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The deal between <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> India will be finalised by the latter half of the 2017. EBay invested $500 million in Flipkart. India is not the first market that eBay is exiting. Devin Wenig, CEO at eBay, said, "We-'re committed to winning in India through this partnership.” EBay will close the deal and upon deal close, it will no longer report active buyer GMV and related financials for eBay India. "We do not expect the GMV or financial impact to be material to our overall 2017 results. However, we do expect to remove approximately 4 million buyers from our active buyer reporting,” said Scott Schenkel, chief financial officer at eBay. Recently, eBay along with Microsoft and <keyword id="212412" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tencent">Tencent</keyword> pumped in $1.4 billion into Flipkart. The deal included sale of eBay.in to Flipkart and an exclusive cross-border trade agreement. eBay had entered the Indian market in 2004 but failed to capitalise on its first-mover advantage and eventually lost out to Flipkart and Amazon. eBay had picked up a significant stake in Delhi-based online retailer <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> in 2013, a part of which it still holds.

Flipkart-eBay India deal to close in second half of the year

<keyword id="3749718" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="softbank-vision-fund">SoftBank Vision Fund</keyword> has become one of the largest shareholders in <keyword id="6354742" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> as it just raked in a significant amount of investment in the company. This investment in Flipkart is a mix of primary and secondary capital. The investment comes after <keyword id="541988" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Snapdeal">Snapdeal</keyword> cancelled the acquisition deal with Flipkart. Flipkart has also raised capital from three other companies - Tencent, eBay and Microsoft. Now, Flipkart will have in excess of $4 billion of cash on balance sheet. India has a thriving Internet market with close to 500 million Internet users and as per market research, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow at a five-year CAGR in excess of 30 percent. “This is a monumental deal for Flipkart and India. <keyword id="163404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="SoftBank">SoftBank</keyword>’s proven track record of partnering with transformative technology leaders has earned it the reputation of being a visionary investor. We’re excited to welcome the Vision Fund as a long-term partner as we continue to build our business with a focus on serving the needs of all Indians, and driving the next phase of technology adoption in India,” said <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="binny-bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> and <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sachin-bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword>, co-founders, Flipkart.

Flipkart bags huge investment from SoftBank Vision Fund; it has over $4 billion in cash now

Japanese investor <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword> has pumped in about Rs 1,675 crore in fresh <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> in Indian transportation startup <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> to give it more muscle to take American rival Uber head-on. SoftBank subsidiary SIMI Pacific Pte picked 12,97,945 shares valued at Rs 10 at a premium of Rs 12,895 in ANI Technologies -- which runs Ola -- filings with the Registrar of Companies showed. The allotment of shares was done in November last year, it added. 

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The latest funding, however, is believed to have come at a lower valuation. According to sources, the move comes at a time when Softbank is working on selling <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, an e-commerce platform it invested heavily in India, to larger rival Flipkart. The Bengaluru-based firm was aggressively looking at raising funds to compete with Uber, the world's most valuable start-up. After selling its Chinese business to Didi last year, Uber has now set sights on India making it one of its top priorities. 

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Though Indian Internet companies have seen a boom in user base, their valuations have come down as investors are now focussing on path to profitability and building a sustainable business model. Flush with private equity and venture capitalist money, many start-ups continue to have high burn rate that has been a concern for investors. Earlier this week, India's largest e-commerce firm Flipkart raised USD 1.4 billion from Tencent, eBay and Microsoft in a round that saw its valuation fall from USD 15 billion to USD 11.6 billion now.

SoftBank pumps in Rs 1,675 crore in Ola

<keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> has completed the process of acquiring the Indian arm of <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> and now eBay.in will be a Flipkart Group company. Flipkart announced it will buy eBay.in in April this year when it raised $ 1.4 billion from global technology majors eBay, Tencent and Microsoft. In exchange of an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay had made a cash investment of $500 million and sold its eBay.in business to Flipkart. "Effective immediately, Flipkart will own and operate eBay.in, which will remain an independent entity as part of Flipkart," Flipkart said in a statement. "As a result, Flipkart customers will get expanded product choices with the wide array of global inventory available on eBay while eBay customers will have access to a more unique Indian inventory from Flipkart sellers," the statement said. "Our coming together directly benefits Indian customers and sellers for whom we want to provide the best possible e- commerce experience. This is a step in that direction," Flipkart CEO <keyword id="6379357" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalyan-Krishnamurthy">Kalyan Krishnamurthy</keyword> said.

