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FinVolution Group, a New York-listed fintech company, took part in the second Global Summit on High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation in Singapore on September 3.
Co-hosted by the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Belt and Road Initiative Action Platform and the UNGC Singapore Network, the summit brought together representatives from government, business, academia, and other sectors to discuss sustainable development under the theme "Connectivity for a Better World."
The summit marked FinVolution's second consecutive participation in the platform, following its debut at the inaugural summit in Indonesia in 2025. Discussions this year focused on fintech, financial inclusion, sustainable development, and other topics.
<h3>Targeting financial inclusion for Filipino domestic helpers abroad</h3>
FinVolution and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School shared project findings on financial inclusion among Filipino overseas domestic helpers during the summit. The project was conducted under the guidance of Associate Professor Yip Hon Mun, together with a team of four students pursuing a master’s degree in strategic analysis and innovation.
The project examined overseas Filipino domestic helpers, a predominantly female workforce. Despite often having stable employment and income, many may face difficulties accessing financial services after returning to the Philippines because their credit histories are limited or may not carry across jobs or countries.
The study looked at how financial inclusion can help these domestic helpers build a financial identity that remains relevant through changes in employment and location, potentially improving their access to financial services and opportunities even after they return home.
Establishing a portable credit history could support a range of longer-term financial needs, including housing, vehicle financing, education, family protection, and, potentially, entrepreneurship. According to FinVolution, the research suggests that credit can serve not only as a means of accessing financial services, but also as a link to broader economic opportunities.
The project combined Yip’s expertise in sustainability, the students’ research and analysis, and FinVolution's broader experience in digital finance, drawing on international frameworks including the UN Global Compact's <a href="https://unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles">“Ten Principles”</a> and the <a href="https://unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/womens-principles">“Women's Empowerment Principles.”</a> It also highlighted the need for responsible financial innovation, with attention to affordability, transparency, data protection, respectful collection practices, and financial literacy.
<h3>Developing fintech and responsible finance in emerging markets</h3>
At a roundtable on the empowerment of women and youth, Jiayuan Xu, CFO of FinVolution, discussed how fintech companies can balance commercial sustainability with social impact as they expand into emerging markets.
"Fintech is not only about making financial services more accessible and convenient. It is also about helping people who have historically had limited access to financial services build financial capabilities and unlock new opportunities," Xu said. "For women, youth, and other underserved groups, companies need to design products around real needs while embedding responsible finance principles throughout the product and business lifecycle—from affordability and transparency to data protection and financial literacy. Only then can fintech truly serve as a bridge between people and opportunity."
The research and discussion highlighted the potential for digital finance to address gaps in financial access while supporting longer-term economic participation, particularly among underserved groups such as women and migrant workers.
<figure id="attachment_163991" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-163991" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-163991" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FinVolution-NUS-Global-Summit-on-High-Quality-Belt-and-Road-Cooperation-2026-Roundtable.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1280" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FinVolution-NUS-Global-Summit-on-High-Quality-Belt-and-Road-Cooperation-2026-Roundtable.jpg 1920w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FinVolution-NUS-Global-Summit-on-High-Quality-Belt-and-Road-Cooperation-2026-Roundtable-720x480.jpg 720w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FinVolution-NUS-Global-Summit-on-High-Quality-Belt-and-Road-Cooperation-2026-Roundtable-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FinVolution-NUS-Global-Summit-on-High-Quality-Belt-and-Road-Cooperation-2026-Roundtable-768x512.jpg 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FinVolution-NUS-Global-Summit-on-High-Quality-Belt-and-Road-Cooperation-2026-Roundtable-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-163991" class="wp-caption-text">Photo source: FinVolution Group.</figcaption></figure>
In recent years, FinVolution has expanded globally, seeking to align its fintech capabilities with local market needs while exploring more inclusive and responsible approaches to digital finance.
This article was published in partnership with <a href="https://en.finvgroup.com/">FinVolution Group</a>.

