IDG Capital leads round in SmartMore; Botsync bags seed funding

#China #funding - Chinese artificial intelligence company SmartMore has raised tens of millions of dollars in a pre-A round financing led by IDG Capital, with participation from Zhen Fund and Lenovo Capital. (China Money Network)

#Singapore #funding - Robotics startup Botsync has bagged an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a round jointly led by Wong Fong Industries, Seeds Capital, Angelhub and Artesian Venture Partners. (Business Times)

#China #STARMarket - China’s answer to Nasdaq looks to loosen merger and acquisition rules, aiming to attract more stock market listings as the U.S. intensifies scrutiny on Chinese companies. (Asia Nikkei - subscription)

#China #AVs - Momenta, one of Asia’s most valuable artificial intelligence startups and the country’s first autonomous driving company to reach the $1 billion unicorn valuation back in 2018, has told TechCrunch that its entire robotaxi fleet will operate without safety drivers in 2024, while some of its vehicles will already be driverless by 2022. (TechCrunch)

#SouthKorea #hotels - KT, South Korea’s largest telecommunications company, announced its second-generation GiGA Genie hotel robot, dubbed “N Bot,” has improved room service at Seoul’s Novotel Ambassador Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences. (PR Newswire)

#Japan #coronavirus - Japan’s Ugo robot was manufactured for use in Japan’s offices, as an automated replacement for the country’s aging workforce It is being repurposed to also help combat COVID-19 infection. (Techwire Asia)

#India #coronavirus - AI-enabled “MyGov Corona Helpdesk” - which provides timely updates to help citizens clear their queries on COVID-19 - has bagged two awards at the recently held CogX 2020 in London. The awards were won by the technical partner of MyGov, Jio Haptik Technologies Ltd. (Outlook India)

#SouthKorea #elderlycare - Microsoft’s South Korean branch has kick-started an AI-based elderly mental health care service using various sensors and wearable devices to prevent mental illnesses such as geriatric depression, depression in older adults, and dementia to cope with the rapidly growing elderly population. (Aju Daily)

#China #Baidu #Linux - Baidu, China’s Google, and a leading AI company are joining the open-source and Linux patent protection group, Open Invention Network. (ZDNet)

#China #India #tradewar - China over the past decade built an alternate online reality where Google and Facebook barely exist. Now its own largest tech corporations from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to Tencent Holdings Ltd. are getting a taste of what a shutout feels like. (Times of India)

#China #US #HongKong - The American actions will have a degree of short-term impact on Hong Kong, but the city’s special standing as a bridge between the world’s second-biggest economy and global markets is bound to stay intact. (SCMP)