China outbound visa service ByeCity secures $20 million from Alibaba, CBC Capital

   ByeCity, a travel service for Chinese nationals needing a visa for outbound trips, announced today that it secured US$20 million in a series B funding round led by Alibaba and CBC Capital (hat-tip to TechNode). This is the company’s third funding round, with previous investments of US$10 million in 2008 and an undisclosed amount in 2011. But the company has actually been around since 2000 – the early days of China’s online travel industry. Chinese nationals hoping to travel to most foreign countries are required to either join a tour group or secure a visa in advance, even for countries that offer landing visas. The main thrust of ByeCity’s business focuses on securing these visas for customers, which it claims to do with a 99.8 percent success rate. For those few exceptions that ByeCity fails to obtain visas, it reimburses their fees. (See: Over 20% of bookings on China’s top flight and hotel site come from mobile) Last year alone, ByeCity reports it processed 400,000 visa applications, gaining 471 percent year-on-year and over ten times as many as in 2011. Dozens upon dozens of visa services are available in China, but most only operate on a local level. Traditionally offline business with brick-and-mortar offices, many of them have set up shop on Taobao, the massive C2C marketplace owned by Alibaba, to reach a broader audience. ByeCity is no stranger to this, and already has its own storefront on Alibaba’s Tmall.

Source: TECHINASIA

JUWAI-HOME OVERSEAS As Chinese snap up more overseas property, Juwai grows to 1.5 million active users

When we first looked at Juwai two years ago, we immediately thought, yes, this makes a lot of sense. It’s an online property marketplace for a very particular niche – aimed at people in China looking to buy real estate overseas. Now Juwai – which means “home overseas” – has grown to 1.5 million monthly users, browsing through 2.4 million real estate listings from 53 countries. The startup declined to reveal revenue figures. A Juwai representative tells Tech in Asia that the top five countries for China’s real estate buyers last year were, in descending order, the US, Australia, the UK, Canada, and Germany. Juwai reckons that 63 million of China’s growing and increasingly wealthy middle to upper class individuals can afford to buy property overseas.

The overseas investment boom is proving controversial in many nations. A report in Australia’s The Age this week says that Chinese buyers are pricing young Australians out of the housing market. That article even mentions Juwai.

Chinese property buyers spent an estimated US$28.7 billion on residential property around the world in 2011, according to the startup. That’s still growing as wealth in China increases, yet crowded living conditions – as exemplified by the worsening pollution – make an overseas move an attractive option. Juwai has just given its iPhone app a major overhaul so that users, when on an overseas trip, can use their phone’s GPS to find available properties nearby. Juwai’s iPhone app is here.

Source: TECHINASIA

Compared to the iPhone 5s, this chart shows the iPhone 5c has bombed in China

   Source: TECHINASIA
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) isn’t going to tell everyone precisely how much of each model it sold in every country, so we need to find an alternative source of data to dig up some insights about its phones. One such good source in China is Umeng, which is like China’s answer to Flurry. If we look at the the latest report from Umeng – the one my colleague looked at in relation to China’s 700 million smartphones and tablets – we get a good idea of the popularity of the iPhone 5c relative to the 5s. Or, to be more exact, its unpopularity. As Ben Evans spotted in the report, the slightly cheaper 5c has bombed. This chart, which we’re remade and translated from the Umeng analytics, says it all: What it shows is that in the fourth month from the launch of the iPhone 5s in China, the model accounted for 12 percent of active iOS devices on Umeng’s app analytics network. The cheaper 5c, in contrast, only accounted for slightly less than two percent. While the 5s has rocketed, the 5c barely took off – and now it’s struggling even to go upwards. See: The average price of a new Android phone in China? A mere $233 Observed usage doesn’t equate to sales – and there are no absolute numbers for the quantities of each phone models in the country – but this data is an still indictment of Apple’s strategy of remaking the previous year’s model in a plastic wrapping. Chinese consumers weren’t fooled by the marketing, and they aren’t buying the 5c. It’s not all bad news for Apple in China. Clearly the 5s is being taken up more quickly than the iPhone 5 was in 2012.

GoDaddy Preps For IPO Fewer Than 3 Years After Its $2.25B Sale To Private Equity Groups

GoDaddy, the well-known domain and hosting company, is preparing to go public. The company was sold for $2.25 billion in the summer of 2011 to a mixture of private money, including Silver Lake, a group now famous for its work to help Dell go private.

According to the Wall Street Journal, GoDaddy has “plans to interview banks that would lead the underwriting of its IPO.” That timeframe, the paper goes on to note, would place its IPO sometime in the second half of this year, presuming a normal pacing.