Flipkart acquires eBay India; all formalities completed

<ul><li><keyword id="6357395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> was an early mover in India’s <keyword id="35621" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> space, investing $50 million in Baazee.com in 2004. </li><li>It was unable to make much of a dent in the market and its Indian operations were eventually sold to <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> last year. </li><li>As part of its second attempt, eBay will focus on <keyword id="6744826" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cross-border-retail">cross-border retail</keyword>, and is reportedly considering a merger with ShopClues. </li></ul>Just when you thought India’s e-commerce sector couldn’t get any more crowded, eBay is said to be planning a <keyword id="6635306" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="relaunch">relaunch</keyword> in the country. The US-based e-commerce company, which is primarily known as a consumer-to-consumer service, will part ways with Flipkart next month. Flipkart will shut the eBay.in portal on 14 August, and replace it with a platform for the sale of used and refurbished goods through its local subsidiary, F1 Info Solutions and Services. As part of its second attempt to break into India, eBay will focus on cross-border retail - the purchase and sale of goods between businesses in countries that are close to one another. It will not make a solitary go of it, however. According to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/ebay-in-talks-with-etailers-including-shopclues-for-a-fresh-bid-in-india/articleshow/65157378.cms">media reports</a>, the company is planning to merge with a local e-commerce platform. It has held talks with ShopClues, an online marketplace established in 2011, in this regard. The Gurugram-based ShopClues is reportedly in negotiations with a number of companies for a potential sale. Early mover, early failure eBay was an early mover in India’s e-commerce space, investing $50 million in Baazee.com, an auction site, in 2004 - a year in which the concept of online shopping was relatively new. The deal was a landmark one, but unfortunately, it didn’t pan out according to the eBay’s expectations. The concept of auctions didn’t catch on with the Indian public, who preferred their discounted prices upfront, which led to low volumes. In addition, the rapid turnover of senior managers and cumbersome regulation didn’t help either. Hence, it was unable to make much of a dent in the market and lost out to other players. In April 2017, eBay’s India operations were sold to Flipkart after the latter completed a $1.4 billion fundraising round from eBay along with Tencent and Microsoft. eBay took an equity stake in Flipkart in exchange for a $500 million investment and a 100% stake in its Indian operations. The company, remained an independent entity, eventually reaching a customer base of 4 million users. However, after the dissolution of the eBay-Flipkart partnership, its customers will likely migrate to Flipkart’s new portal. eBay will have its work cut out for it in the short term, which is why it’s keeping its ambitions modest. Cross-border trade is a small piece of the e-commerce market. eBay’s immediate priorities will be to find a local partner and get foreign and local businesses onboard.

Take two: eBay is taking another stab at the Indian market

At a time when Indian ecommerce scenario is undergoing turmoil, <keyword id="6354742" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> has taken over the rein of the market by becoming the third most funded private company in the world. <keyword id="6355311" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>’s telecom giant <keyword id="163404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="SoftBank">SoftBank</keyword> has funded 2.4 billion USD recently and this has certainly established Flipkart in the new position. Till date, Flipkart has raised almost 7 Billion USD in capital. This is much higher than <keyword id="719382" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airbnb">Airbnb</keyword> ($3.3 Bn) and <keyword id="874458" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xiaomi">Xiaomi</keyword> ($1.4 Bn). Flipkart having achieved this feat is now trailing behind China’s <keyword id="3141620" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="didi-chuxing">Didi Chuxing</keyword> and Uber in the <keyword id="6355055" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="USA">USA</keyword>, both of which are cab hailing services. Didi Chuxing has raised 5 Bn USD and increased its total fund to $15 Bn in April. In the top 10 list of privately funded companies of the world, India’s Ola is also there. The Flipkart funding reaffirms the faith of global players like SoftBank, Tiger Global, eBay , and <keyword id="10387" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> in Indian companies, according to a report in The Economic Times. "Since Flipkart has been the flag-bearer for the local ecosystem, this reinforces the positive belief around the long-term India opportunity," <keyword id="514036" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="nitin-sharma">Nitin Sharma</keyword>, principal and founding member at early-stage VC fund Lightbox told ET. The VC ecosystem, he said, eventually needs to show a large-value creation event, and seeing SoftBank, Tencent and others go long should allay some of the concerns that had been dampening the sentiment locally and giving global investors some pause.