FinVolution, NUS Business School share findings on financial inclusion for Filipino domestic helpers

Singapore

Southeast Asia

China

“Made in China” used to come with baggage. For decades, the label was often associated with inexpensive goods of inconsistent quality—a reputation shaped in part by China’s emergence as a major export manufacturing base. Cheap was the operative word. Quality, less reliably so.
How different things look a few decades later.
From fashion and coffee to electronics, artificial intelligence models, and chips, the list of industries where Chinese origin can still be casually treated as shorthand for inferior quality is shrinking. Games may be next.
Consider Love and Deepspace. Since its release in 2024, the romance game by Papergames has become one of China’s most prominent otome titles.
Then there is Mihoyo, better known internationally as Hoyoverse. Genshin Impact turned the Shanghai-based developer into a global name, followed by titles from its Honkai series.
And then came Black Myth: Wukong.
Developed by Game Science and inspired by the Chinese classic “Journey to the West,” it <a href="https://kr-asia.com/game-science-marks-wukong-anniversary-with-black-myth-zhong-kui-gameplay-reveal">sold more than 30 million copies</a> within its first year. Its success made it a milestone of sorts for China’s game industry: here was a Chinese-developed, premium single-player title drawing global attention while placing Chinese mythology, architecture, and aesthetics squarely at its center.
Then, Gamescom 2026 offered a glimpse of how much wider the field is becoming. By one count, 14 of the more than 50 games featured during Opening Night Live were <a href="https://kr-asia.com/chinese-games-take-center-stage-at-gamescom-2026">developed or published by Chinese companies</a>—the highest number in the event’s history.
They did not all come from the usual suspects: Tencent, NetEase, and Mihoyo. Smaller and midsize developers were there too. Nekcom Games brought Showa American Story, perhaps one of the stranger examples of what this new generation of Chinese developers is willing to attempt. The game imagines an alternate version of the US colonized by Japan, then drops its teenage protagonist into that dystopian cultural mashup.
Subtle, it is not. But that may be precisely the point.
What is intriguing today is no longer whether China can make games as technically accomplished as those produced by more established gaming industries. There is mounting evidence that it can.
More interesting is the bravado.
Industrial maturity is easy to recognize in polish: better graphics, bigger budgets, more sophisticated production, and fewer technical compromises. Creative confidence is harder to measure. It shows up when developers become willing to take risks.
That increasingly seems to be happening. Chinese studios are now interpreting familiar genres on their own terms, drawing more deeply on Chinese culture, and pursuing less conventional ideas.
This is not to say borrowing has disappeared. Games, like most creative industries, have always evolved through imitation, adaptation, and recombination. But a wider field of Chinese developers is now warming to the idea of venturing beyond safe formulas and testing whether more experimental ideas can find an audience.
For gamers, the immediate consequence is straightforward: more games, from more developers, attempting more things.
For China, the significance is broader. The old “Made in China” stereotype was never going to survive unchanged as the country moved up the value chain. What games add to that story is something manufacturing prowess alone cannot: cultural authorship.
Making a good product is one thing. Making something recognizably your own, and believing the rest of the world might want it, is another.
Geopolitics, regulation, commercial realities, and cultural differences will continue to impose limits. The world is not quite China’s oyster.
But judging by what its game developers are cooking up, China appears increasingly willing to order from the whole menu.
<h3>Related readings</h3>
<ul>
<li>Chinese developers had their biggest Gamescom showing yet in 2026, with a lineup spanning established hits and unusual new projects. <a href="https://kr-asia.com/chinese-games-take-center-stage-at-gamescom-2026">The lineup offers a snapshot of how China’s game industry is broadening beyond its biggest names.</a></li>
<li>Black Myth: Wukong gave Game Science its breakout. A year later, its sequel signals that the studio has no intention of simply repeating the formula. <a href="https://kr-asia.com/game-science-marks-wukong-anniversary-with-black-myth-zhong-kui-gameplay-reveal">Its next move shows how one of China’s most closely watched developers is thinking about risk after success.</a></li>
<li>For Love and Deepspace players, the appeal extends beyond its romance mechanics. <a href="https://kr-asia.com/the-women-falling-in-love-with-ai-and-how-otome-game-makers-profit-from-it">The game’s success offers a closer look at the emotional and commercial pull of China’s fast-growing otome market.</a></li>
</ul>

