Techbuzz China By Pandaily

In Episode 24 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about China Renaissance Group, a tech-focused investment bank founded and led by one of the country’s most famed rainmakers, Bao Fan. While the episode covers the firm’s recent Hong Kong IPO, as well as some of its top deals, its culture, and several of its business lines, the episode really focuses more on Bao Fan himself — after all, his career in many ways is the China tech industry. It is often said that everyone who's anyone in China tech is connected to Bao Fan or has done business with him. How has this man, who describes himself as a “bald Shanghainese dude who loves F1 and MMA,” applied massive amounts of ambition and aggression to succeed? Rui and Ying-Ying share that Bao, who is probably not the tallest man in China tech, was born into a diplomatic family in Shanghai and sent off to boarding school early. He attended high school in the U.S., college in China, and graduate school in Norway, and worked in banking in London, New Yo

Happy Holidays, TechBuzz listeners! That’s right, it’s Mid-Autumn Festival, followed closely by Golden Week for the Pandaily team back in Beijing. In honor of the holidays — and to commemorate *almost* six months since we released our first episode of TechBuzz back in April of this year — co-hosts Rui and Ying-Ying are taking off as well! We will be back with a new original episode on October 9. In order to not leave you hanging, and in recognition of Meituan-Dianping’s recent IPO in which it raised a healthy $4.2 billion from investors, we share our first ever replay. If you haven’t already, have a listen to Episode 10, which we produced back in back in June when Meituan-Dianping was first rumored to be preparing to go public. We talked about its founder, Wang Xing 王兴, and heard from guest James Hong, an angel investor who has known Wang for decades.   Thank you for being a loyal listener, and enjoy! As always, you can find these stories and more at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show by lea

In episode 22 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about electric carmaker NIO, which went public on September 12 on the NYSE. This episode covers how NIO got started, its purported business model, and how it differs from its competition. Listeners will also hear from Elliott Zaagman, a writer covering Chinese tech as well as an organizational development consultant for Chinese tech firms. Rui and Ying-Ying start their story with Li Bin, or William Bin Li, who is NIO’s celebrity Founder, Chairman, and CEO. Li Bin, only 43 years old this year, is known as the “godfather of the transport sector” in China: not only did he have his first IPO in 2010 for a car-related internet company named BitAuto, but he has also invested in at least 32 companies in the transportation sector, including 5 unicorns. Indeed, Li Bin is widely recognized for being a master at both making and raising money. However, Li Bin and NIO’s path in the electric vehicle (EV) industry has not been without its challenges, par

In Ep. 21 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk about the new messaging app, Bullet Messenger, which took the Chinese internet by storm and reached five million registered users in just eleven days. The key question: is this a true challenger to WeChat? Or is it more of a short-lived, false alarm without real long-term potential? Listeners will also hear expert analysis from Matthew Brennan, a speaker and writer focused on Chinese mobile internet who can be found at @mbrennanchina and on the podcast China Tech Talk. Rui and Ying-Ying start by delving into a crucial quality about Bullet which has been overlooked in English language coverage: the incredible power and reach of its angel investor and best spokesperson, Luo Yonghao. Luo is a former English teacher who gained a cult following thanks to his entertaining sayings and charisma in the classroom. He took his cultural capital and went into smartphones, creating the brand Smartisan, which released its first phone in May 2014. Smartisan f

In episode 20 of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma look into the alleged causes behind the recent 22 percent year-on-year increase in rent prices in Beijing, a rise which has sparked outrage in citizens. In addition to blaming real estate startups, some headlines have also proclaimed that the influx of venture capital and private equity into the tech sector is at the root of the problem. In the episode, Rui and Ying-Ying take an analytical approach to break down the factors affecting the rental market — or rather, largely the middle range of the rental market — in Beijing. They start by giving an overview of the market, including citing average rental and purchase prices as a percentage of take-home pay — and the numbers aren’t pretty. Unaffordable housing is a destabilizing factor for cities everywhere, but especially in China, where overpopulation is still a nationwide challenge and home ownership is particularly prized. Our co-hosts then focus on the impact of government policies on creatin

So far in 2018, Tencent’s stock price has continued to tumble from analysts’ price targets. Today, it sits at $430 billion, a far cry from its $570 billion market cap in January. Some commentators blame the decline on Tencent’s Q2 results, which showed a 2 percent drop in earnings and was the company’s first fall in profit in nearly 13 years. What is really going on here? What is the real cause? And what does it all mean for what is arguably still China’s leading internet company? In this episode of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma take a close look at Tencent. TechBuzz first covered Tencent in episode 5, and again in episode 9. Fittingly, those episodes focused on public perception of Tencent’s ability to innovate, as well as the robustness of Tencent’s overall strategy — including against the likes of rising behemoth Toutiao. This week’s episode takes a more holistic view of the internal and external factors that may have contributed to Tencent’s poor results. Listeners will also hear expert