This Indian e-commerce is the world’s third most funded private company

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">MedopadDan Vahdat, chief executive of Medopad</div></div></div><ul><li>British healthcare startup Medopad has done something that's notoriously difficult for a foreign startup and struck $140 million in deals with China and a partnership with local giant Tencent.</li><li>The company tracks patients with long-term illnesses to help them manage their conditions.</li><li>It has deals with London hospitals including the Royal Free, Guy's and St. Thomas', and St. Bartholomew's.</li><li>CEO Dan Vahdat explained to Business Insider how a small startup without venture capital backing tackled China.</li></ul> It isn't easy for foreign tech firms to establish themselves in China. Uber <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/uber-china-merges-with-didi-chuxing-2016-7">didn't manage to do it successfully</a>, while Google and eBay have both struggled to expand into the market. The reasons vary from local competition, to cultural missteps, to having to deal with a pro-censorship government.British startup Medopad has not only been striking deals in China for the last four years, it's just bagged a partnership deal with local internet giant Tencent, and $28 million (£20.2 million) in Series A funding from Hong Kong-listed NWS Holdings. It plans to raise $120 million (£86.4 million) in total for the round this year. A normal Series A cheque in the UK generally maxes out at £10 million.How did the firm do it?<h2>Medopad is a healthcare startup that tracks patients with complex diseases</h2>Medopad works with hospitals and pharmaceutical firms, using mobile software to track patients afflicted with long-term diseases, such as cancer, or pulmonary hypertension. Such a patient isn't in hospital permanently, but might be in and out for tests every six months, even if they aren't showing any symptoms.Patients feed data into Medopad's software about their symptoms, and the app feeds that information back to the patient's care team, who might advise skipping the next checkup if they seem well enough for the time being. The software also can tell patients when to take their medication. CEO and cofounder Dan Vahdat described the service as a "satnav" for chronic illnesses.Another aspect of Medopad's business, since it tracks large "cohorts" of patients suffering the same disease, is tracking and analytics, with patient consent.The next phase of the company, Vahdat said, would involve using machine learning to try and predict some aspects of a patient's condition, such as when they may deteriorate. "When you get patients who have complications, that's already expensive. But if you can avoid those [complications], that's good news," he said.Medopad's business might sound similar to Google-owned DeepMind, whose healthcare arm processes huge amounts of hospital data <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/84fcc16c-0787-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5">to train its artificial intelligence software to recognise diseases</a>. But Vahdat said Medopad doesn't ever touch hospital data, but focuses on "real-time data, generated by the patient." The patient also gives their direct consent, he said.<h2>Medopad struck into China early</h2>Vahdat and his team expanded into China only two years after founding Medopad. It struck early partnerships with London hospitals the Royal Free and St Bartholomew's. Going through the NHS procurement process, he said, had made his company more competitive internationally."We are aiming for scale rather than making a big amount of money from few clients," he said. "We are lucky to be part of the NHS ecosystem. We had to be very flexible, in terms of [the illnesses we tracked], but also conscious of cost because it was the NHS. That gave us lots of leverage internationally, and put us in a unique position to be competitive."Medopad has no venture capital funding. Its recent Series A round was led by NWS Holdings, a construction group and part of property giant New World Development. Earlier backing came from pharmaceutical firm Bayer, UBS and Intel, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-16/bayer-backed-health-startup-medopad-said-to-raise-funds-with-ubs">according to Bloomberg</a>."That's intentional," said Vahdat. "We wanted to be very committed and build a patient-centric company. If we worked with VCs - though they are amazing - they have targets for returns to make to their LPs, they have five year or 10 year maximum. We didn't want to bound to doing an exit, we wanted to be more relaxed."While the US was the obvious international market to target, with its cultural similarities to the UK, Vahdat and his team decided instead to explore China. "We thought the sooner we go there, the more mistakes we'll make, and the faster we will learn," he said. "If you want to be the major player in the world, you can't ignore China."Medopad had lots of early help from the government's trade department, with officials brokering connections and partnerships. But the startup's early days in China were characterised by "a bunch of mistakes," Vahdat said. "A bunch of it was cultural stuff we didn't understand."One example was getting used to offering freebies. "In one deal we signed, we ended up doing a demo account for the department of a hospital," he said. "We weren't getting paid. This isn't the normal way we would have operated, but if you don't do that, you don't get to the next phase. We were initially hesitant of being open - we had no commitment from them."The freebie allowed the hospital to fully explore Medopad's technology, he added. "There were a couple of times we had the opportunity to do the same thing, and we didn't. That was a mistake."Another lesson was avoiding sketchy partners. In one instance, Medopad almost signed a deal through a local middleman where again it would be offering its services for free. Unbeknownst to Medopad, the middleman got paid, even though the deal was never finalised. "They told us it was a free thing! And then they got paid," he said. "I lost half my hair in China."<h2>The early lessons culminated in Medopad accompanying Theresa May to China - and landing a deal with Tencent</h2>Vahdat accompanied UK Prime Minister Theresa May on her trade trip to China at the end of January, alongside big firms such as HSBC and BT.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Dan VahdatMedopad CEO Dan Vahdat with UK prime minister Theresa May</div></div></div>At the end of the trip, Medopad announced it had $140 million in deals in China, and a partnership with Tencent.The deals comprise hospital partnerships, and a project with Johnson &amp; Johnson China. After meeting investors from NWS Holdings at a conference, the company also secured the first tranche of its Series A round, which will initially be used for new hires. The full round of $120 million (£86.4 million) will go towards international expansion and, potentially, acquisitions.Vahdat said the firm's continued push in China meant Medopad had been talking to Tencent for "a long time.""Tencent is a quiet company, they like to make less fuss before they have something solid. Culturally we are quite a good fit," he said.Neither firm is going into exact details of the partnership. But Vahdat said the Tencent partnership can help the firm lobby in China. Tencent also has a medical arm, and it sounds like Medopad will begin tracking Chinese patients for a chronic disease."As soon as you announce you're working on some disease, you create expectations," Vahdat said. "We've decided to stay quiet on the details of what we're doing together, because we feel responsible. The idea is that we're....detecting things earlier, helping conditions, and helping care team providers to come up with a better diagnosis."Artificial intelligence will form a major part of the venture too, Vahdat said.Asked how Vahdat felt about the ethics of using artificial intelligence to track Chinese patients, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-china-uses-facial-recognition-technology-surveillance-2018-2">given the possibilities of spying and surveillance</a>, he said patients would still have to give their permission."We treat patients globally to the same standard, with the same consent," he said. "We want solutions that work everywhere." <a href="http://read.bi/ai-101-free"></a>EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT: The AI 101 Report by the Business Insider Intelligence Research Team. <a href="http://read.bi/ai-101-free">Get the Report Now »</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pretending-live-on-mars-nasa-research-experiment-2018-1">What it's like to pretend to live on Mars for 8 months</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

