Billion Dollar Unicorns: Didi Chuxing Monopolizing Chinese Ride-Sharing Market?

This year has seen Chinese ride-sharing firm Didi Chuxing expand its list of investors to include the likes of Apple, Foxconn, and even Uber, cranking up its valuation to $33.7 billion. It is now the third largest Billion Dollar Unicorn after Uber and Xiomi.
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2016 IPO Prospects: Snap Snaps out of Chat Business to Justify Valuation

An eMarketer report on the global mobile phone messaging market expects the global user base for over-the-top messaging services to grow from 1.4 billion in 2015 to 2.19 billion by the year 2019. Another report by GlobalWebIndex reveals that Facebook Messenger is the most widely used mobile app followed by Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Together, the two account for 70% of the user base globally. While Snap, formerly known as Snapchat, accounts for a modest 7% of global internet users, more than 40% of teenagers in mature markets like UK and US use it. >>>

Zynga Launches Much Awaited CSR2, but Market Outlook Remains Weak

According to market reports, the mobile gaming industry was worth $34 billion in 2015. Within games, it is among the fastest growing segment. But despite the growth, gaming companies like Zynga are finding it difficult to deliver stellar results.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Grab from Singapore is the Next Big One

There aren’t too many Billion Dollar Unicorn stories from South East Asia. But here is an interesting story of Grab, earlier known as GrabTaxi, that has successfully delivered an Uber-like offering in the region and now commands a multi-billion dollar valuation.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Line Delivers a Successful IPO

According to eMarketer, over-the-top (OTT) mobile messaging services were used by more than 1.4 billion consumers in 2015, recording a 32% growth over the year. Total users are expected to grow to 2.19 billion by the year 2019 and will account for 68% of mobile phone Internet users. Two years ago, Japan’s mobile messaging service Line had abandoned plans to list. But early this year, the company finally took the plunge.

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The 5-Horse Race in Tech

Tech has become a 5-horse race: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft being the five horses fighting for dominance of Techdom. Google dominates Search and Mobile; Apple dominates mobile; Amazon dominates Commerce and Cloud; Facebook dominates Social; and Microsoft, despite its size, dominates nothing. >>>

From Unicorn to Unicorpse: Ad-Supported Media Businesses Are Not Viable Anymore

Since being founded in 2003, Mode Media, formerly known as Glam Media, had been trying to run a content-based business model that could be scaled while being profitable and relevant. After thirteen years of trying, the company finally gave up this month and abruptly shut down shop. The incident is yet another datapoint in the broader phenomenon driving the media industry: ad-supported businesses simply don’t work unless you are Facebook or Google.

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Adobe Creative Cloud Continues to Grow

According to analysts, the global digital media and the total addressable market for the Adobe Creative Cloud system is projected to grow to around $21 billion to $48 billion by 2018. Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) continues to expand its offerings within the segment and is thus delivering strong financial results each quarter. It recently announced its third quarter results, and this was the tenth successive quarter where it reported revenue growth.

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2016 IPO Prospects: Apptio Files Despite Reduced Valuation and Mounting Losses

A recent report by MarketsandMarkets on the global cloud-based IT Service Management (ITSM) market projects the industry to grow 15% annually over the next five years to be worth $8.78 billion in 2021 from $4.41 billion in 2016. It is dominated by big vendors including IBM, CA Technologies, BMC Software, Microsoft, and HP. But, Bellevue, Washington-based Apptio is part of the small vendors that are making their presence felt in the industry. And now, the company is ready to go public.

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2016 IPO Prospects: Selfie App Meitu Files to List on HKSE

According to an iResearch report, China’s photo app market user base is expected to grow from 226.7 million average Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in 2015 to 714.6 million by the year 2020. The report also reveals that as of June this year, nearly 71% of social network users in China shared at least one photo per week, and almost 21% of these people has used a photo app to enhance photos before sharing them on social media. China’s Meitu is benefiting from this photo sharing trend.

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