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99Food, backed by China’s Didi, has launched in Sao Paulo with a commission-free year for restaurants, coupons worth BRL 99 for new users, and minimum…

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99Food, backed by China’s <a href="/company/didi">Didi</a>, has launched in Sao Paulo with a commission-free year for restaurants, coupons worth BRL 99 for new users, and minimum payouts for couriers. The platform, which recorded one million deliveries in a Goiania pilot, aims to rival iFood with subsidies and low fees, and plans to expand to 100 cities next year.

Agibot said its full range of products is now available for sale on its own platform and JD.com, marking a step toward full commercialization. The lineup includes service, interaction, education, cleaning, dexterous hand, and quadruped robots, all supporting scenario-based customization.

<a href="/company/li-auto">Li Auto</a> has reverted to a province-based sales model that previously fueled growth, less than six months after adopting a “warzone” structure. The shift follows lackluster i8 sales, mounting pressure on staff, and delivery shortfalls. Two new departments will support the transition under president Ma Donghui’s oversight.

<a href="/company/temu">Temu</a> has partnered with Austrian Post to integrate parcel lockers and convenience store returns into its platform, part of a “local-to-local” strategy already adopted with DHL. The move aims to improve delivery and customer perception as EU regulators probe the retailer over unsafe goods and addictive design features, with potential fines of up to 6% of global revenue.

OpenRouter data shows <a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba’s</a> Qwen 3 Coder rose to a 20.5% share of coding tasks over the past week, up 15.4 percentage points since late July. The gains came as Anthropic and Google lost ground, while GPT-5 held under 5% of the market.

iQiyi and <a href="/company/tencent">Tencent</a> are expanding their streaming businesses in Southeast Asia with more original content and local partnerships to close the gap with US rivals. iQiyi, which has 36 million regional subscribers, is boosting Thai and Indonesian productions, while Tencent’s WeTV is developing localized programs. Together, they currently hold 40% of Thailand’s market.

<a href="/company/baidu">Baidu</a> said its Apollo Go robotaxi service has completed 20,000 kilometers of road tests in Hong Kong since receiving the city’s first autonomous vehicle pilot license last November. The company also won approval to expand trials to the Cyberport busines hub with ten driverless cars and said the results will help extend its self-driving technology to other right-hand-drive markets.

Current and former <a href="/company/openai">OpenAI</a> employees are reportedly in talks to sell about USD 6 billion of shares to investors including SoftBank Group, Thrive Capital, and Dragoneer Investment Group. The deal, still under discussion, could lift OpenAI’s valuation to USD 500 billion as ChatGPT climbs to 700 million weekly users and revenue nears USD 20 billion this year.

Eswin, China’s largest 12-inch silicon wafer supplier, has won approval for a RMB 4.9 billion (USD 682.8 million) IPO on Shanghai’s Star Market. The proceeds will fund a second plant in Xi’an, doubling the firm's capacity to 1.2 million wafers a month by 2026. Its revenue rose 46% in H1 2025, though losses continued, as Beijing eases listing rules for strategic but unprofitable chipmakers.

<a href="/company/grab">Grab</a> said it will make an equity investment in WeRide by 2026 as part of a partnership to deploy Level 4 robotaxis and shuttles in Southeast Asia. The plan includes integrating WeRide’s autonomous driving technology into Grab’s fleet, expanding driverless vehicle testing in regional traffic, and offering training programs to transition drivers into new roles.

Keeta, owned by <a href="/company/meituan">Meituan</a>, has filed a lawsuit against <a href="/company/didi">Didi</a>-backed 99Food in Sao Paulo for alleged unfair competition, claiming it set aside BRL 900 million for contracts restricting Keeta’s entry. The company, which is also preparing a case with antitrust regulator CADE, is expanding in Brazil and has reportedly signed up more than 1,000 restaurants in Sao Paulo.

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Didi-backed 99Food expands into Sao Paulo

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