The Uptake | Game on

Gaming

Creative

Newsletters

… products.
Around the May Day holiday this year, Chagee introduced several region-specific offerings using ingredients including Zhejiang Longjing tea, Anhui Lu’an Guapian tea, Henan peony, Shaanxi Fuzhuan tea, Jiangxi Lushan Yunwu tea, and Jiangsu Biluochun tea.
These products give Chagee a way to expand its menu while keeping tea varieties and regional ingredients at the center of the product story.
The company is also trying to broaden when and where consumers drink tea.
Since introducing low-caffeine products in March 2025, Chagee has promoted tea for morning, midday, and evening occasions. This year, it has extended that approach to birthday parties, small meetings, wedding banquets, and team building events.
Its partnership with Xiamen Airlines brought its drinks onto flights, while the Chagee Imagine pop-up in Aranya tested a more community-oriented retail format.
Taken together, these initiatives suggest Chagee is trying to build a wider set of consumption occasions around tea rather than compete primarily through the sheer number of products it launches.
Some early results point to incremental demand.
According to market data cited by 36Kr, the return of Xingshi Chunshan, a Longjing green tea-based beverage, helped lift Chagee’s overall GMV by nearly 25% sequentially during the Qingming Festival period.
By the end of the second quarter, Geelato products had been introduced in more than 190 stores. Chagee said offline GMV at those locations increased by more than 20% on average, while the products also attracted new users and reactivated dormant members.
For a company that already has a flagship product in Boya Juexian, the challenge is increasingly less about finding another single hit than about giving customers more reasons to return.
<h3>Focusing on brand equity</h3>
Chagee’s other card is harder to measure quarter by quarter: brand equity.
The food delivery subsidy war may have altered consumers’ expectations around the price of tea drinks. Repeated discounts can encourage customers to compare brands primarily on price, making it more difficult for companies to sustain higher price points without a clear reason for consumers to pay them.
Chagee’s limited participation in the subsidy battle was therefore not only an operating decision. It was also consistent with the way the company positions its brand.
Its drinks sit broadly in the middle of the market by price. The company seeks to differentiate through tea quality, product consistency, store design, and brand experience rather than competing at the lowest end of the price range.
The challenge is whether consumers continue to perceive enough value to pay those prices.
Membership data provides one measure.
By the end of the second quarter, Chagee had about 257 million members. The repeat purchase rate among active members remained above 43%, while members who had made at least two purchases accounted for more than 78% of orders.
Those figures suggest that repeat customers represent a substantial part of Chagee’s business rather than growth depending entirely on promotional purchases.
Chagee has also continued investing in cultural and entertainment collaborations.
In early July, it partnered with Chinese picture book artist Cai Gao on three sparkling tea products. Later that month, it collaborated with Honor of Kings on a specialty drink based on Tieguanyin tea.
The two partnerships target different audiences, but both fit Chagee’s attempt to keep tea culture at the center of its identity while connecting the brand with broader popular culture.
Store design, packaging, and concept spaces form another part of that strategy. Such spending does not necessarily translate directly into near-term GMV, but it can matter more as competition shifts from store expansion toward retaining customers and differentiating brands.
That has become particularly important overseas.
In May, Chagee opened three stores in South Korea. The openings drew lines, while the company said its app had been downloaded more than 46,000 times in the market before the stores formally opened.
That suggests some consumer awareness had already been established before Chagee developed a sizable physical presence.
The overseas business is also becoming more material.
During the reporting period, overseas GMV reached RMB 504 million (USD 74.8 million), up 114.3% year-on-year. Overseas GMV has increased sequentially for four consecutive quarters.
<h3>What determines long-term growth?</h3>
“The more complex the environment becomes, the more important it is to return to the fundamentals: make good products, serve users well, and keep improving every single store. We are confident that we can achieve high-quality, sustainable growth in any market environment.”
Chagee founder Zhang Junjie made the remarks during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
As the most intense phase of the food delivery subsidy battle recedes, the distinction between order growth and profitable growth is becoming more important for China’s tea chains.
Chagee’s approach offers one test case. It largely resisted competing through deep discounts, continued investing in products and brand building, and preserved profitability while expanding its store network.
That strategy comes with its own challenge. When a company chooses not to compete primarily on price, it has to keep giving consumers reasons to pay.
For Chagee, that means the performance of individual stores, the durability of products beyond Boya Juexian, and the strength of its brand at home and overseas will matter more than temporary spikes in orders.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3965565272579331">article</a> was written by Yang Shuo for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.74 = USD 1 based on estimates as of September 3, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

After sitting out the food delivery war, what cards does Chagee hold?

