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Agibot plans to acquire a 63.62% stake in Swancor Advanced Materials for RMB 2.1 billion via share transfer and tender offer. If completed, CEO Deng T…

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CATL manufactures batteries that power electric vehicles, energy storage, and renewable energy infrastructures globally.

China’s tech ecosystem serves as a driving force behind the world’s second largest economy, influencing global digital markets.

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CATL subsidiary Era Electric is emerging as the next key player after Nio.

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Cheng Zi is based in China, covering technology- and business-related events. She works with her colleagues at 36Kr Global to provide coverage in both English and Chinese.

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Dingdong Maicai, a fresh grocery delivery service, caters to busy urbanites seeking high-quality produce at their doorstep.

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Meituan’s takeover closes a chapter in China’s fresh grocery e-commerce race.

Meituan beats JD.com to acquire Dingdong Maicai’s China business

From left to right: Joseph Lin, investment manager at Kymco Capital; Gary Ting, CEO of Kymco Capital; Kantinan Tunveenukoon, CEO of Sleek EV; and Ong Zhang Quan, COO of Sleek EV.

Sea Group operates digital entertainment (Garena), e-commerce (Shopee), and fintech (SeaMoney) platforms across Southeast Asia.

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Deals in brief: Sleek EV and Polybee raise funding, Sea Limited backs Noematrix, eight other China investments, and more

An alias used when humans and machines team up in our newsroom. Articles under this byline may be shaped with the help of AI, but are always vetted by a human before publication.

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KrASIA tracks China’s tech and business stories, alongside key developments across the broader Asia Pacific region.

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Agibot plans to acquire a 63.62% stake in Swancor Advanced Materials for RMB 2.1 billion via share transfer and tender offer. If completed, CEO Deng Taihua will become the controlling shareholder, making Swancor the first embodied <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> company listed on China’s A-share market. The deal would combine Agibot’s <a href="/industry/robotics">robotics</a> tech with Swancor's manufacturing base to accelerate commercialization.

<a href="/company/bytedance">ByteDance</a> said it is strengthening safeguards in its Seedance 2.0 video model after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter alleging infringement of characters from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises. The backlash includes criticism from SAG-AFTRA and the Motion Picture Association, as well as a Japanese government investigation into <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a>-generated anime content.

CaoCao Mobility has expanded its robotaxi fleet in Binjiang, Hangzhou, to 100 vehicles, marking a milestone in its shift toward fully driverless operations. The company also launched a mobility hub equipped with automated battery swapping and dispatch systems, and plans to debut a purpose-built robotaxi model this year with a target of deploying 100,000 units by 2030.

Genki Forest posted double-digit growth for a third straight year, with founder Tang Binsen saying profitability and operational efficiency improved further in 2025 after an initial breakthrough in 2024. Vitamin water sales jumped about 128% YoY, iced tea rose 56%, and the company expanded its retail footprint to 1.28 million outlets by year's end.

<a href="/company/minimax">MiniMax</a> has launched M2.5, a foundation model it said delivers state-of-the-art coding and agentic performance, including 80.2% on the SWE-Bench Verified benchmark. Served at up to 100 tokens per second (TPS), the model can reportedly run continuously for about USD 1 per hour at 100 output tokens per second, with a lower-speed version priced at roughly half the cost.

<a href="/company/tencent">Tencent</a> has integrated Uber into its mobility-focused WeChat mini program, allowing users to book rides overseas without downloading a separate app. The feature spans more than 20 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, and the US, covers over 1,000 destinations, and supports WeChat Pay without the need for currency exchange.

Pangdonglai will never go public and will halt expansion after completing its planned model targets, founder Yu Donglai said. He also mandated that the firm’s top executives step down from key roles before age 60. The announcement coincides with Yu’s formal retirement after the Lunar New Year, marking a leadership transition for the company.

<a href="/company/temu">Temu</a> has partnered with Dekra to provide independent testing for selected electrical and electronic products, integrating the services into its platform to give merchants direct access. The move expands Temu’s network of more than 20 testing, inspection, and certification partners and follows a reported USD 100 million global investment in compliance and quality control in 2025.

ChatGPT maker <a href="/company/openai">OpenAI</a> has told US lawmakers that <a href="/company/deepseek">DeepSeek</a> used distillation and “new, obfuscated methods” to extract outputs from US-made <a href="/industry">AI</a> models to train its R1 chatbot, according to a memo. The company said accounts tied to DeepSeek sought to bypass safeguards via third-party access routes.

<a href="/company/grab">Grab</a>, operator of the eponymous Southeast Asian app, has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of US digital investment platform Stash, valuing an initial 50.1% stake at a USD 425 million enterprise value at closing, with the remainder to be acquired over three years. The deal, expected to close in Q3 2026, expands Grab’s fintech operations beyond Southeast Asia.

E-Power, formerly Sunrise New Energy, has signed an MoU with Kehui International to establish a US joint venture focused on microgrids for <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> compute and power automation. E-Power will hold at least 55% and invest USD 1.5 million, while Kehui contributes patented technology with exclusive rights in the US and Canada. The venture targets USD 3 million in sales within three years.

Embodied Intelligence

How does automation advance industry? Analyze robotic arms, drones, and AI-driven tools reshaping manufacturing and services.

Robotics

Lumos wants to move data collection out of labs and into factories, homes, and offices to scale embodied intelligence.

This company has built a backpack-style system for robotics data collection

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Photo of an electric BYD bus operating in Helsinki, Finland.

BYD, a Chinese EV maker, produces electric cars, buses, and batteries, accelerating adoption of sustainable transportation worldwide.

What powers tomorrow’s roads? Explore EV adoption, charging infrastructure, and battery advances sparking the shift toward sustainable transport.

Electric Vehicles

How is the way we move evolving? Explore developments in autonomous transportation, electric vehicles, and more efficient urban transit.

Mobility

How do goods and people flow worldwide? Examine transport networks, logistics innovations, and policies shaping global connectivity.

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Europe

European transport groups point to their low prices and more advanced EV tech.

EU companies adopt BYD, Yutong buses despite China security fears

As part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei, you can read selected content from Nikkei Asia on KrASIA.

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Nikkei Asia

iFlytek drives voice recognition and natural language processing AI, enhancing smart assistants, language learning, and enterprise solutions.

iFlytek

What guides machine-led insights? Uncover AI applications, language models, and decision-making systems transforming sectors worldwide.

Artificial Intelligence

Its singular focus on transcription is cited as a key differentiator from office software that treats it as a secondary feature.

Agibot to take control of Swancor

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This company has built a backpack-style system for robotics data collection

EU companies adopt BYD, Yutong buses despite China security fears

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