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April 30 · Issue #377 · View online |
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Good morning everyone! Here’s your Friday edition of Asia AI News! Apologies for skipping the last couple of newsletters (work pressures taking their toll!). No time for a summary today, but lots of news to share. Scroll down for more! Stay safe and have a good weekend! /Carrington
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Laiye, China’s answer to UiPath, closes $50 million Series C+
#China #funding - Robotic process automation has become buzzy in the last few months. New York-based UiPath is on course to launch an initial public offering after gaining an astounding valuation of $35 billion in February. Over in China, homegrown RPA startup Laiye is making waves as well. (TechCrunch)
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BYJU’S close to becoming highest valued Indian startup
#India #funding - Bengaluru-based edtech giant BYJU’S is said to be close to becoming the highest valued Indian startup, as it looks to raise $150 Mn funding from UBS Group AG at a valuation of $16.5 Bn. (Inc42)
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South Korea’s Pharmcadd bags $16 million in series B financing, plans 2022 IPO
#SouthKorea #funding - Pharmcadd Co. Ltd., a developer of an AI and physics-based drug discovery platform, bagged $15.5 million in its series B funding. This brings the total funds raised since its establishment to $22 million. (BioWorld)
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Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem
#India #funding - Indian logistics automation firm Unbox Robotics said it raised $1.2 million as part of its pre-series A round of funding. (Tech in Asia - subscriber)
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China's Baidu to launch paid driverless ride-hailing services in Beijing
#China #robotaxis - Baidu will launch paid driverless robotaxi services in Beijing from May 2, making it the among the first companies in the country to offer autonomous driving robotaxi services to paying users. (Reuters)
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Toyota acquires Lyft's self-driving unit for $550 million
#Japan #US #AVs - Toyota Motor Corp. has acquired the self-driving division of American ride-hailing company Lyft for $550 million, in a move that highlights the Japanese automaker’s ambitions in that technology. (ABC News)
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China launches robot to collect space debris and mine asteroids
#China #spacetech - A Chinese startup company called Origin Space has launched a prototype robot designed to collect space debris and eventually mine asteroids while in low-Earth orbit. The Neo-01 robot was launched on the Chinese state-backed rocket Long March recently. (Robotics & Automation)
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Fish-inspired soft robot survives a trip to the deepest part of the ocean
#China #maritime - A robotic fish developed by a team of researchers from Hangzhou in China was able to reach the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean – the Mariana Trench – at a depth of almost 11 km (6.8 miles). (The Conversation)
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S. Korea eases regulations for early use of autonomous robots capable of boarding elevators
#SouthKorea #robotics - South Koreas top economic official promised to ease robot-related regulations and allow delivery robots to travel between floors using elevators sometime this year. The move underlines government efforts to realize the early commercial use of self-driving robots. (Aju Daily)
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IIT-G signs MoU with Mehta Family Foundation to set up School of Data Science, AI
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N. Korea uses AI for foreign language tests
#NorthKorea #education - North Korea is actively pursuing the modernization of education evaluation methods by introducing AI for foreign language tests. Pyongsong Normal University has recently created a foreign language exam using AI technology. (Korea Bizwire)
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Tessolve raises $40 mn from Singapore's Novo Tellus at $100 mn valuation
#Singapore #funding - Tessolve raises $40 million from Singapore’s Novo Tellus at $100 million valuation on Business Standard. The funding will be used by Tessolve, a Hero Electronix venture, to drive further growth through acquisitions and organic investments. (Business Standard)
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Space launched for drone tests, including deliveries to vessels offshore
#Singapore #drones - An area near Marina South Pier has now been designated as a space for maritime drone fliers to test their wares, including by delivering 3D-printed shipping parts to vessels docked near Singapore’s shores.. (Straits Times)
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‘India expected to invest $1 billion in AI by 2023’
#India #investment - Global enterprises are expected to invest $98 billion in AI by 2023 and India’s share in it will be about $1 billion, said Project Management Institute (PMI), a Philadelphia-based non-profit organisation with about 28,000 individual members in India. (The Hindu)
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Singapore to build second national supercomputer with more on roadmap
#Singapore #supercomputer - Singapore will build a second national supercomputer system to support the local research community, providing eight times more compute capacity than its predecessor. Slated to be operational by early-2022, the system is one of more planned over the next five years. (ZDNet)
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Economic issues, once divisive, now bind Japan and the U.S.
#Japan #US #trade - The Japan and U.S. governments’ discussion of economic issues is a path to mobilisation and cooperation, not contestation (at least between themselves). It would be hard to script a better start to the new U.S. administration and its relationship with Japan. (Japan Times)
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How one man’s dream to rival Google’s AI chief reflects China’s quest for tech supremacy
#China #AIrace - Newcomer OneFlow is competing with bigger Chinese rivals like Huawei to develop open-source AI frameworks to reduce China’s reliance on US platforms like Google and Facebook. (SCMP)
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China’s Huawei reports quarterly revenue drop as smartphone income hit
$China #Huawei - Huawei Technologies saw revenue fall 16.5% in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, hurt by a dip in sales after selling its budget smartphone unit Honor in November. (Reuters)
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Podcast: Tech giant Eric Schmidt warns China is catching up to U.S. in AI
#China #US #AIrace - On “Intelligence Matters” this week, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt joins host Michael Morell to make the argument for A.I. as a national security priority. (CBS News)
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£3 million nuclear robotics contract is first tranche in LongOps UK-Japan deal
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S. Korea to kick off unmanned surveillance vehicle development in earnest
#SouthKorea #AVs - South Korea will push for the development of a state-of-the-art unmanned surveillance vehicle in earnest after years of preliminary research into the project, the arms procurement agency said Thursday. (KoreaBizWire)
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About Carrington Malin
Carrington Malin helps large organisations, digital brands and fast growing tech ventures with brand, communications and go-to-market strategies.
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