How a startup with no VC funding landed $140 million in Chinese deals and partnered with Tencent

Tencent is the Chinese internet giant to rival Silicon Valley's titans. It not only owns China's most-used internet portal, but is the fifth biggest publicly traded internet company in the world on a revenue basis, behind only Amazon, Google, eBay and Facebook.&#xa0;
Its most well known property in the West is probably WeChat, which is the most-used mobile app in China and has more than 468 million users worldwide. The company's ascendancy since it first listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2004 has also been driven by a diverse mix of other products, services and subsidiaries such as games portal QQ Games, search engine SOSO, microblogging service Tencent Weibo and the TenPay online payment system.
Despite its gargantuan proportions, Tencent usually receives&#xa0;only moderate press coverage in the West. But the company is increasingly forging ties with Western brands - such as Burberry, Nike and the BBC - as Tencent looks to international shores to fuel its growth outside its native China.&#xa0;
Business Insider got the chance to throw some questions at SY Lau, the&#xa0;senior executive vice president of Tencent and president of its online media group, about what 2015 will look like for the company and what founding beliefs have set Tencent up for success.
<h3>Business Insider: Tencent is a huge, huge company, yet most people in the West couldn't tell you what it does or who it competes with. Is this an issue?</h3>
SY Lau: I think there is an awareness of Tencent, but not the understanding outside those that we work with. The number of Western brands that choose to partner with us around their international marketing and business expansions in China is great - companies like Burberry, Nike and Intel have chosen Tencent as their partner for social and mobile marketing.
Where we see more opportunity is due to the growth of mobile internet access across China. Tencent provides a portal for companies to reach and interact with their audiences. The biggest challenge in China has always been the size of the country, and traditional marketing approaches were beyond the reach of those businesses that are in rural locations. Today, companies can take advantage of online and mobile services to market themselves in smarter ways.
This is not just marketing itself. I presented recently on how tea-producing companies in the Fujian region are now able to sell what they produce on a national or a global level, rather than just local. The impact of this was huge - the per capita income for the region went up. According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics in China, one village took its per capita income up to 13,800 RMB. Compared to the national average of 8,896, this is a big increase. It puts the village alongside more affluent urban areas.
This is the kind of market development that we make possible. As more people find out about this kind of story, they will be more interested in how Tencent makes this possible.
<h3>BI: Are there plans for Tencent to conquer the West? Or is this not a priority given the scale of your home market? If so, which of your products and service do you think are most appealing to the Western market?</h3>
SY Lau: Tencent is an international company today. We see opportunity around the world, whether this is for our own apps like WeChat or for partnership and investment in Western businesses. I think WeChat is possibly the most recognizable brand for those in the US or UK.
Tencent supports other famous brands around the world in markets like gaming and social. Companies like Epic Games and Riot Games are owned by Tencent, while we have our own gaming IP that is successful in China.
<h3>BI: Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma once apparently said the problem of Tencent is that there's <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140908065624-13518874-who-s-on-warpath-to-overtake-apple-as-the-world-s-most-valuable-company">"no innovation"</a>, alleging that all the things it produces are copies. Does it matter that Tencent has a reputation as a copier?</h3>
SY Lau: Tencent's business approach is built on the philosophy of Sun Tzu, the great strategist and writer of "The Art of War": Those who succeed always understand, and make the best use, of any situation.
Disruption is inevitable and as such cannot be resisted. Rather it should be embraced and adaptation must follow. You can have the best idea in the world, but if the market is not ready then your innovation will fail.
Look at the iPhone - when it was released in 2007, it was hailed as innovative. IBM released a commercially viable handheld, touchscreen cellular phone and PDA combination in 1994. The Simon was a great idea, but it was too far ahead of its time - the screen was not sensitive enough, it was expensive, and the battery life was too short. However, what was more important was the user acceptance - people wanted a phone that acted like a phone, they wanted buttons!
For Tencent as a company, we place trust in the judgment of our customers and adapt to them. To use an idiom, businesses must learn to roll with the punches. We always try to observe and understand the changes in digital and technological development first, and based on what we have learned, we adjust our direction to flow with it.
It is our firm belief that this is the only possible way to keep winning despite the storms of disruptions. It is much better to make small and swift innovations, instead of allocating large amounts of time and resources to big and long-time projects that may not have the desired impact.
<h3>BI: You presented a talk recently on the growth of a new sort of "internet thinking" emerging in China. What is internet thinking? And how does that differ from our Western start-up tech cultures?</h3>
SY Lau: I think there is a common thread to entrepreneurialism across the world, but how it establishes itself locally leads to differences in approach, particularly as things start to grow in popularity. "Internet thinking" refers to a way of doing business that has developed in China in response to the wider availability of online services.
What has surprised me is how fast what you might call traditional businesses have adapted to online. Internet thinking refers to how companies adapt their business models to take advantage of the new mobile, social and online services that are at their disposal. Companies are shifting over to new ways of running their business operations, making use of internet services to be competitive.
The biggest shift here is how companies take advantage of the internet to equalize supply and demand. Previously, companies would not have access to customers without spending heavily to market themselves. Similarly, customers might find it difficult to get information on what the new trends are that are taking place in the major cities. Now, both sides of the buyer-seller relationship can find it easier to find each other. This makes it easier for sellers to find customers, while buyers can get more information and make better decisions on how they spend.
