The ACT team hand-picks the most readable news of the day from China’s booming tech industry. Don’t miss out on these headlines:
Top dating app’s Singles’ Day survey: Northeast China has the most singles
The Double 11 shopping day started as Singles Day, a day for singles to shop to ease their loneliness. To back the theory, Momo, a Chinese largest dating app, published a survey on Wednesday to show the areas with the most singles in China. Guangdong, Yunnan and Hainan in southern China, along with Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning in northern China, have the most singles, with a “single rate” of up to 46%.
Alipay completes a record 85,900 online transactions per second
Alipay handled nearly 85,900 transactions per second on this year’s Double 11 shopping day, a new record. Compared with 38,500 transactions per second last year, this year witnessed a doubling in peak transaction volume. Zhang Yong, Alibaba’s CEO, said half an hour after the shopping spree kicked off, there were still 30,000 transactions per second. In other words, last year’s peak volume has become this year’s normal. He said the trading volume exceeded RMB 19.1 billion (USD 3 billion) in 31 minutes, which was the trading volume of the entire day on November 11th, 2012.
Xiaomi receives USD 125.7M in sales on Double 11
Though it received RMB 100 million (USD 15.7 million) in sales in the first 11 minutes and 56 seconds of the Double 11 shopping day, Xiaomi failed to break its own sales record. In 2014, it only took 4 mins and 48 secs. According to Xiaomi, it stocked two million devices in preparation for the Double 11 Shopping Day. On Nov. 11 last year, Xiaomi made a sales record, selling 1.16 million smartphones in 24 hours. Despite its slow start, Xiaomi is still one of the best selling smartphones of this year’s shopping festival, receiving RMB 800 million in sales.
Alibaba’s rival e-commerce sites’ stocks fall on Double 11 shopping day
As Chinese people enjoy the deals on the Double 11 shopping day, the stocks of some Chinese e-commerce platforms have declined, Tech Web reports. The stocks of Vipshop.com fell after the U.S. stock market opened. The stock of the discounted e-commerce site, which sells branded apparel and products, dropped 6.6% to USD 19.52. The stocks of JD.com slumped 2% to USD 28.2. Brad Gastwirth, CEO of ABR Investment Strategy, told Bloomberg News that investors are cautious towards the Chinese economy given the economic slowdown. “A lot of U.S. investors don’t realize the magnitude of Singles’ Day (Double 11 Shopping Day),” said Gastwirth.
60% of public comments say Uber, Didi should be regulated as taxis
China’s Ministry of Transport has published the results of the public comments it received on new regulations for ride-hailing businesses. According to the report, 60% of the comments indicated that private car for ride-hailing business should be regulated as taxis; 52% of the comments indicated that private vehicles for ride-hailing should be registered as commercial cars but with extended usage; 81% of the comments supported carpooling for non-profit purposes, which will benefit People’s Uber and Didi Chuxing’s Shun Feng Che carpooling service.
Online second-hand car marketplace receives USD 50 million
Haoche51, a platform for buying and selling second-hand cars, has received USD 50 million in B-series financing. Source Code Capital and Fenghuang Xiangrui led the funding, followed by 9F Bank. Along with the funding announcement, Haoche51 also announced that the founder of former second-hand chain store brand Bucar has joined Haoche51 as a partner. This is the third round of financing for Haoche 51, which makes most of its income from commissions.
（Top photo from Baidu)