39 h. ago Alibaba leads US$14 million funding round in Chinese AI agent start

A Hangzhou-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up specialising in enterprise AI agents has secured over 100 million yuan (US$14 million) from investors led by Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud unit, as Chinese companies strive to leverage the technology to raise business efficiency. BetterYeah AI, a prominent player in China’s enterprise AI sector founded by former Alibaba executives, said on Wednesday it had completed its latest financing round with contributions from Alibaba Cloud and venture...

Economics

60 h. ago The best contrarian bet in markets right now is the Chinese stock market, says legendary fund manager

The best contrarian bet in markets right now is the Chinese stock market, says legendary fund manager  MarketWatch

Politics

64 h. ago Chinese firms eye Hong Kong listings after mainland investors’ buying spree

A slew of mainland-listed Chinese technology companies are speeding up fundraising plans in Hong Kong to capitalise on the upbeat market sentiment. Hong Kong’s equity market has been buoyed by mainland investors’ record buying of HK$731.2 billion (US$93.1 billion) of stocks in the first half of the year, according to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) data and Bloomberg on Monday. The buying spree, driven by attractive valuations and a re-rating of China’s technology sector, has led to a...

Economics

7 d. ago Hong Kong leader taps 2 tech heads from Hangzhou’s ‘Little Dragons’ as advisers

The Hong Kong chief executive’s Council of Advisers has welcomed three new members, including two tech bosses from Hangzhou’s “Six Little Dragons” and a mainland Chinese economist who was a senior official with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government on Friday announced the appointment of 34 members to the second term of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s Council of Advisers, with the two-year appointment to start on Tuesday. Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings,...

Politics

7 d. ago Buyer linked to Agile’s lender picks up Hong Kong sites at 63% discount

Two prime residential sites on Hong Kong Island, once owned by Agile Group Holdings, have been sold to executives linked to the private lender that helped fund the purchase by the distressed Chinese developer in 2022, government records showed. The adjacent sites – located at 992-998 King’s Road and 2-16 Mount Parker Road in Quarry Bay – were sold for HK$1.2 billion (US$152.9 million) via an offer to purchase and notice of acceptance earlier this month, according to the Land Registry. The...

Politics

7 d. ago Alibaba trims partnership as company bets on younger leaders

Alibaba Group Holding has trimmed its partnership – a key corporate governance body for the e-commerce and artificial intelligence (AI) giant – as it embraces younger business leaders and strives to return to a start-up mindset. Nine executives and company veterans – including former CEO Daniel Zhang Yong, 53, and fellow co-founders Trudy Dai Shan, 48, and Lucy Peng Lei, 51, who started the company with Jack Ma in 1999 – have exited the partnership, according to Alibaba’s annual report released...

Politics

2 w. ago Meet Goku, the Chinese quant fund with AI ambitions beyond finance

Goku Technologies, a Shanghai-based quantitative trading fund, is expanding its ambitions beyond finance, looking to artificial intelligence (AI) as a means to overcome challenges faced by humanity, according to CEO Wang Xiao. In an interview with the Post, Wang said the firm’s AI initiatives were driven by a vision that transcended short-term commercial interests. “What I believe is [AI exists] to solve issues for humanity – this is the only thing that matters,” he said. Last month, Goku...

Politics

3 w. ago US venture capital firm to unload stakes in 40 Chinese tech start

Shares of a few dozen China-based start-ups may be up for grabs as their investor, US venture-capital firm Eight Roads, plans to exit its Chinese technology holdings. The move, reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday, comes as geopolitical tensions and a sluggish Chinese economy prompt some global investors to retreat. Domestic and government-backed funds and financing products would increasingly drive start-up funding in the world’s second-largest economy, analysts said. Fidelity Ventures-backed Eight...

Politics

4 w. ago Alibaba unveils new AI embedding models, a field it leads globally

Alibaba Group Holding has made its Qwen3 Embedding series available for developers, in the Chinese tech giant’s latest bid to solidify its global leadership in open-source artificial intelligence (AI) models. Released late on Thursday, the series marks another addition to the company’s line-up of large language models (LLMs), which are among the world’s most popular open-source AI systems, according to New York-based computer app company Hugging Face. Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning...

Politics

4 w. ago China Renaissance’s investment in stablecoin issuer Circle pays off

China Renaissance, which has funded many leading Chinese technology firms, made another winning bet after shares of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group more than doubled on their debut in New York. The Chinese investment bank said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday that it had invested in Circle, which was founded in 2013, in 2018 through its Huaxing New Economy Fund. The investment reflected its “strong confidence in the growth prospects of the digital asset industry”,...

Economics