Asia news roundup: Didi lands in Australia, Samsung to invest in AI startups, and more

Didi’s Beijing headquarters / Photo credit: Didi Chuxing

A look at today’s Asia news.

Transportation

Didi goes to Australia (China). Chinese ride-hailing powerhouse Didi Chuxing announced its entry in the Australian market today. Its main offering, Didi Express, launches in Melbourne on June 25. In terms of international players in Australia, Didi was beaten to the punch by India’s Ola, which rolled into town earlier this year. Uber and European startup Taxify are also around. However, Didi has stakes in all those businesses. Local players in the market include Sydney-headquartered GoCatch. (Didi Chuxing)

Artificial intelligence

Samsung has a new fund for young artificial intelligence startups (South Korea). Samsung has announced the NEXT Q Fund, a vehicle for seed and series A investments into startups working with artificial intelligence in computer science. The fund will invest in “non-obvious, forward-thinking approaches to AI instead of the applied AI technologies we see in the market today,” the company says. It highlights areas like simulation, scene understanding, intuitive physics, program-learning programs, robot control, human-computer interaction, and meta learning. (TechCrunch)

Media and entertainment

Tencent said to be close to leading a US$500 million round into blockbuster game publisher (China). Tencent is in talks to acquire up to 10 percent of South Korean game publisher Bluehole, the company responsible for video game hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” or simply “PUBG”. The US$500 million deal would value Bluehole at more than US$5 billion. A number of US venture capital firms are expected to participate. Tencent owns a 40 percent stake in US firm Epic, which publishes rival game “Fortnite”, but also has the license to distribute “PUBG” in China. Both games await regulatory approval, but Tencent has put out mobile titles based on “PUBG”, which are soaring in popularity. (Wall Street Journal)

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies

Baidu has launched a blockchain-based quiz game (China). Chinese internet giant Baidu has released a quiz mobile game called Duyuzhou, or Du Universe, which uses blockchain technology. The knowledge-based quiz will include a Duyuzhou token to incentivize users to grow the community and participate in the game’s activities. Baidu’s forays into blockchain tech include photo service platform Totem and a protocol meant to reducing mining energy consumption called Super Chain. (ChinaMoneyNetwork)

Ecommerce

Fashion retailer Myntra to open a bunch of new physical stores in the next two years (India). Fashion ecommerce startup Myntra plans to double down on physical store outlets, going from its current 12 to up to 100 by 2020. About half of those will be dedicated to its private label, Roadster. The Flipkart-owned company expects a gross merchandise volume of US$1.9 billion for this fiscal year, up from US$1.2 billion in FY2018. Offline is viewed as the next big growth opportunity for online players like Myntra. (The Economic Times)

See: Previous Asia tech news roundups