samsung Pay launches in China following Apple Pay but faces Alibaba’s AliPay, Tencent’s WeChat Pay and other homegrown rivals March 29, 2016 Samsung will let its smartphone users in China pay with just a swipe of their mobile as it launches Samsung Pay in the country in a partnership with China UnionPay. Samsung follows Apple, which launched in China in February – also with UnionPay – and counted 3m cards set up with Apple Pay within the first two days. Samsung Pay will [...]
Sport, cosmetics and the internet: Why it’s time for investors to be more mature about China December 24, 2015 It’s not hard to find bad news stories about China's economy. China's stock market has plummeted 40 per cent from its peak, iron ore prices have collapsed by 75 per cent, Macau gaming revenue has halved in two years, luxury goods profit warnings abound and the yuan has been devalued. While the quality of official gross domestic [...]
Forget Janet and Mario: 2016 is the year of GARY – CNBC Comment December 15, 2015 Investors have spent the last few years betting with the Fed and the ECB, as monetary policy dominated fundamentals. But many are now stumped over what to do next, as central bankers today seem to carry more risk and less reward. The ECB’s Mario Draghi let investors down this month with a flawed communications strategy. [...]
Apple Pay launch date: Mobile payment service to land in China in February 2016 November 24, 2015 Tech giant Apple's eponymous mobile payment service, Apple Pay, is reportedly coming to China in early February, further capitalising on the boom in mobile and contactless payments among consumers. The company has agreed deals recently with China's big four state-run banks, according to a report by the WSJ. It didn't say how much Apple would charge for [...]
Google, Facebook, Twitter: Which tech companies are best at respecting your privacy? November 5, 2015 Worried about what companies like Google and Facebook are doing with all that personal data of yours they have? Google and Vodafone have come out top in a ranking revealing which tech and telecoms companies are best at respecting your digital rights, based on everything from the data they collect to where they sell it and [...]
China’s Baidu sees shares jump by over six per cent as company reveals growth in mobile business October 29, 2015 Chinese search engine Baidu saw shares shoot up by over six per cent in after hours trading, after the company said its solid third quarter performance had given it confidence to keep investing The figures The company reported earnings per share of 7.92 renminbi (£0.81) for the three months to 30 September, surpassing analysts' expectations [...]