Now, using the internet is not magic - you have to have better products and user experience than what came before - but it can help companies streamline their approaches and be more successful. Internet thinking has led to companies like restaurants leading with their internet presence first, and then look at how they then bring people to their physical locations. Other traditional businesses have done similar things as well, using mobile apps for services like laundry or house-keeping. This "online to offline" shift is fascinating to watch, and we see WeChat as sitting at the heart of all these transactions.
<h3>BI: Elsewhere, I understand Tencent plans to invest heavily in video in 2015. What do you think you have to offer the countless other internet companies that say they are doing the same this year?</h3>
SY Lau: Online video is proving to be incredibly popular. The ubiquity of mobile internet means that people are using mobile video services as well as streaming when they are in their homes. What Tencent offers is access to some of the best national and international content.
We signed a partnership with BBC Worldwide two years ago to bring famous British brands like Sherlock to China. Now we have more US and UK-based productions companies added to our networks. We are investing in more of our own local content as well. Tencent is the exclusive online partner for a range of local TV brands in China, as well as creating our own programmes.
<h3>BI: You also recently formed a partnership with HBO to build a platform for American TV dramas. Which ones will be available? And what are the most popular American TV dramas across China?</h3>
SY Lau: The range of programs that HBO produces is extensive, and we are looking at bringing over as many of them as possible to the Chinese audience. Series like Game of Thrones already have some awareness here in China, and we are keen to bring over more series that can attract audiences.
<h3>BI: Do you consider Tencent Video a competitor to the major TV networks in China? (Google has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-neal-mohan-targets-tv-dollars-2014-5">often been positioning YouTube as a rival to TV</a> in recent months.)</h3>
SY Lau: Not really - online video fills a different need to the TV services that people have. Online video can be accessed where there is internet service, and people can find what they want when they want it. At the same time, we have seen that the audience for online video is more varied.
Around the World Cup earlier this year, there was a huge range of content required. There was the traditional soccer fan who wanted to see every game and watch discussions of what took place in detail; there were those who wanted to see more about their soccer heroes and their preparations for the tournament; there were those who just wanted highlights and comedy around what took place. Catering for all those different audiences is something that online video can do very well. This provided more opportunities for brands to use sponsorship and get more brand awareness during the World Cup.
<h3>BI: Is Tencent also creating its own bespoke content in this area?</h3>
SY Lau: Yes - this is an area where we see great opportunity. It took 40 years for the traditional Chinese television series "My Fair Princess" to be taken up by an international broadcaster for development. This took place in 1998. Tencent Video launched in April 2011. Since that launch, we have invested in original programming as well as building up relationships with content production companies and brands.
Soon after we started, FOX TV in the US took up the option of producing a US version of Tencent Video's series "BigShot." It'll be in 14 countries around the world. This is hopefully the first of many Chinese series that we can export internationally. The speed at which we have been able to go from a starting start to international deals like this is testament to the quality of the programming team we have put together.
<h3>BI: Speaking of future Chinese exports, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-26/china-said-to-consider-16-billion-ev-charging-funding.html">the Chinese government is increasing its investment in electric vehicle production in 2015</a>. What kind of impact will this have on Tencent's business? Are you already investing in content creation and marketing technologies for the electric car market?</h3>
SY Lau: We see a huge potential for the electric car market. In Q3 this year, 40,000 electric and hybrid vehicles were sold. The aim for the Ministry of Commerce in China is to drive this up to 500,000 vehicles by the end of 2015. By the end of the decade, the ambition is for there to be 5 million vehicles that are powered by new-energy systems. As part of the Chinese government's plans for the new-energy vehicle market, public sector organizations will be mandated that 30% of their new vehicles should be electric or hybrid.
The market for these vehicles needs education on how the technology is developing, what different companies are doing to meet customer requirements, and brands will need to get in front of buyers for their cars or buses too. This represents a great opportunity for us to lead how the market is covered in terms of entertaining and illuminating content, where it is for end-users or more commercial organisations.
For the international brands that are active in the automotive space, China is the world's biggest market by volume of cars sold, now ahead of the US. The impact of a successful market for electric vehicles here in China could be significant for the rest of the world too.
<h3>BI: Online gaming is one of Tencent's core revenue drivers. What interesting trends are you seeing in this market? And how do you keep a mobile gaming leadership position? How often do you release new games, for example?</h3>
SY Lau: Gaming is an important market for Tencent, it provides huge opportunity for us internationally, as well as being a core market in China.
However, there are opportunities for gaming to drive take-up of other products too. Tencent released a game called Pencil Pilot - now if you look at this game in isolation, it looks like a title taken from the home console market from years ago. However, it was tremendously successful for us.
It drove a significant number of downloads for the Android version of WeChat and helped to establish Tencent as the biggest gaming company in China. The rise of mobile gaming suits us very well as a company - games fit into our portfolio of services and entertainment products. Combining mobile, internet and commerce together into a package that provides a strong customer experience as well as entertainment is what makes us successful. This approach will continue into the future too.