East Asia

Chagee

Retail

Consumer Economy

Excelland Robotics launched its global offering on August 31 as it moves toward a Main Board listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Trading is expected to begin on September 9.
The company is offering 45 million H shares globally, including 2.25 million shares in the Hong Kong public offering and 42.75 million shares in the international offering, representing about 5% and 95% of the total, respectively.
The offer price ranges from HKD 14.45–19.55 (USD 1.8–2.5) per share, with Silver Nile Global Investments serving as the sole sponsor. Based on the midpoint offer price of HKD 17 (USD 2.2) per share, Excelland expects to raise about HKD 685.7 million (USD 87.4 million) in net proceeds.
The IPO has brought in two cornerstone investors: SensePower Management, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of SenseTime, and CYGG Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of 58.com.
Before pursuing a public listing, Excelland completed more than ten funding rounds. Its shareholders include Legend Capital Management, Yunfeng Capital, Ele.me, iFlytek, BTG Homeinns Hotels, and H World Group.
Founded in 2013, Excelland develops, designs, manufactures, and deploys commercial service robots. It also provides computer vision model solutions for industry applications.
According to Excelland, it was among the earliest Chinese companies to develop and commercialize service robots and has deployed products across both indoor and outdoor environments.
Excelland currently has five robot product families alongside its Yoware vision model platform, covering applications including indoor and outdoor delivery, cleaning, and unmanned retail.
As of March 31, 2026, its robots had served more than 5,100 customers worldwide, with cumulative sales exceeding 114,600 units. The number of annual customers increased from 1,793 in 2023 to 3,358 in 2025.
The company has developed technology spanning chassis motion control, robot vision, multisensor fusion, and decision-making and planning algorithms. It says these systems allow its robots to navigate and operate autonomously across different commercial environments.
As of March 31, Excelland held 508 granted patents and had another 268 patent applications under review, all of which it said were developed in-house. They cover areas including visual perception, autonomous navigation, and motion control.
The company has also participated in drafting national and industry association standards related to commercial delivery and cleaning robots.
Its products are deployed across hotels, restaurants, office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, and industrial and business parks. Excelland works with hotel operators including H World Group and BTG Homeinns Hotels and has also partnered with local services platforms on applications such as food delivery on university campuses.
Its business models include direct product sales, robot-as-a-service, and equipment leasing, giving customers different ways to adopt its products.
Revenue from robot-as-a-service reached about RMB 49.9 million (USD 7.4 million) in 2025, roughly 5.3 times its 2023 level. The segment accounted for 15.7% of total revenue that year.
Excelland generated revenue of RMB 244 million (USD 36.2 million), RMB 267 million (USD 39.6 million), and RMB 318 million (USD 47.2 million) in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively. Revenue for the first three months of 2026 reached RMB 76.5 million (USD 11.4 million), up 5.7% year-on-year.
Gross margin increased from 6.9% in 2023 to 14.3% in 2024 and was 13.9% in 2025.
The company remained loss-making, although its annual net loss narrowed from RMB 251 million (USD 37.3 million) in 2023 to RMB 151 million (USD 22.4 million) in 2024 and RMB 111 million (USD 16.5 million) in 2025.
Excelland plans to allocate about 48.5% of its net IPO proceeds to R&amp;D, including expanding its products across more indoor and outdoor applications and developing its core technologies.
Another 30% is earmarked for business expansion and strategic acquisitions, while about 7% will go toward sales and marketing.
The company plans to use 4.5% to repay part of its bank borrowings, with the remaining 10% allocated to working capital and general corporate purposes.
The spending plan reflects the company’s attempt to expand beyond its existing deployments while continuing to invest in the technology underlying its robots.
According to Frost &amp; Sullivan, the total addressable market for commercial service robot products and solutions in China was RMB 78.9 billion (USD 11.7 billion) in 2025, compared with an existing market size of RMB 2.2 billion (USD 326.6 million). That implies penetration of about 2.9%.
This <a href="https://xueqiu.com/2854806290/407432373">article</a> was adapted based on a feature originally written by Eric and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.
Note: HKD, RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of HKD 7.84 = USD 1 and RMB 6.74 = USD 1 based on estimates as of September 3, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Excelland Robotics targets growth in commercial service robots with Hong Kong IPO

