China Roundup: Geely’s ride-hailing arm banks $600m, and other news

Geely unit Caocao secures US$600 million amid fight for market share with Didi

• Investors: Suzhou Xiangcheng Financial Holding and Dongwu Innovation Asset Management, among others
• Stage: Series B
• About the startup: Caocao is a ride-hailing startup that focuses on electric vehicles and zero-emission transportation. The Didi rival said it plans to use the new capital to shore up its research and development efforts and fuel its expansion.

Alipay becomes first e-wallet to support remittances between Macau and mainland China

• Alipay Macau users will be able to use the new service starting Tuesday.
• The announcement comes amid closer cooperation between Greater Bay Area cities, which link Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong. This opened up more opportunities for Ant Group’s payment platform.
• Alipay already offers similar functions in Hong Kong.

Tencent calls for new laws amid rise in schemes for renting out gaming accounts

• The development comes after a Chinese state television network reported that a grey industry for renting and selling online gaming accounts was on the rise. This practice serves to circumvent recent government rules that limit minors’ gaming time to one-hour sessions exclusively on Fridays, weekends, and holidays.
• The gaming titan said it has sued or contacted over 20 account-trading platforms and ecommerce firms in a bid to clamp down on such activity.
• Tencent also said that the pratice undermines China’s existing identity registration and protection schemes for minors.