Following other Chinese tech titans into the venture capital world as it seeks to stay ahead of rapid technology advances, Baidu has set up a large $3 billion investment fund, Baidu Capital, to focus on mid and late-stage deals Internet deals with investment sizes of $50 million to $100 million. 

Bridging the gap between Hollywood and China, Jack Ma strikes a deal with legendary director Steven Spielberg to bring Hollywood to China. China's richest man is buying a stake in Spielberg's production company Amblin Partners, in a deal they announced in Beijing to co-finance and co-produce six to nine movies per year.

From emoji and selfies-as-stickers to filters and the "Instagrammification of everything", there's a new era of social self-expression happening. It's enabled by always-accessible cameras on smartphones, real-time computer vision/ A.I. and social media. Several of these phenomena emerged or were popularized in Asian messaging apps. Read VC Connie Chan's 16 Observations on the next trend: Livestreaming in China.

In an example of China and India startups growing closer, Indian news aggregator Dailyhunt drew $25 million in funding in a deal led by its Chinese peer, ByteDance. Participating in the deal were venture firms Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India as well as Omidyar Network and Former CEO of Vodafone Arun Sarin.

KKR-backed Emerald Media, which is focused on media and entertainment sectors across Asia, has invested $50 million in Netflix rival, YuppTV, an Internet Pay TV platform for South Asian content.

  

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