TechNode
FILTERED

Your daily dose of China's tech
April 2, 2019

“Individual tastes, instead of social status, have become defining elements of [young Chinese] fashion identity.”

Wang Juanjuan, professor at the University of Minnesota, about fashion and retail trends in China

TechNode has the best taste around. So, if this email was forwarded to you, subscribe here. Otherwise, send it to your friends—they'll be grateful.

Bike-sharing fees rise

What: Mobike announced that it will raise prices for bike rides in Beijing, following a similar move by Bluegogo just days earlier.

The hike: According to a notice dated Monday released on Mobike’s mobile application, Beijing cyclists will be charged RMB 1 (around $0.15) for trips up to 15 minutes, and RMB 0.5 for every additional 15 minutes. This is double the previous rate of RMB 1 for a 30-minute ride. Bluegogo had announced a price hike to these same rates on Mar. 21.

Struggling bikes: Although neither platform has increased rates outside of Beijing, the price hike reflects a small but significant shift in the Chinese sharing economy sector, where most players have been struggling for the past year. Research from equity firm China Tonghai Securities shows that after accounting for losses of RMB 4.6 billion to its parent company Meituan in 2018, Mobike will be loss-making until 2021.

Trend: Other bike-rental companies are considering raising their prices as well, as warmer weather brings a likely rebound in trip numbers. A company spokesperson from Hello TransTech told TechNode on Monday that their bike-sharing platform is currently maintaining its original pricing but “does not exclude the possibility of a price increase in the future” in accordance with industry trends.

- Jill Shen

Shots

Concentrated daily news

Taobao Live, the live-streaming unit of the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platform, is aiming to expand its business in 2019 to 10 product categories with annual sales volume of more than RMB 100 million (around $15 million) each and 200 Taobao livestream virtual shopping rooms with an annual transaction value of RMB 100 million each. The announcement was made on Saturday at the Taobao Live Gala in Hangzhou by Wen Zhong, director of Taobao’s content e-commerce department.

Tencent has filed a notice on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it plans to repurchase 10% of its currently circulating 9.52 billion shares. The decision is subject to shareholder approval at the company’s May 15 annual meeting.

EHang has postponed its IPO in favor of a round of private fundraising, according to sources. The Guangzhou-based drone company will seek $200 million from private investors, significantly less than the $400-$500 million it was hoping to raise in its US IPO.

Short-video app Douyin officially began promoting a new ad feature named TopView on its official WeChat account on Tuesday. First launched on Mar. 18, TopView enables advertisers to deploy splash screen ads that continue after the default three seconds, lasting up to a minute. After the first three seconds, TopView ads will keep playing until users tap away.

Drips

Small drops to get smart on China's tech world

Breaking the mold: Shoppers on Taobao are ignoring stereotypical gender boundaries when buying clothes. (Quartz)
GM mice: Genetically altered mice are selling for up to $17,000 a pair in China. (Bloomberg)
Who’s Huawei?: An analysis on the reputation of Huawei as an employer and its demanding trust. (TechNode)
AV mileage: Autonomous vehicles (AVs) traveled more than 150,000 kilometers on Beijing’s roads in 2018, with search giant Baidu’s fleet accounting for more than 90% of the total. (TechNode)
Thirsty for robots: Chinese beverage giant Wahaha is launching a robotics company that is under the direct supervision of the company founder, billionaire businessman Zong Qinghou. (TechNode)