On August 1, The Intercept broke a story that Google was planning to enter China with a censored search engine. Within hours, the same news was all over Chinese tech media. In this episode of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma tell the story of Google in China — or rather, its 2010 departure and oft-rumored return. Though Chinese tech media love speculating, how likely is this to actually happen? What role does the U.S. government play? What factors need to be in place for Google’s return to occur, and is this even what the company’s leadership really wants? The story of search in China is not complete without also discussing Baidu, which dominates over 70 percent of the domestic online search market in the country. In fact, on the day Google left China in 2014, Baidu’s stock went up 12 percent on the news. However, has Baidu truly maximized its opportunities? Is there truth to the complaint that Baidu’s search results are heavily skewed towards commercial results, versus user needs? What has be

In this episode of TechBuzz China, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma tell the story of ecommerce company Pinduoduo, the fastest-growing app in the history of the Chinese internet, from its founding in 2015 to its recent listing on the Nasdaq. What does the company’s IPO prospectus reveal about the intentions and vision of its founder, Colin Huang? In what ways is the app a combination of “Costco and Disneyland” — or not? The episode concludes by revisiting the insights of Mark Pols, currently Corporate Development at Facebook and previously an investor with GGV Capital, whose comments were originally played in Episode 2, in which Pinduoduo was briefly covered. Few in the West realize that Pinduoduo started as two parallel entities: Pinduoduo, which was a marketplace, and Pinhaohuo, which sold fruit and other perishable items via direct sales. The former was intended to be a side project, with the purpose of testing which items would be best for group-buying, but ended up generating 99.8 percent of the company’

This episode of TechBuzz China is our second of two focused on bike-sharing in China. In it, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma tell the story of the rest of China’s bike-sharing industry beyond Ofo, focusing on major players Mobike and Hellobike. They cover Mobike’s founders, fundraisings, current reach, and distinctive approach to its bike-sharing business, as well as fast-growing latecomer Hellobike’s entrance to the scene. Guest speaker Karl Ulrich, the Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Wharton School, weighs in for the second week in a row, giving macro-level predictions about the global impact of new solutions for personal transportation. With 29 percent of all internet users in China now making use of bike-sharing services, what is the real impact of these services on metrics such as number of trips taken via subway, bus, and car? How have investors Alibaba and Tencent-backed Meituan taken strategic positions in this race, and how do their positions affect the battle outcomes? Who is M

The internet age has brought with it what China's state media calls the country's “New Four Great Inventions”: high speed trains, scan-and-pay mobile payments, bike sharing, and ecommerce. This week’s episode is the first in a two-part story on bike sharing — told against a backdrop of Ofo, one of the two major Chinese players, pulling out of international markets. What happened? And most importantly, what is happening now? Listen to this week’s episode of TechBuzz China by co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, for a history lesson on Ofo! Guest speaker Karl Ulrich, the Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Wharton School, weighs in as well. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what’s buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaw

Xiaomi’s recent IPO in Hong Kong was the world’s biggest tech IPO since Alibaba’s in 2014, but will it soar in the stock market and become the Apple of China? Listen to the first ever debate on TechBuzz China and take your position as a bear or a bull on the new stock. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what’s buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that don’t always make it into English language coverage. Our co-hosts Ying-Ying and Rui take opposite positions on the future of Xiaomi, an eight-year old company founded by billionaire entrepreneur Lei Jun. They battle it out on whether Xiaomi is an internet company with hundreds of companies within its ecosystem and lots of potential, or simply a smartphone ma

On June 18, JD.com concluded its annual shopping festival with a transaction volume of roughly $24.5 billion. On the same day, the ecommerce platform also announced an investment from Google of $550 million. What does this new alliance mean? Listen to the latest episode from TechBuzz China to find out! TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what’s buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China-watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that don’t always make it into English-language coverage. This week on TechBuzz China, Ying-Ying and Rui give a thorough breakdown of China’s second-largest ecommerce platform, from its history and recent ventures abroad, to the power couple behind the behemoth who have celebrity statuses akin to Amal and George Clooney. Why did

As a TechBuzz China listener, you must be at least a little bit crypto-curious. This week on TechBuzz China, we talk in-depth about Bitmain, the most valuable company in the cryptocurrency space, which happens to be from China. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what’s buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China-watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that don’t always make it into English-language coverage. This week, TechBuzz China's very own Lu and Ma, along with guest co-host Joyce Yang, talk all about cryptocurrency - more specifically, the biggest crypto company in the world, Bitmain. With profits of $3 billion to $4 billion last year, how did Bitmain manage to hold 70-80 percent of the market share of bitcoin mining hardware? What is its future

