SoftBank invested $1 billion in Beike 贝壳, together with Hillhouse, Tencent, Sequoia China, in a round of $2.4 billion. The round, closed in November last year, valued Beike at ~$14 billion. Beike is a real-estate brokerage with an online tool to match buyers and sellers, as sites like Zillow and Redfin do in the U.S. It also offers real-estate financing, home décor and property management. SoftBanks has also invested in another $1 billion in Ziroom for the long-term apartment rental market. // WSJ | Sina
TikTok’s owner, ByteDance is launching Resso in India, which describes itself as a “social music streaming app”: users are encouraged to share lyrics, comments and other user-generated content with each other, alongside full-length tracks of music that they can consume and also share with others. It has secured licensing deals with Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group as well as big publishers specifically in the Indian market. Resso’s pricing in India is in line with those of Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, Times Internet-owned Gaana, and Reliance Jio’s JioSaavn. // TechCrunch
Bestore 良品铺子, a consumer brand in China with over 2,300 snack bars and online presence on Taobao and JD.com, etc., went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) with an online listing ceremony last Monday. The company livestreamed the 13-minute ceremony. Close to 50% of the company’s revenue comes from Hubei Province, the center of the epidemic. The stock has more than tripled, trading at ¥36.74 per share as of March 5 versus IPO price of ¥11.9. // kr-asia
Tesla delivered cars to customers in China with lower-performance Autopilot hardware than promised, because of supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus outbreak. According to the BBC, the new chip is up to 21 times faster at processing images than its predecessor. Tesla quickly apologized on Weibo 微博 for the decision and said it will offer free upgrades to affected Model 3 owners once supplies become available. // engadget | BBC