VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Last Friday, Uber Technologies have revealed plans of raising $1 billion from a new pool of investors which will make it the most powerful, and most valuable, privately-owned, start-up in the whole world.

Uber Technologies China is drawing near their $1 billion goal of raising funds to help support their fight against wealthier Chinese rival Didi Kuaidi Joint Co.

China's dominant taxi-hailing firm Didi Kuaidi will spend 1 billion yuan ($161.39 million) on promotions, the company said on Friday, in an aggressive expansion that will help lure in riders and fend of rivals like U.S. firm Uber Technologies Inc.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) wants Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) to tailor its popular chatting app for the firm's cars in China, as automakers in the world's largest market vie for drivers that care about high-tech features as much as engine size.

Baidu Inc, owner of China's dominant search engine, said revenue growth for its online video service iQiyi more than doubled in the fourth quarter and for the whole of 2014.

Chinese actress Zhao Wei has taken a major stake in Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd's film division, bringing some star power to a company that warned on Monday it could rack up losses of as much as HK$600 million ($77.41 million) for 2014.

Baidu Inc launched on Wednesday a service that helps retailers advertise on the smartphones of nearby users as China's dominant search engine company expands its location-based technology to drive growth.

China's Dalian Wanda group and Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) said on Friday they would set up a 5 billion yuan ($814 million) e-commerce joint venture with Baidu Inc (BIDU.O), as the firms push into the high-growth e-commerce sector.

Internet firm Baidu Inc intends to make more acquisitions this year to get more smartphone users in the world's largest smartphone market to patronize its services, Reuters reported.

UCWeb Inc, a company backed by Alibaba Group Holdings, is looking at acquisitions to add more programmers and platforms so it can better compete with its rivals, Bloomberg reported.

Beijing-based 58.com Inc, a classifieds website operator that provides services similar to Craigslist, intends to acquire Chinese Internet companies to enhance its local information services, Bloomberg reported.

After the government announced a ban on the use of Bitcoin for financial institutions, China's biggest search engine Baidu Inc announced that it would no longer be accepting the digital currency as payment.

Lone Pine Capital increased its holdings in online companies by buying shares in China-based search engine Baidu Inc and ecommerce firm Amazon.com Inc. The fund also bought shares in MasterCard Inc.

According to its CEO, Dianping.com's value is higher than Groupon and Yelp or about USD10 billion.

Baidu Inc said it would be purchasing 91 Wireless, an app store, for USD 1.85 billion.