Robotics

Deep Tech

Embodied Intelligence

Hong Kong

… revenue</h3>
OneRobotics’ embodied home robotics system products generated about RMB 453 million (USD 67.2 million) in revenue in the first half of 2026, up 30% year-on-year.
Onero H1, Acemate, Kata Friends, and their related products and solutions contributed about RMB 68.4 million.
That represented 13.1% of total company revenue and 65.4% of the year-on-year increase in revenue from embodied home robotics system products.
Commercial deliveries of Onero H1 began during the first half, while Acemate and Kata Friends also generated revenue across different markets and applications.
OneRobotics said Onero H1 uses OneModel to perform multistep tasks in specified household environments, including laundry, dishwashing, organizing objects, and preparing basic meals.
Those workflows require the robot to carry out multiple stages, including recognizing, grasping, carrying, manipulating, and placing objects.
The company plans to expand H1 deliveries and real-world deployments while continuing to work on performance, reliability, and the robot’s ability to transfer its capabilities across different environments.
It also plans to test H1 in retail, health and eldercare, and other service settings.
<h3>Vision systems expand into sports applications</h3>
For faster-moving tasks, OneRobotics said it uses binocular vision to recognize targets, determine their position, assess trajectories, and make movement decisions without external motion-capture equipment.
The company has applied related perception and control technologies to Acemate for tennis and Onero H1 for table tennis.
As of the date of its earnings announcement, OneRobotics said Acemate had been deployed in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities, covering more than 1,100 standard tennis courts.
The robot has also been deployed at tennis venues, schools, and professional tournaments. OneRobotics said it has been selected as the designated tennis training robot supplier for the 2026 China Open.
The company plans to continue developing its AI vision, motion decision-making, and control systems while testing them in additional tasks.
<figure id="attachment_163949" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-163949" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-163949" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/OneRobotics-Acemate.jpg" alt="Photo shows students in a rally with the Acemate tennis robot, which is designed to deliver consistent shots, track returns, move to receive the ball, and sustain practice rallies." width="1920" height="1280" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/OneRobotics-Acemate.jpg 1920w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/OneRobotics-Acemate-720x480.jpg 720w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/OneRobotics-Acemate-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/OneRobotics-Acemate-768x512.jpg 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/OneRobotics-Acemate-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-163949" class="wp-caption-text">Acemate is designed to deliver consistent shots, track return trajectories, receive the ball, and sustain rallies during tennis practice. Photo source: OneRobotics.</figcaption></figure>
In companionship applications, Kata Friends began deliveries in Japan, China, and Europe during the first half.
OneRobotics also signed a cooperation framework agreement with Shanghai Children’s Medical Center to explore the use of companion robots in nonclinical settings, including health education and emotional support for children.
The company said it plans to expand deliveries and market development for Kata Friends in its key markets.
<h3>Brokerage and index coverage expands</h3>
OneRobotics has also attracted broader coverage from securities firms since the first half of 2026.
More than nine domestic and international brokerages have published coverage or recommendations on the company, including CICC, Huatai Securities, Guotai Haitong Securities, Huayuan Securities, TF Securities, and Kaiyuan Securities.
Goldman Sachs also discussed OneRobotics’ OneModel system and data-training infrastructure in midyear research on China’s robotics industry.
Several brokerages have highlighted the company’s early overseas expansion and its focus on household, sports, and companionship applications. Those assessments reflect analysts’ views rather than company operating results.
OneRobotics has also been added to several robotics, AI, and broader market indexes.
It is a constituent of the Hang Seng HK-US Robotics Theme Index, which selects 20 securities from the Hong Kong and US markets, alongside companies including Nvidia, Tesla, and Alphabet.
OneRobotics is also included in the CSI HK Connect Robotics Thematic Index and the CSI SH-HK-SZ Artificial Intelligence 50 Index.
Internationally, it has entered the Solactive Global Humanoid Robotics Index and the Indxx Global Robotics &amp; Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index.
Its inclusion has also expanded beyond thematic indexes.
Eight months after listing, OneRobotics was moved from the Hang Seng Composite SmallCap Index to the Hang Seng Composite MidCap Index. It is also scheduled to enter the Hang Seng Composite LargeCap &amp; MidCap Index.
Those changes will be implemented after the market closes on September 4 and take effect on September 7.
OneRobotics has also entered broader international benchmarks including the STOXX Emerging Markets Total Market Index and the S&amp;P Global BMI.
This <a href="https://xueqiu.com/2854806290/407461755">article</a> was adapted based on a feature originally written by Stone Jin and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.74 = USD 1 based on estimates as of September 3, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Europe and North America lift OneRobotics as new robot lines enter commercialization