What do you call a unicorn worth more than $100 billion? A centacorn, of course! This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma discuss a newly minted centacorn — Ant Financial. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what’s buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that doesn’t always make it into English language coverage.Alibaba Group, the owner-turned-affiliate-turned-shareholder of Ant Financial, was valued at $140 billion when it went public in 2014. Now, Alibaba's spinoff payment platform Ant Financial was valued at more than $150 billion in their pre-IPO round in June 2018. What does Ant Financial do that makes it such a highly valued company? What is the convoluted relationship b

  This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma tell you how Wang Xing, the legendary Chinese serial entrepreneur who started out with “copy to China,” is now standing behind one of the largest unicorns in the world, Meituan-Dianping. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what’s buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that don’t always make it into English language coverage. Meituan-Dianping has dipped its toes in almost EVERY aspect of any Chinese person’s life — including food delivery, payments, ride hailing, movie tickets sales, and travel booking. The unicorn is the result of a $15 billion merger between the Groupon-clone Meituan and the Yelp-predecessor Dianping, and was last v

Earlier this month, Tencent sued Bytedance, better known as Toutiao, for 1 yuan and Toutiao fought back by suing Tencent for 90 million yuan. What sparked the feud between the David and Goliath of the Chinese tech world? Listen to this week's episode of TechBuzz China by Pandaily to find out! TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast focused on giving you a peek into what’s buzzing within the tech community in China. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China-watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They uncover and contextualize unique insights, perspectives, and takeaways on headline tech news that doesn’t always make it into English-language coverage. This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, Ying-Ying and Rui explain the fight between Bytedance and Tencent as sparked by the war in short-video apps. They trace it back to the humble beginnings of short-video apps and talk about the major players such as Xiaokaxiu, Musical.ly, and

This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, co-hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma look at the resignation of Baidu's COO and tech genius Lu Qi and how the move sparked wave after wave of speculation, commentary, and reaction in the Chinese tech world. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast that is all about China’s innovations. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China-watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They share and discuss the most important tech news from China every week with commentaries from investors, industry experts, and entrepreneurs. What is Lu Qi's story and where is he going next? What did Lu Qi do to have Baidu stocks rise by 58 percent during his tenure? Why did his departure strike a strong chord, while previous departures of top Silicon Valley execs such as Huge Barra from Xiaomi and Andrew Ng from Baidu resonated less with the Chinese tech world? Rui and Ying-Ying answer these questions and more on this week'

When Dale Carnegie wrote his magnum opus almost a century ago, he was most certainly not prepared to address social phenomenons such as live streaming in our ever-evolving digital era. This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, our hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma look at the Chinese live-streaming industry, the true darling of the Chinese internet age unbeknownst to the West. They trace back the origins of this industry, whose market cap grew by almost 250 times in half a decade, explain the psychology of the ordinary Chinese involved, and break down companies such as HUYA, Inke, and M17, which are the forerunners in this arena. How did it all start? Why are people so hooked? What's the business model, and is it sustainable? Find out these answers and more by tuning in to the latest episode of your favorite weekly China tech podcast. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast that is all about China’s innovations. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China-watchers with

This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, our hosts Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma talk all about the happenings in the auto industry in China. There is bad news, and then there is good news.  The bad news that made waves all across China was the alleged rape and murder of a female passenger by a Didi Hitch driver. Rui and Ying-Ying talk about how the design of the Hitch product is partially responsible for the tragedy and the steps Didi Chuxing has taken to address this issue. The good news is that China has loosened policies toward foreign new-energy vehicle carmakers. Tesla was the first to take advantage and has set up a wholly owned venture in Shanghai. Ying-Ying and Rui share their take on China’s established and upstart new-energy vehicle brands, and even make predictions on how things might play out in the world’s largest EV market. As always, you can find these stories, including the latest developments of the Didi story, at pandaily.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and don't forget to follow us

  This week on TechBuzz China by Pandaily, our hosts, Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, talk in-depth about a story that sparked great controversy across China’s technosphere — the debate on whether Tencent has still got its mojo. TechBuzz China by Pandaily is a weekly technology podcast that is all about China's innovations. It is co-hosted by Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, who are both seasoned China-watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in China. They share and discuss the most important tech news from China every week with commentaries from investors, industry experts, and entrepreneurs. The subject of today's story is Tencent, the T of the Chinese technology trio “BAT,” and whether or not Tencent has a dream. Why? Well, when a veteran tech journalist writes a 13,000-word piece titled “Tencent Has No Dream,” leading to thousands of responses and a #fakenews scandal involving Tencent CEO Pony Ma, the topic is definitely worthy of discussion. Rui and Ying-Ying take you back to 2011 — when Tence