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… 9.9 (USD 1.4). For a company that depends heavily on one product, that’s an ominous trend.
Still, low prices may erode consumer trust. Skepticism over ingredient quality could help IF Coconut Water maintain its appeal as a premium brand.
With its IPO complete, IFBH’s next test will be long-term growth: strengthening supply chains, broadening its product lineup, and closing strategic gaps. Only then can the company prove it has staying power in a crowded market.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3360520770160392">article</a> was written by Li Xiaoxia for 36Kr.

IFBH hits IPO milestone on the strength of a single product: Coconut water

Retail

Consumer Economy

Thailand

Hong Kong

Southeast Asia

China

China is rushing to tamp down fears of an abrupt end to its RMB 300 billion (USD 42 billion) subsidy program now that several cities have suspended or downsized their plans earlier than anticipated.
"Are some regions canceling 'national subsidies'? Not true," read a headline published by state news agency Xinhua on June 18 evening. The article assured readers that the program will continue, citing "interviews with relevant departments and officials across various regions."
Still, cities across the country have either partially suspended or adjusted their subsidy programs in June, raising questions about the sustainability of a program that has been credited with buoying weak consumption and countering deflationary pressure.
China rolled out subsidies last year to encourage consumers to trade in old cars and appliances for new ones. The program was then expanded to include outright purchases of a wide range of electronics including smartphones and laptops, and the government approved special bond issuances worth RMB 300 billion this year to fund it. The subsidies are implemented by municipalities.
On June 19, the southeastern city of Guangzhou stopped subsidies for home appliances and electronics, according to a notice on its portal. The nearby city of Foshan suspended subsidies for some items in early June and said they would resume on August 1. Chongqing, in western China, stopped providing subsidies for appliances and home equipment around the same time.
The northeastern city of Shenyang now only allows buyers to obtain subsidies from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Subsidies for cars, home appliances, smartphones and home equipment will be suspended on July 1, city officials said.
"The funding is running out a bit earlier than expected, as this batch is meant to last until the end of July," said Duncan Wrigley, chief China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Worries over the program's future escalated in recent days after merchants looking for a boost in sales during the 618 shopping festival began running exaggerated marketing campaigns. The numerals refer to June 18, the day e-commerce company JD.com was founded. But this year's campaign has run for over a month and was still ongoing as of June 19.
"Shanghai's subsidies will be over soon," read a social media post by a mattress seller in the city, urging shoppers to "grab the last wave of 618 benefits." Shanghai has not announced plans to suspend its subsidy program.
Overall, the subsidy policy is widely credited with boosting the consumption of items under its scope. Retail sales in May <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-consumption-beats-expectations-buoyed-by-trade-in-subsidies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beat expectations</a>, growing 6.4% on the year, driven by a 53% surge in home appliances and a 33% jump in communication devices.
But recent reports of alleged misuse of the program have brought greater scrutiny over how it is carried out.
One practice under fire is the sale of <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Electric-vehicles/China-EV-war-turns-uglier-as-pricing-and-inventory-tactics-draw-scrutiny" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"zero-mileage used cars,"</a> when dealerships sell essentially new vehicles at a discount to clear inventory. This has contributed to an intense price war in the industry, prompting the Ministry of Commerce to summon automakers for a closed-door meeting, according to local media. It has also reportedly become a way for some businesses to game the subsidy system: used car businesses buy new cars from dealers while sending old inventory for scrap to obtain subsidies, then sell the new cars as used ones.
Other criticisms include merchants hiking prices before promoting the subsidized price to create an illusion of a discount. Zhejiang has reportedly investigated 76 cases of price violations linked to the subsidy program.
Wrigley said he expects automotive trade-in subsidies to be "tightened up" and additional rules to be put in place to prevent dealers and retailers from abusing the system.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said it has disbursed two batches of funding so far, in January and April, totaling RMB 162 billion (USD 22.7 billion). The next batch is expected to be imminent. A delay in additional funding could dent consumers' appetite.
"The outlook for retail sales in the second half of the year remains uncertain," Serena Zhou, senior China economist at Mizuho Securities, wrote in a June report.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-races-to-calm-worries-over-end-to-42bn-consumer-subsidies">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>.