It’s a rollicking time for technology IPOs, with Twitter’s famed day-one pop now etched into history, and Box trundling towards the public markets to boot. Last year was a strong year for tech IPOs, and with the NASDAQ at its current heights, folks who were thinking about taking some of that public dollar are looking to get in while the gettin’ remains good.

Today, for example, Castlight Health, a company that sells cloud healthcare tools, spiked more than 100% after its flotation went live.

Five bucks says Goldman Sachs participates and the company trades as GDDY on the NASDAQ.

Sina Weibo, China’s Answer To Facebook And Twitter, Files For $500M IPO In The U.S.

      

  Sina Weibo,the microblogging and social media service that’s often characterized as China’s answer to Twitter and Facebook, has filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering.

Weibo was launched by Chinese online media giant Sina in August 2009. Today, Sina owns a majority stake in the company, with Alibaba holding a minority interest.

According to the IPO documents, Weibo pulled in revenues of $188.3 million in 2013. Like its U.S. counterpart Twitter, however, the company is still not turning a profit at the bottom line: Weibo recorded a $38.1 million net loss in 2013. The company had 2,043 employees as of December 2013.

The company has had some impressive growth in China and beyond. In its IPO prospectus, Weibo shared some of its figures:

“Since our inception four years ago, Weibo has amassed a large user base in China and in Chinese communities in more than 190 countries. In December 2013, Weibo had 129.1 million monthly active users, or MAUs, and 61.4 million average daily active users, or average DAUs, increasing from 96.7 million MAUs and 45.1 million average DAUs in December 2012, respectively, and 72.9 million MAUs and 25.2 million average DAUs in December 2011, respectively. A microcosm of Chinese society, Weibo has attracted a wide range of users, including ordinary people, celebrities and other public figures, as well as organizations such as media outlets, businesses, government agencies and charities"

Source: TechCrunch 

CEOs of biggest Russian firms could be hit by sanctions

"The CEOs of Russias's two largest firms are on a list of those who may be hit next week with European and U.S. sanctions over the Crimea crisis, a German newspaper said on Friday, suggesting tougher than expected measures against Russia's elite.

European officials told Reuters the EU was working on a five page list of 120-130 Russians who could be subjected to asset freezes and travel bans. Officials were still debating whether to hit a large number of Russians when the measures take effect at the start of next week, or target a smaller number initially and expand the list if the crisis continues.

Germany's Bild newspaper reported that Alexei Miller, boss of natural gas monopoly Gazprom, and Igor Sechin, head of Russia's biggest oil firm Rosneft, would be among those targeted, along with senior ministers and Kremlin aides.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the Bild report. Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontyev said sanctions on his firm's boss would be "stupid, petty and obvious sabotage of themselves most of all. I think it will primarily affect Rosneft's business partners in the West in an extraordinary way." Gazprom and the Kremlin declined to comment"

 Source: Reuters

U.S. Consumer sentiment declines in March

Consumer sentiment declined to an early March reading of 79.9 -- the lowest reading since November -- from a final February level of 81.6, according to Friday reports on a gauge from the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a March reading of 80.8. Economists watch sentiment levels to get a feeling for the direction of consumer spending. 

Source: Marketwatch

Deutsche Bank maintained a Buy rating on Yandex

Deutsche Bank maintained a buy rating on Yandex, the Russian Web Search engine, but reduced its price
target to US$ 38 from US$ 44 on macro concerns.

Source: Street Insider

U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics PPI February -O.1% seasonally adjusted.

 PRODUCER PRICE INDEXES - FEBRUARY 2014


The Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.1 percent in February, seasonally adjusted, the 
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This decline followed advances of 0.2 percent in 
January and 0.1 percent in December. On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand moved 
up 0.9 percent for the 12 months ended in February, the smallest 12-month rise since a 0.9-
percent increase in May 2013. 

In February, the 0.1-percent decrease in final demand prices can be traced to the index for final 
demand services, which fell 0.3 percent. In contrast, prices for final demand goods advanced 0.4 
percent.

Within intermediate demand, the index for processed goods climbed 0.7 percent, prices for 
unprocessed goods jumped 5.7 percent, and the index for services rose 0.2 percent. 

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management: Russian equities will stay under pressure until political tensions ease

Russian equities will stay under pressure until political tensions ease. Most impacted will be the sectors with mostly domestic exposure like banks, retailers. Exporters, especially energy, will be relatively better due to weaker ruble and still high oil price. State controlled companies might come under more scrutiny or even sanctions from the West.

 Source:  Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management