Rita Liao

Rita covers Asia for TechCrunch, with a special interest in Chinese companies going global and web3 projects with real-world applications.

Before her previous writing stints with Tech in Asia and TechNode, Rita managed communications for SOSV’s accelerators in Asia. At one point, she worked for a documentary production company and a mindfulness retreat center in New England.

She studied political science and visual arts at Bowdoin College.

Contact: ritaliao@pm.me

The Latest from Rita Liao

Fate of US venture capital in China teeters on uncertainty

On a weekday afternoon at Red Rock Coffee, the cafe known for spotting venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, one is likely to overhear a few conversations in Mandarin. With China reopening its border

US chip export ban is hurting China’s AI startups, not so much the giants yet

Well before Washington banned Nvidia’s exports of high-performance graphic processing units to China, the country’s tech giants had been hoarding them in anticipation of an escalating tech

China’s EV upstart Li Auto hunts for chip talent in Singapore

Li Auto, an electric vehicle maker adored by young Chinese families, is stepping up its endeavors to build in-house automotive chips and has gone abroad to seek talent for the course. The eight-year-o

China’s tech giants dip their toes into web3, but prospects are limited so far

During the Staking Summit in Istanbul, a conference attended by hundreds of individuals involved in the staking practice of the crypto ecosystem, two exhibition booths stood out. They belonged to Tenc

How Jane Street-backed ZetaChain aims to expand Bitcoin’s use cases

Despite its dominant market share in the crypto sphere, Bitcoin has had limited applications compared to other blockchains which have blossomed to facilitate asset transfers in everything from financi

Nepal joins a growing list of countries banning TikTok

Another country is banning TikTok, the ByteDance-owned short video behemoth with over one billion active users around the world. Nepal, which has a population of close to 30 million people, has banned

ByteDance’s Oculus challenger Pico lays off hundreds, halts aggressive expansion

When Pico launched its Oculus Quest challenger in China last year, it did so with great optimism. Light (295 grams) and affordable ($420), the virtual reality headset released by the ByteDance-owned m

LG’s IT arm taps Tiger Global-backed QuickNode for web3 pursuit

Despite crypto’s badly tarnished reputation following FTX’s collapse, some large corporations are warmly embracing its underlying distributed ledger technology. LG CNS, the IT solutions su

a16z backs London-based crypto startup Pimlico as it ramps up UK focus

Upon opening its first overseas office in London last Thursday, a16z made its first U.K. investment announcement today. The venture capital firm has led a $4.2 million seed round in Pimlico. Based in

Shein reportedly seeks $90 billion valuation in IPO

Shein has seen big swings in its price tag over the last year. The Singapore-headquartered fast fashion platform is targeting a valuation of up to $90 billion in a potential U.S. initial public offeri

Why this autonomous vehicle veteran joined a legged robotics startup

Zhang Li‘s career path has looked like a bellwether for China’s tech trends. When the Cisco veteran joined WeRide in 2018, the Chinese autonomous vehicle company was less than a year old.

Valued at $1B, Kai-Fu Lee’s LLM startup unveils open source model

Kai-Fu Lee, the computer scientist known in the West for his bestseller “AI Superpowers” and in China for his bets on artificial intelligence unicorns, has a new venture — and a gre

Chinese EV darling Nio to cut 10% staff amid ‘fierce competition’

Nio, the Chinese carmaker known for its sleek, premium electric SUVs, has started a new round of layoffs as intense competition propels it to cut costs and regroup resources. In an internal letter see

SEC subpoenas PayPal over its USD-pegged stablecoin

Just three months after PayPal entered the fray to bring stablecoins to the masses, it’s attracting attention from U.S. regulators that are tightening the screws on the stablecoin sector. The pa

China’s tech vice minister calls for ‘equal rights’ at global AI summit in UK

Despite the ongoing technological decoupling between China and the West, both sides are converging to discuss the threat that runaway artificial intelligence may pose to humanity. Wu Zhaohui, China&#8

Shein adds struggling UK brand Missguided to its fashion empire

Shein, the fast fashion giant that has thrived on its nimble supply chain in China, is expanding its product range by scooping up competitors. In a statement released on Monday, the Singapore-headquar

XPeng starts removing HD maps from Tesla FSD-like feature in China

XPeng is often called the Chinese challenger to Tesla for its efforts to bring advanced driving capabilities to its electric vehicles. It’s now getting a step closer to its American counterpart

Coach’s knitwear supplier bets $1M on Jellibeans’ fashion prediction tech

In fashion design, success is often determined by talent, hard work and a sprinkle of luck. In the era of big and artificial intelligence, however, fashion design has become somewhat more predictable.

WorkMagic wants to automate all the marketing tasks for Shopify sellers

There’s no shortage of startups trying to automate marketing tasks by using generative AI. For WorkMagic, the target users are the millions of small-scale Shopify sellers who it believes can ben

Two years after pausing service, Roblox China cuts a small number of staff

Roblox China was once full of promise. Since its localized platform, which is a joint effort with Tencent, abruptly halted operation nearly two years ago, the company has been quiet about its standing
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