China races to calm worries over end to USD 42 billion consumer subsidies

… similar path, though with a different tone. The company calls its latest redesign the most significant in a decade, driven by the need to compete not just with other search engines, but with any platform that delivers information.
“We have to let go of our old definition of search,” said Zhao Shiqi, Baidu vice president and general manager of search. “The product has to evolve.”
On the technical side, Zhao noted that few AI companies focus on search. “Plenty of AI companies today don’t do search. The few that do both, such as Google and Baidu, are rare.”
Baidu continues to explore how search and large language models can complement each other. This is a deliberate move, and one of the company’s distinct advantages.
Its other edge lies in ecosystem design. In an era where users expect seamless, intelligent digital services, Baidu already has the infrastructure in place.
Just as Google is working to reclaim ground from OpenAI, Baidu’s transformation reflects a broader effort to stay relevant in the next wave of computing.
While startups may grab headlines, the responsibility of advancing the frontier still often falls to the incumbents. Foundational models are progressing fast, yet most users haven’t experienced their full capabilities. As industry observers have noted, it wasn’t necessarily GPT-3’s release that sparked mass interest, but the accessible interface and experience of ChatGPT that propelled it into the mainstream.
Since then, no product has quite matched that moment. So the race continues.
Today’s users want more than speed. They are looking for smart assistants: tools that anticipate intent, reduce friction, and handle the heavy lifting. There’s no clear finish line.
But one thing is increasingly certain: whoever redefines how we interact with the digital world will be the one to build the next superapp.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3361853553903618">article</a> was written by Xiao Xi for 36Kr.

Baidu reimagines search as the race to build the first AI superapp continues

Baidu

East Asia

Artificial Intelligence

Deep Tech

… sites. The first patient is expected to enroll in the third quarter this year. The first clinical-grade batch of EVM14 was released from Everest’s Jiashan facility on June 9 and is scheduled to arrive at US trial sites by mid-August. The company is also progressing toward IND submission in China.
<h3>LNP and in vivo CAR-T advances</h3>
Part of Everest’s platform moat lies in its delivery capabilities. According to chief scientific officer Jennifer Yang, the company has built an internal library of over 500 ionizable lipids to support its programs. Multiple in vivo studies have shown that this system can enable both liver and extrahepatic targeting, allowing for active and passive strategies in tissue- and cell-specific delivery. Everest says it is scalable and backed by a strong IP portfolio.
In preclinical animal models, Everest’s LNPs achieved organ-specific delivery by rerouting payloads from the liver to the spleen, a key site for immune cell activation. This was accomplished using passive diffusion strategies and antibody-based surface modifications.
These delivery refinements underpin Everest’s in vivo CAR-T program, which aims to bypass the logistical and clinical challenges of conventional CAR-T therapy. Rather than extracting and modifying T-cells externally, Everest encodes CARs into mRNA and delivers them directly into T-cells using antibody-tagged LNPs. Once inside the body, the T-cells express CARs on their own, potentially enabling a more scalable and less invasive alternative to autologous approaches.
In non-human primates, the platform achieved sustained CAR expression and effective B-cell clearance, two critical markers of therapeutic activity in both cancer and autoimmune disease. By combining mRNA-based programming with targeted delivery, Everest aims to establish a new class of cell therapies with broader applicability and streamlined manufacturing.
Industry momentum around the modality is building. On June 30, AbbVie announced a USD 2.1 billion acquisition of Capstan Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech firm developing vivo cell engineering via RNA delivery using targeted LNPs. The deal includes CPTX2309, a Phase 1 CAR-T candidate for B-cell-mediated autoimmune diseases, as well as Capstan’s proprietary platform for delivering RNA payloads (such as mRNA) to reprogram cell types in vivo.
<h3>Everest’s business strategy</h3>
Beyond its pipeline, Everest continues to generate revenue through its in-licensed commercial portfolio, providing stable operating cash flow and financial headroom to support its in-house R&amp;D efforts.
During a media exchange held alongside the June 27 event, the company noted that Chinese-origin assets have captured a growing share of global licensing activity over the past two to three years. As of 2025, nearly half of all upfront payments in oncology licensing deals had reportedly gone to Chinese assets, which made up approximately 40% of total deal volume. According to the company, demand remains strongest in oncology and autoimmune diseases.
And while heightened interest in Chinese-origin biotech assets may be part of the story, broader industry tailwinds are also at play. <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/mrna-therapeutics-market-report">Grand View Research</a> projects that the global mRNA therapeutics market will grow at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of about 17% from 2024–2030, expanding from USD 12.2 billion to USD 31.3 billion. Growth is expected to be most pronounced in the Asia Pacific, including China, driven by rising investment, infrastructure development, and an increased focus on precision medicine. Everest’s positioning, with its comprehensive mRNA capabilities and early clinical traction, places it squarely in the slipstream of this expansion.
Meanwhile, CEO Luo noted that Everest is currently in discussions with the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies, aiming to leverage global resources to accelerate the deployment of its assets internationally. Some parties are said to have already signed non-disclosure agreements. He added that the company is in no rush to finalize deals, preferring to let clinical value emerge through ongoing trials before pursuing formal partnerships.
The value proposition to partners, Everest argues, lies in a platform that has already demonstrated clinical feasibility across two of the most competitive areas in global drug development. “With end-to-end control of antigen design, sequence optimization, delivery systems, and large-scale production, Everest’s platform is among the few globally that has demonstrated clinical proof-of-concept,” Luo said.
This article was published in partnership with <a href="https://www.everestmedicines.com/">Everest Medicines</a>.

