China Roundup: Didi-backed e-grocery firm trims operations, and other news

Didi’s group-buying grocery unit scales back operations

• Chengxin Youxuan, a community group-buying grocery service supported by ride-hailing firm Didi, is trimming its coverage to nine provinces across three regions, Pandaily reported.
• This move will lead to another round of layoffs after the grocery business downsized its workforce by 30% in July this year.
• Didi was earlier reported to be eyeing a US listing for Chengxin Youxuan by 2022 at the earliest.

Gov’t official says too much VC money going to ‘non-innovative’ medtech firms

• Medtech companies that “don’t have much capacity to innovate” were getting the most venture capital funding, Caixin Global quoted a Chinese government official as saying.
• At a recent industry forum, Sun Lei, director of the National Medical Products Administration’s Center for Medical Device the situation “undermines” the industry’s development and the government’s efforts to “spur innovation.”
• He also said that further support policies would be launched in times to come in a bid to speed up the approval process for homegrown, high-end medical devices.