Daily Crunch: China presents ‘rectification’ plan for Ant Group

The Chinese government could reshape Ant Group’s business, Tesla plans to launch in India next year and the FAA announces a new ID requirement for drones. This is your Daily Crunch for December 28, 2020.

The big story: China presents ‘rectification’ plan for Ant Group

Less than two months ago, Chinese authorities halted the planned IPO of Ant Group, the payments and fintech company that spun out of Alibaba nearly a decade earlier.

Now the government has laid out a plan for how Ant Group can become compliant and presumably go public, with steps including a renewed focus on payments, obtaining necessary licenses for its credit business, establishing a financial holding company, revamping several of its other business lines (credit, insurance, wealth management) and increasing compliance for its securities business.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities are also investigating Alibaba over antitrust concerns. The crackdown is prompting global investors to unload their Chinese tech stocks.

The tech giants

Tesla to make India debut “early” next year — Tesla will begin operating in India in “early” 2021, a top Indian minister said today.

Samsung hasn’t announced the Galaxy S21 yet, but you can already reserve one — If you’re on the Samsung Mobile mailing list, you may have received an email compelling you to “Get ready to jump to the next Galaxy.”

U.S. government appeals the injunction against its TikTok ban — Earlier this month, Judge Carl Nichols in Washington became the second U.S. judge to block the Commerce Department’s attempt to stop the TikTok app from being downloaded from U.S. app stores.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Chinese online education app Zuoyebang raises $1.6B from investors including Alibaba — The rivalry between China’s top online learning apps has become even more intense this year.

Indian startups raised $9.3B in 2020 — This is the first time since 2016 that startups in India have raised less than $10 billion in a year.

Equity Monday: No, tech news doesn’t stop over the holidays — Alex Wilhelm discusses the latest startup and venture capital headlines, including some of the stories in this very newsletter.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

How Niantic evolved Pokémon GO for the year no one could go anywhere — Analysts estimate that 2020 was Pokémon GO’s highest-earning year yet.

Four keys to international expansion — Levin Bunz watched more than a hundred of Rocket Internet’s incubated companies attempt to internationalize.

2021 will be a calmer year for semiconductors and chips (except for Intel) — Four trends to watch for, from VC funding of silicon startups to U.S.-China trade.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here for a holiday deal good through January 3. Read more about the deal here.)

Everything else

New FAA rule requires Remote ID for drones — Remote ID effectively works as a kind of digital license plate for unmanned aircraft.

Music made 2020 better, but we failed to make 2020 better for musicians — In a year where music was our lifeline, why didn’t we return the favor?

Original Content podcast: “The Mandalorian” season two goes deep into Star Wars mythology — “The Mandalorian” just wrapped up its second season on Disney+.

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