Q&A: Tencent's SY Lau Tells Us How The Chinese Internet Giant Plans To Conquer The West

Good morning and welcome to <keyword id="11907113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="10-things-in-tech" source="Orion">10 Things in Tech</keyword>. If this was forwarded to you, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-in-tech">sign up here</a>. ​​Plus, download Insider's app for news on the go - <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576?pt=385758&amp;ct=06292021_newsletters&amp;mt=8amp;mt=8">click here for iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider&amp;r[%E2%80%A6]ers%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3D06292021%26anid%3Dadmobdmob">here for Android</a>.Let's get started.1. Facebook's oversight board condemned the platform for withholding information. The board said Facebook withheld critical information about the way it shields high-profile users from its content-moderation rules, the Wall Street Journal first reported. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/21/oversight-board-condemns-facebook-for-withholding-information-on-vip-moderation.html">More on Facebook's "unacceptable" omission of information.</a>2. We wrote a guide to securely sharing whistleblower information. With news of whistleblowers dominating headlines lately, we put together a list of secure ways to share information about corporations, governments, and other powerful institutions. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Read our guide here.</a>3. YouTube became a $1 trillion company by not being Facebook. CEO Susan Wojcicki has steered the company away from scrutiny and staved off pitfalls to keep the giant largely clean from the scandals other Big <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">Tech</keyword> orgs face. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-ceo-susan-wojcicki-scrutiny-facebook-roomba-policy-google-2021-10">But this balancing act may be coming to an end soon.</a>4. Google's AI researchers say internal lawyers are slowing their output. Following a string of high-profile exits from the division, the number of research papers being published has dropped in 2021. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ethical-ai-timnit-gebru-2021-10?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">More on the "chilling effect" here</a>.5. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is reportedly being funded by the founder of eBay. According to Politico, Pierre Omidyar, a Big Tech critic and eBay's billionaire founder, donated $150,000 to the nonprofit backing Haugen. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-pr-funded-billionaire-ebay-founder-report-2021-10">From PR to legal aid, here's how her fight against Facebook is reportedly funded. </a>6. Elon Musk got the green light to connect the Las Vegas Strip with tunnels of Teslas. The Boring Company just got approval for the Vegas Loop, a 29-mile network of tunnels underneath the Strip. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-boring-tunnel-las-vegas-approved-strip-stadium-teslas-2021-10">Everything you need to know about the upcoming Vegas Loop.</a>7. It's not just Facebook - China's big tech firms are also piling into the metaverse. Facebook pushed the metaverse into the limelight, but Chinese tech giants like Tencent, ByteDance, and Alibaba are also pushing into the space. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/metaverse-facebook-china-big-tech-alibaba-tencent-2021-10">See the plans each firm has.</a>8. Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann hosted a 9 a.m. party to celebrate the company going public. Neumann invited 100 of the company's first employees to a New York City hotel as WeWork started trading on the stock market on Thursday, the Financial Times reported. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-neumann-hosts-morning-party-for-wework-stock-market-2021-10">More on WeWork's trading debut.</a>9. The Elizabeth Holmes trial: The prosecution produced a smoking gun. A former Theranos project manager and close friend of Holmes' brother laid out how Holmes misled her investors and business partners in five crucial areas - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-trial-prosecution-brings-out-smoking-gun-theranos-2021-10">from staging elaborate demos for VIPs to overstating its relationship with the military. </a>10. A slate of Cisco acquisitions have left company salespeople with harder jobs and confused clientele, according to insiders. Since January 2020, Cisco has acquired at least 14 companies - but staffers say its compensation structure pits teams against each other internally. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-salespeople-say-acquisitions-pit-them-against-each-other-2021-10">To them, the company continues to grow more unwieldy.</a>Compiled by Jordan Erb. Tips/comments? Email <a href="mailto:jerb@insider.com">jerb@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanparkererb">@JordanParkerErb</a>.Sign up for <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/free">more Insider newsletters here.</a>