Everest Medicines targets global expansion with proprietary, AI-driven mRNA platform

Biotechnology

Chinese automakers rush to beat Brazil’s EV tariffs, but the real race is just starting

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Latin America

… in Beijing in April, organizers said tickets sold out and more than 1,000 people attended, surpassing expectations.
This surge of interest is partly the result of difficult circumstances. During China’s two-year licensing freeze, many studios downsized or shut down. Developers laid off during that period often turned to indie development out of necessity.
Still, profitability remains elusive. “People thought they were escaping the red ocean of hypercompetitive studios for a promised land, only to find that PC gamers care about fun, not price,” one developer said.
Steam offers a platform for those unable to secure domestic licenses. However, developers used to monetizing through in-app purchases often misjudge the Steam audience, overestimating sensitivity to pricing and underestimating the importance of gameplay quality.
Qianshui noted that the indie ecosystem has not improved significantly in financial terms. Few games recoup their development costs. For teams aiming for domestic release, the licensing process is still slow and difficult. With investors becoming more selective, indie games struggle to match commercial titles in terms of revenue performance.
Even Sultan’s Game was a high-risk effort. It was the final project of a company on the brink of failure. Over 14 months, the team produced more than 1.4 million words of in-game text. At peak output, Zuanka was writing 17,000 finished words per day. He acknowledged that replicating such an effort would be nearly impossible, even with the same team.
In that sense, Sultan’s Game and Black Myth: Wukong are spiritual siblings. Both are polished, category-defining games. But their successes remain the exception, not the rule.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3343412658454657">article</a> was written by Lan Jie for 36Kr.

Indie no more: Sultan’s Game becomes China’s breakout Steam hit

Gaming

Creative

… Partners</a>, based in Singapore, received USD 50 million in Series A funding to launch a permanent holding company focused on succession solutions for small and medium enterprises in Southeast Asia. Its backers include Mitch Rales (Danaher), Nick Howley (TransDigm), Alex Behring (3G Capital), and Compounding Labs.</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://casbot.tech/">Casbot</a>, a Zhongguancun-based developer of humanoid robots, raised nearly RMB 100 million (USD 14 million) in an angel plus funding round. The investors include Lens Technology, Tianjin Jiayi, and returning backers SDIC Unity Capital and Henan Asset Management.</li>
</ul>
If there are any news or updates you'd like us to feature, get in touch with us at: <a href="mailto:hello@kr-asia.com">hello@kr-asia.com</a>.
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Deals in brief: Monit raises USD 2.5 million, GreenTeams and AI Hay land Series A rounds, latest China funding deals, and more