… data-tmfx-note="1">Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.74 = USD 1 based on estimates as of September 3, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Sharpa raises over RMB 4.5 billion as it puts robots to work at Dairy Queen

… year’s event could try a broader selection of levels.
<figure id="attachment_152024" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-152024" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-152024" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nekcom-Games-Showa-American-Story-Desert.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nekcom-Games-Showa-American-Story-Desert.jpg 1920w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nekcom-Games-Showa-American-Story-Desert-300x169.jpg 300w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nekcom-Games-Showa-American-Story-Desert-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nekcom-Games-Showa-American-Story-Desert-768x432.jpg 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nekcom-Games-Showa-American-Story-Desert-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Nekcom-Games-Showa-American-Story-Desert-480x270.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-152024" class="wp-caption-text">In Showa American Story, players will follow Chouko, a teenage girl mysteriously revived in a dystopian US dominated by Japanese culture, as she embarks on a journey of truth and revenge. Image source: Nekcom Games.</figcaption></figure>
Nekcom Games founder Luo Xiangyu previously worked at Ubisoft Shanghai and an EA studio. His company has also completed several financing rounds.
Its trajectory reflects a combination that has become more visible in China’s game industry: developers with experience at large studios building smaller teams with external capital behind them.
Haotang, the developer of The Defiant, is in a different position.
Its team numbers only in the dozens. It does not have the backing of a major overseas game company or an established single-player IP.
Instead, the studio is building around a subject rarely explored in recent Chinese-made first-person shooters: China’s resistance against Japan during the second World War.
The game emphasizes national duty and anti-war themes, ideas more commonly explored in Chinese games set in earlier historical periods.
<div class="embed-container"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fLi2p1hhVTU?si=jvwP1deSgDn5mmAI?autoplay=0&amp;mute=1&amp;origin=https://kr-asia.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> height="278" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-ytbridge="vidSurrogate2"></iframe></div>
The Defiant is still in development, but it arrives at a time when the commercial success and visibility of Chinese-developed single-player games have raised expectations for what smaller domestic studios can produce.
Taken together, the opening showcase and the broader Chinese presence at Gamescom suggest that Chinese games are no longer notable simply for appearing in greater numbers.
The next challenge is harder: maintaining a steady pipeline of releases while continuing to differentiate them creatively.
China’s largest game companies can support production at industrial scale. Smaller studios such as Nekcom and Haotang are testing whether more experimental projects can also find space on the global stage.
As mainstream genres become increasingly crowded, that mix of scale and experimentation may determine how much further China’s game industry can expand overseas.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3956400723869056">article</a> was written by Er Ji, Guo Pu, and Liu Shiwu for 36Kr.