10 things in tech you need to know today

In a bid to ramp up the operations, technology and ethnic offerings, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a> raised the annual budget of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=myntra&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Myntra</a>. <keyword id="319719" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Myntra">Myntra</keyword>, which was acquired by <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> in 2014 for $300 million, will also use the budget to invest in at least three small to medium ethnic brands. "This year we got 25% extra money from the Flipkart board," said Myntra CEO <keyword id="6397414" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ananth-Narayanan">Ananth Narayanan</keyword>. "We will just invest in those brands and that will eventually be run by the entrepreneurs. In addition to our operating budget, our board has asked us to thoughtfully invest more in areas such as technology and brands which will help us continue on our growth trajectory and achieve profitability by March 2018," Narayanan told ET in an interview. Flipkart has funds to rake in Myntra as it had raised $1.4 billion funding from global giants <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword>, eBay and WeChat-investor Tencent. Narayanan said, “The additional budget will boost Myntra's chance of reaching its milestone of becoming profitable by March 2018 along with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=jabong&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Jabong.com</a>.”

Flipkart is pumping money in Myntra to ramp up operations; hikes annual budget by 25%

<div style="float: right; margin: 15px 0 20px 20px;"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/category/chart-of-the-day"> </a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/chart-of-the-day"></a></td><td><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-live-tv-is-dying-2014-8"></a></td></tr></tbody></table></div>It may not be well-known here in the US, but Tencent is China's most valuable public internet company with a market valuation of ~$150 billion, and it's growing at an incredible clip. The company <a href="http://www.tencent.com/en-us/content/at/2014/attachments/20140813.pdf">released its latest earnings report Wednesday</a>, posting 37% growth and 58% profit growth year-over-year - and it can thank its social applications for that.
According to the company's financial data charted for us by <a href="http://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/">Statista</a>, Tencent operates three main messaging and social platforms - chat services WeChat and QQ, and its social network QZone - which all have hundreds of millions of users. QQ is the company's most popular service, but QZone, and particularly WeChat, are catching up. As Tencent looks to maintain its position as the world's fourth-largest internet company - behind only Google, Amazon, and eBay - it will continue to rely on the growth of these user-friendly services as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-alibaba-bonus-scheme-strengthens-mas-control-2014-13">China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba</a> looks to take a bite out of Tencent's bottom-line.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>

China's Most Valuable Internet Company Is Heavily Reliant On Its Social Messaging Apps