Venture Capital

Private Equity

Investment

Merger &amp; Acquisition

Singapore

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… a cash-like, low-volatility option. The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong recently issued upgraded licenses to 40 institutions—including 38 brokerages, one bank, and one internet company—to enable virtual asset trading through integrated accounts. Guotai Junan International was the first Chinese securities firm to secure a full license.
<h3>Who’s betting on stablecoins?</h3>
With the Stablecoins Ordinance about to be implemented, Hong Kong is set to become the first jurisdiction with a formal licensing framework for fiat-pegged stablecoins. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is expected to name the first licensees between July and August. Sandbox participants will be eligible to apply.
Several companies are already in the queue. Ant Digital Technologies has submitted its application. JD Chain CEO Liu Peng said the firm aims to obtain a license by the fourth quarter. RD Technologies is collaborating with a subsidiary of LianLian DigiTech. Linklogis is partnering with Standard Chartered.
ZA Bank is the first digital bank in Hong Kong to offer services to stablecoin issuers. China Everbright Limited has invested in Circle, which went public on June 5 and is billed as the world’s first stablecoin-focused stock.
Gan Tian, CEO of China Asset Management (Hong Kong), said at a recent forum that his firm is the only mainland-backed asset manager involved in three HKMA sandbox projects. For the stablecoin pilot, the participants are RD Technologies, JD Chain, and Standard Chartered. His firm is working with one issuer to submit a cash management plan to the HKMA.
Gan also identified the most active banks in Hong Kong’s tokenized payments space as Ant International, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and ANZ. He noted that banks from mainland China have yet to join the fray.
“Among global commercial banks, Standard Chartered is the most invested in Web3,” he said. “It already has custody businesses operating in Luxembourg, Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong. HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and ANZ are quickly following.”
Looking ahead, Gan said that the global currency system could eventually coalesce around a few major stablecoins, though this will depend on the maturity of supporting financial and trade ecosystems.
Hong Kong’s stablecoin initiative, he added, may not only create a new path to internationalize the Chinese yuan, but also reshape the very foundation of global financial infrastructure.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3360263589086983">article</a> was written by Wang Hanyu for 36Kr.

Hong Kong’s stablecoin regime takes shape as China eyes alternatives to dollar-based payments

Blockchain

Payments

Cryptocurrencies

Softopia, a Chinese brand known for collectible plush toys, has accepted external funding for the first time, securing investment exclusively from China Literature. According to information obtained by 36Kr, the transaction grants China Literature a 10% equity stake in Softopia, making it the company’s only outside investor.
Softopia is owned by Hangzhou-based Imou, which specializes in plush toy manufacturing and brand management. This deal marks the first publicly disclosed funding round in China’s vertically integrated plush toy sector that involves a mainstream institutional investor.
Public records indicate that Softopia began as a supply chain company focused on plush toys and operated its own manufacturing facilities. It has long provided end-to-end plush product solutions for international sports events, global IP holders, and leading domestic brands.
The company has developed a distinctive approach by blending the plush toy format with diverse materials. Its offerings include plush blind boxes, premium plush figures, and vinyl plush dolls—a category currently gaining traction. Softopia combines in-house design capabilities with expertise in advanced plush manufacturing techniques. It has developed original IPs such as Cino, Adou, and Alber, several of which ranked among the bestselling collectible toy IPs in 2024.
A source familiar with China Literature’s plans said the two companies will deepen collaboration around original IP for collectibles. The partnership will go beyond adapting China Literature’s existing IP and include the joint development of entirely new properties. “A new product line is expected to launch later this year,” the source said.
The investment aligns with China Literature’s broader push to expand its merchandise business. In recent years, the company has pursued IP commercialization through a mix of in-house initiatives and targeted investments. The Softopia deal enhances its presence in the IP merchandise market and marks the start of a deeper strategic relationship.
China Literature has also introduced its own merchandise label, Yuewen Wonderland, which offers soft collectibles, trading cards, figurines, and other items. The label currently operates stores in Xi’an, Hangzhou, Beijing, Nanchang, Shanghai, Hefei, and Chongqing. New locations are under development in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Nanjing.
In 2024, China Literature’s merchandise segment recorded a gross merchandise value (GMV) of more than RMB 500 million (USD 70 million), a new high. Major IPs such as The King’s Avatar, Joy of Life, Lord of the Mysteries, Under One Person, and Fox Spirit Matchmaker all contributed significantly to revenue.
To scale production and expand its product catalog, China Literature has increased its investments in collectible toy firms. Its collaboration with Softopia has already resulted in a plush collection centered on an “Island Party” theme. Additional co-branded items tied to IPs like Lord of the Mysteries, The King’s Avatar, and Under One Person are currently in development.
According to a research report on pop toy industries cited by 36Kr, mainland China’s collectible toy retail market is expected to reach RMB 110.1 billion (USD 15.4 billion) by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 24%.
Situated upstream in the IP value chain, China Literature is leveraging its merchandise business to tap into high-growth segments such as plush collectibles and trading cards. Earlier this year, the company formally declared IP commercialization a central focus for its overall strategy.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3360069972641544">article</a> was written by Wang Yuchan for 36Kr.

Softopia secures first external investment through China Literature deal