Last Week in Tech: Elon’s new mission isn’t in space, and more funding action.

Image credit: Automobile.

Elon Musk wants to mess with your brain, and there’s been a ton of funding news in the last week of the first quarter of 2017.

Welcome to Last Week in Tech, where we look back at what happened in the tech and startup ecosystem in the last seven days. We’ve also collated a list of regional events to look forward to in the week ahead for your convenience.

Love it? Hate it? Let us know in the comments below!

Quick Bites

A snapshot of last weeks’ news in sentences.

Elon Musk messes with brains while Tencent buys a stake in Tesla

• The man who’s landed rockets in the sea successfully and thinks we’re living in a Matrix-style simulation wants to merge your brain with digital intelligence using implants. This new mission is called Neuralink. Which will we get to be first: Mars-colonizers, or walking Orwellian nightmares? (The Verge / Nick Statt)
• Musk has tons on his plate; Tencent just bought a 5 percent stake in Tesla. This is after the carmaker tripled its China sales to more than US$1 billion in 2016. (Recode / Johana Bhuiyan)

China is unstoppable

• It’s official: Baidu is the laggard of the BAT (Baidu-Alibaba-Tencent) trinity at US$58 billion. But they’re still talking in billions. (Tech in Asia / Terence Lee)
• WeChat strikes Western B2B markets with expansion plans in Europe and the US. (Bloomberg Technology / Giles Turner and Lulu Yilun Chen)
• Xiaomi is making big bucks from all over the world. They crossed the US$1 billion revenue mark in India last year. And they plan to double that. (Tech in Asia / Malavika Velayanikal)
• Chinese startup Hypereal gives Oculus Rift a run for their money with a whole suite of virtual reality offerings: hardware at a discounted price, software, and content. (Tech in Asia / Eva Xiao)

Founder Huang Chaiming at Hypereal’s press conference in Beijing. Photo credit: Hypereal.

Adventures in Asia

• In the Middle East, Amazon acquires Souq, a Dubai-based e-commerce marketplace. (TechCrunch / Ingrid Lunden)
• Amazon’s expansion plans in Southeast Asia are unclear, especially after their delayed foray. (Tech in Asia / Sheji Ho)
• WeWork is coming to co-working space-saturated Singapore and Tokyo. But they’re unfazed by competition thanks to their prior successes and deep network of tech talent. (Tech in Asia/ Judith Balea)
• Apple is planning to set up an R&D center in Indonesia and has launched an app accelerator in Bangalore. (Tech in Asia / Nadine Freischlad) and (Tech in Asia / Sumit Chakraberty)

These are not April Fool’s Day pranks

Last week in funding

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