Productive Lazy Sundays

CATL and BYD are in preliminary talks to win a contract to supply electric vehicle batteries to Apple, which aims to start production of passenger vehicles in 2024. Prerequisite that the two companies build manufacturing facilities in the U.S., where some automakers are calling on the government to support producing batteries locally. 

In this episode, we wanted to understand more about who CATL is and their future ambitions. 

Find us @ProductiveLazySundays on Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube! 

SHEIN was founded in 2008 in Nanjing, Jiangsu is aiming squarely at the "Gen Z" social-media generation, using influencers on Instagram and TikTok, and discount codes, to attract younger shoppers in an increasingly crowded fashion market. It offers low-cost styles, uploading hundreds of new designs to its app every week. The price for a dress is around half that of Zara.

Truck-hailing platform Full Truck Logistics, known as Manbang in China, filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday without disclosing details about the size of the offering. CNBC reported earlier this month that the startup could raise around US$1.5 billion, citing a source with knowledge of the matter.

Horizon is currently working with advisers on a share sale that could happen by the end of the year. The company, which counts Intel Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital as its investors, is also said to be in preliminary discussions with advisors regarding a venue and the timing for the potential IPO.

Zhang Yiming, CEO of ByteDance, has announced that he will be stepping down from the role of CEO at the end of the year to focus on the company’s long-term. This is the second high-profile CEO to leave its hugely popular venture as Colin Huang, founder of PDD, announced earlier this year that it will take a step back from the company. 

Tencent-backed Chinese jobs portal Boss Zhipin files for a $100m US listing. With 25m MAU, 85.8m certified job seekers, and 13m certified companies ZhiPin is by far the lead player in the market. 

Finally, TuSimple’s Self-Driving Truck Tech Cuts 10 Hours From Full-Day Route. They tested the autonomous trucks on a watermelon transportation route more than 900 miles long from Nogales, Arizona, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and found that the rigs cut 10 hours off a trip that takes 24 hours with regular trucks and human drivers. Although the company did not break down the test journey in detail, the time saved is likely to consist of hours normally spent by human drivers on mandatory rest and sleep. 

Find us @ProductiveLazySundays on Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube! 

Futu was founded in 2007 by Leaf Li, an ex-Tencent alumn. The company is in the business of digitized brokers and wealth management in China. They founded a subsidiary called Moomoo in order to target overseas markets such as Singapore and the US. Moomoo was then launched in the US and Singapore in 2021. 

After the wave of criticism that rained upon Robinhood (the trading platform) during the GME saga, retail investors sought alternative trading platforms. The rise of the likes of WeBull and Moomoo is in big part due to this. But what caused Robinhood to turn its back on its most loyal customers? Why are digitized brokers and trading platforms on the rise? 

Find us @ProductiveLazySundays on Instagram, Twitter, and now Youtube! 

Welcome back for another episode of Productive Lazy Sundays - a podcast discussing businesses in Asia.  

In today's episode, we wanted to share a couple of news that we thought to be interesting.  

TikTok which was said to be a significant threat to Facebook is now challenging the latter with its newest in-app purchase feature.  

Meituan, one of the biggest Food Delivery companies in China has 10 Million drivers working for it. However, it has come out to say that these workers and the company itself are not in a direct employment relationship.   

BYD one of the biggest OEM in China is now spinning off its semis division in a world where Chip Shortage becomes the new normal.

Find us on Instagram and Twitter @ProductiveLazySundays

Another news recaps where we explore the craze of the week. 

Paypal is setting its eyes on China and the Rest of the world cross-border payments market. 

The digital RMB, what is it and what will it impact is a burning topic that could be covered in much more depth to be honest. 

Waterdrop is an interesting Insurtech with an uncertain future! 

Find us on Twitter and Instagram @ProductiveLazySundays

I mean with a title like that do you need a description? 

Come say hi on Instagram and Twitter @ProductiveLazySundays 

Yes, we do sincerely believe TSMC is if not the most, one of the most important companies for the decade to come. TSMC is not the biggest player it is practically the only manufacturer in the high-end segment of semiconductors, sharing only but a small percentage of the market share to Samsung's foundry. 

Brought into the spotlight due to the chip shortage, TSMC is finding itself under the spotlight. Take a listen to understand why.

Find us on Instagram @ProductiveLazySundays

We wanted to try something new - so instead of going into a deep dive, we wanted to make it a bit less presentation mode and more round table discussion. So we decided to recap a bit the week in a few headlines that we thought were interesting and why we thought they were meaningful. 

As we said, please let us know if you have any comments on our 24/7 Instagram page - or if you just want to say hi! 

Behind the outrageous salary of streamers lies a tough industry. The no barriers to entry is also the reason for the immense competition that exists in live streaming. When everyone can become an influencer on a live streaming platform with just a phone and an internet connection how do they distinguish themselves from the competition?