Chinese games take center stage at Gamescom 2026

Europe

… Hongbin, 39, is an executive director responsible for IT systems.
His background is the most directly technical among Wook’s executive directors. From 2011 to 2014, he worked in a marketing department at <a href="/company/tencent">Tencent</a>. From 2014 to 2015, he worked as a software engineer at <a href="/company/jd">JD.com</a>.
He joined Wook in February 2015 and serves as senior IT technical director. His remit includes the end-to-end digital platform that the prospectus describes as internally developed.
Wook’s R&amp;D spending, however, declined from RMB 20.9 million (USD 3.1 million) in 2023 to RMB 14.4 million (USD 2.1 million) in 2025, falling from 2.3% of revenue to 1.2%.
Its R&amp;D department has 35 employees, while its IT department has 20.
Over the same period, selling and distribution expenses increased from 18.4% of revenue to 23.4%.
The divergence suggests that spending has shifted more toward sales and marketing than R&amp;D. For a company that presents digitalization as a competitive advantage, that balance is worth monitoring.
Dai Hong, 34, is an executive director responsible for accounting, investment, financing, and corporate governance.
She joined Wook on the day it was founded in May 2014, starting as the CEO’s executive assistant and treasury manager. Over the following 11 years, she progressed to the board.
Wook’s three independent non-executive directors bring backgrounds in academia, accounting, capital markets, and finance.
Tao Zhigang is a former University of Hong Kong professor who is now a professor at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and also serves as an independent director of China Lesso Group.
Leung Bik San is an accountant with experience at KPMG and KBW and chairs Wook’s audit committee.
Han Bin previously worked at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and later became CFO of Qiniu.
All three were appointed on December 18, 2025, ahead of Wook’s planned listing.
Wook represents a less common model among Chinese cross-border sellers.
Rather than relying primarily on white-label products and online marketplaces, it has invested in brands, warehouses, field sales teams, and relationships with mom-and-pop retailers across Indonesia.
Of its 1,471 employees, 86.1% are locally hired overseas employees. In Indonesia, Wook operates 42 branches and nine warehouses covering more than 40,000 square meters. Warehousing and logistics costs account for about 4.7% of revenue.
Those physical assets, local staff, and retailer relationships make the model harder to replicate than a purely marketplace-led operation. They also create costs and constraints of their own.
More than 40,000 mom-and-pop retailers give Wook a distribution network that competitors would need time and capital to reproduce. But expanding that network remains a store-by-store process.
Generating 94% of revenue in Indonesia helped Wook establish a leading position in the country’s 3C accessories market. It also concentrated the company’s exposure to the rupiah.
Online direct sales have delivered gross margins above 50%, but commissions and customer acquisition costs have also risen.
Wook’s track record shows how Chinese supply chains can support the development of brands and local distribution networks overseas. Its IPO prompts the next question: once scale has been built, can Wook turn that footprint into a more durable and consistently profitable business?
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3943009515781253">article</a> was written by Peng Xiaoqiu for 36Kr.
Note: IDR, RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of IDR 17746.36 = USD 1 and RMB 6.74 = USD 1 based on estimates as of September 3, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Wook took Chinese electronics across Indonesia. Can its IPO story hold up?

Flower Knows has become one of the most discussed names in Chinese cosmetics, with whimsical designs that have won over consumers and a big investor.
With such names as "Strawberry Rococo" and "Knight Unicorn," the product lineup comes in sculptured packaging adorned with glittery ribbons, hearts, and blossoms.
Fans also like how the makeup makes them look. The brand's concealers are particularly popular, ranking second in sales by category on the Chinese e-commerce site Taobao last week.
As China's C-beauty industry hopes to achieve the same kind of international success as South Korea's K-beauty, Flower Knows is drawing attention.
The company was founded in 2016 by two cosplay enthusiasts in the city of Hangzhou.
Proya Cosmetics, China's largest listed beauty company by sales, acquired just over 38% of Flower Knows' parent company last year and in May lifted its stake to 51%.
The latest investment values Flower Knows at RMB 2.8 billion (USD 415.7 million), according to Proya. The day after Proya announced the stake increase, its share price jumped as much as 8%.
Flower Knows logged RMB 1.7 billion (USD 252.4 million) in revenue last year. Proya has more than six brands under its umbrella, but Flower Knows' revenue puts it second only to the group's namesake brand, which took in RMB 7.6 billion (USD 1.1 billion).
For January to March of this year, Flower Knows posted RMB 675 million (USD 100.2 million) in revenue, garnering roughly 40% of its 2025 full-year sales in just one quarter.
Proya is looking to gain more from the acquisition than scale. Flower Knows sells its products in Japan and South Korea, and has opened pop-up stores in the US and the UK.
Flower Knows is growing its worldwide recognition, with its global Instagram account boasting more than two million followers.
Although the domestic C-beauty market is enjoying mild growth, competition is fierce. Last year, Proya's net profit shrank for the first time in a decade.
In a press release announcing the increased stake, Proya called Flower Knows a pioneer in overseas expansion that will lead to new sources of growth.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/business/consumer/is-china-s-fairy-tale-cosmetics-brand-flower-knows-a-k-beauty-rival">Nikkei Asia</a>. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with <a href="https://www.kr-asia.com/nikkei-teams-up-with-36kr-in-asia-tech-news-coverage/">Nikkei</a>.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.74 = USD 1 based on estimates as of September 1, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Is China's fairytale cosmetics brand Flower Knows a K-beauty rival?