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate" data-type="tilCustomLink">Snapdeal’s</a> three major investors- <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=softbank&amp;sortorder=effectivedate" data-type="tilCustomLink">SoftBank</a>, Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital- have already agreed for e-commerce’s sale out to<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate" data-type="tilCustomLink"> Flipkart</a>. But, apart from these, a nod from <keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword> and <keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword> is also required as they too have stakes in <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-16/flipkart-pact-for-snapdeal-said-to-need-premji-tata-approvals">Bloomberg</a> reported, as per the contract, Snapdeal needs backing from the two of India's most powerful businessmen. Nod from Premji, Tata and other several important investors is still awaited. “If due diligence goes smoothly, a term sheet specifying cash and stock for each shareholder will follow and a final agreement could be signed by mid- to late June,” Bloomberg quoted sources as saying. When the sale happens, Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl and <keyword id="396598" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rohit-Bansal">Rohit Bansal</keyword> will together receive about $30 million with a similar sum to be set aside for Snapdeal's nearly 2,000 employees. <keyword id="1397792" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kalaari-Capital">Kalaari Capital</keyword>, one of the two early investors in the startup, is to get $30 million, while Nexus will receive twice that amount for its larger stake, they said. Kalaari's managing director <keyword id="1397790" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vani-Kola">Vani Kola</keyword>, an early investor in Snapdeal, told Bloomberg that she has resigned from the startup's board. "I was done with what I needed to do,” Kola said, adding that she saw no conflict of interest. Meanwhile, this merger will give a boost to <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>’s battle against <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, which is pumping in money in its Indian arm to grab a significant share in the market. Flipkart raised $1.4 billion from Tencent Holdings Ltd., Microsoft Corp. and EBay Inc, taking its valuation at $11.6 billion. "This is a landmark deal for Flipkart and for India,” the company's co-founders <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sachin-Bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword> and <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binny-Bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> said in a statement. "This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology.

Azim Premji, Ratan Tata’s nod also important for Flipkart-Snapdeal merger

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Thomson ReutersN26 cofounder and CEO Valentin Stalf.</div></div></div><ul><li>German fin tech company N26 is expanding its mobile banking services into the US market sometime in 2019.</li><li>The digital bank is a mix of Venmo, Zelle, Intuit's Mint, and a Chase banking account, said Nicolas Kopp, U.S. chief executive officer of N26. </li><li>N26 is going up against a number of US incumbents as it tries to take a slice out of the lucrative market for mobile banking and payments. </li></ul>German digital bank N26 is expanding its mobile banking services into the US market as it eyes the next step in its global expansion. ''We want to build a global bank," said Nicolas Kopp, U.S. chief executive officer of N26, in an interview. "We want to be a Netflix [in] banking, where you need a global presence. The US, in terms of population size and revenue pool, is one of the biggest markets in the world, and most importantly, it is a very fragmented market."To do this, the Berlin-based company is partnering with an unnamed US bank sometime next year.N26's US-focused product is still under development, but its initial launch will have a similar look of the European app. Certain features will be updated to cater American consumers in later versions."It is a mix of Venmo, Zelle, Mint, and, frankly, Chase banking account, which is your debit account," Kopp said. "That is really cool about the app because it aggregates all the services in one app." N26 currently operates in 18 markets and has a full banking license from Germany regulators. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/app-only-n26-launches-in-the-uk-2018-10">It recently launched in the UK as part of its rapid expansion in Europe.</a> It is processing over 1 billion euros in monthly transactions and has 1.5 million active users. Still, that's relatively small compared to US incumbents on the payments side. Zelle processed $32 billion in payments in the third quarter of 2018, while eBay-owned PayPal hit $36 billion in payment volumes in the quarter. But Kopp said N26 will win over the American customers because the company offers more than just a payments network. "Venmo and PayPal are very niche in what they do - it is very convenient for peer to peer payment," Kopp said. "But N26 offers a fully-fledged banking account ... The breadth of services you can use is higher than Venmo. "N26 not only offers a checking account and a Mastercard debit card but also allows users to track expenses, analyze spending statistics and check saving scores. Through its partnership with a U.S. bank, the company also expects to enable cash machine withdraws across the country.A so-called challenger bank, N26 doesn't operate brick-and-mortar branches because its customers "prefer to minimize interactions with their banks." It has around 500 employees, with the majority of them being engineers and designers, instead of bankers.N62 is backed by investors including billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel and Horizons Ventures, the venture capital business of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing. In March, it raised $160 million in a fundraising led by Allianz X, the investment unit of Allianz Group, and Tencent, China's tech giant behind WeChat and mobile payment service WeChat Pay. The firm has raised $215 million in total.See also:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/accenture-report-on-digital-banking-2018-10">Fintech companies are quietly shaking up the banking industry - and big payments companies should be scared</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-announces-partnership-with-plaid-2018-10">JPMorgan has signed a deal with technology firm Plaid for customer data sharing and it represents a big development for how the largest US bank thinks about fintech</a></li></ul> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/future-of-payments?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=payments_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=payments_ctgr_leadgen_future-of-payments"></a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-shilling-warns-fed-tightening-could-trigger-recession-2018-9">The economist that predicted the housing crisis warns the Fed is engaging in behavior that's almost always caused a recession</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

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