Technology

For three years, Velo3D has operating in stealth mode. The bay area based startup has largely managed to fly on the radar, in spite of raising an impressive $90 million since launching in June 2015. Today, however, the 120 person company is finally ready to discuss what itbeen working on, just as it announces the availability of its first product.

The Sapphire system utilizes a technology the company calls Intelligent Fusion. The system is capable of 3D printing complex metal objects by sintering a bed of powder with a laser, in a process similar to standard resin-based 3D printing systems.

One of the more compelling aspects of the technology is its ability to create geometrically complicated objects without the need for the support structure most require. Rather, the objects, as described described by Chief Product Officer Stefan Zschiegner, essentially come out of the out of the powder fully formed.

Among the things that set the companynew machine apart from some of the competition is a focus on additive manufacturing for production, in addition to prototyping. &Desktop Metal, HP and other focus on prototyping,& Zschiegner says of the competition (though Desktop Metal will be launching its Production system next year). &Their parts often cannot be used for final manufacturing process.&

Of course, the current technology isn&t scalable for true mass production. Instead, Velo3Dearly manufacturing clients include aerospace and space travel companies, primarily working through 3D production houses. Florida-based 3D prototyping company 3DMT is among the first to adopt the Sapphire system, which Velo3D claims has a 90-percent first pass success rate. Other potential case uses include customized titanium medical implants.

No official pricing has been announced, but the company says it will be &competitive& with other industrial metal printing systems.Velo is also using the opportunity to announce thatformer President and CEO of AutoDesk, Carl Bass, will be joining the companyboard as chairman.

SoftBankVision Fund is backing Chinese online insurance giant ZhongAn through its latest investment, which could take the company — which has struggled for stability following a monster IPO last year — into international markets.

The Vision Fund announced today it has made an undisclosed investment inZhongAnInternational, theglobal arm ofthe five-year-old company created by $200 billion insurance giant Ping An and internet firms Tencent and Alibaba. The ZongAn business is widely-heralded as Chinafirst digital insurance company. Its insurance products coverlifestyle, consumer finance, health, travel and automotive, and it went public last September in a Hong Kong IPO that raised $1.5 billion. ZhongAnInternational was created in December of last year to scout out overseas opportunities.

Despite impressive credentials and a trailblazing business, it hasn&t been smooth sailing.

Disappointing financial results — which center around hefty fees paid to online platforms that give it distribution — have seen the value of ZhongAn shares nosedive. The current price of HKD35.55 is down on theHK$59.70 IPO price, and a far cry from a peak HKD 93.65 back in October.

Aside from adding the support of a major name — SoftBankVision Fund is easily the largest tech investment firm in the world, with a $90 billion-plus purse — this investment might give cause for optimism. Alongside the investment, ZongAn International is creating a new entity in partnership with SoftBank that will be dedicated to &exploring international opportunities.&

More specifically, SoftBank plans to useZongAntechnology and its network to expand to &multiple markets& in Asia, although it isn&t specific about which countries or a timeframe for the potential launches.

&We are pleased to announce this partnership which will allow us to explore new and innovative ways to serve more companies and customers outside of China. SoftBank is an important business partner and we believe this collaboration will significantly boost our technology solutions businesses,& said ZhongAn Online CEOJeffrey Chen in a statement.

The deal, and joint entity, signifies a growing trend of SoftBank becoming operationally involved in investments with companies that are looking at overseas growth opportunities.

SoftBank inked a joint-venture with Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing to launch a taxi-booking service in Japan. While it has also announced a JV to bring Indian payment service Paytm to Japan. Both companies are long-term investments for SoftBank, but SoftBank believes its experience and network can help them navigate international waters. The same thinking applies to the ZhongAn deal although it appears that the partnership is shooting for more than just Japan.

Qutoutiao, a news aggregator app backed by Tencent, has filed for an initial public offering of up to $300 million in the United States. In its F-1 form, the company, whose name means &fun headlines,& said it is the number two mobile content aggregator in China. Its main rivals are Jinri Toutiao, Chinatop news aggregator, TencentKuaibao and Yidianzixun.

Based in Shanghai, Qutoutiao reportedly reached unicorn status in March, when it raised a Series B of about $200 million led by Tencent. For Tencent, Qutoutiao and Kuaibao represent opportunities to take market share away from Jinri Toutiao, which is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is reportedly planning a Hong Kong IPO that could value it at over $45 billion.

In its SEC filing, Qutoutiao said that since launching in July 2016, it has achieved monthly average users of about 48.8 million and daily average users of about 17.1 million, with the average time users spend on the app each day totaling about 55.6 minutes in July 2018. To compete with Jinri Toutiao and other rivals, Qutoutiao targets users from Chinasmaller Tier 3 cities. Despite increasing levels of disposable income, Qutoutiao says Tier 3 cities, many of which are located in the west of China, are still underserved markets.

Qutoutiao also said in its filing that its net revenues increased from RMB 58.0 million (about $8.8 million) in 2016 to RMB 517.1 million (about $78.1 million) in 2017, and from RMB 107.3 million (about $16.2 million) in the six months ended June 30, 2017 to RMB 717.8 million (about $108.5 million) in the same period in 2018.

The app uses an AI-based content recommendation engine to display articles and videos based on user profiles and plans to use money raised from its IPO to add more content offerings, increase monetization opportunities and look for acquisition and investment opportunities. Qutoutiao plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol QTT. The IPO will be underwritten by Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities, China Merchants Securities and UBS Securities and KeyBanc Capital Markets.