☕️ Good morning, friends,

China’s single men are on edge: a 38-year-old man in Nanjing disguised himself as a woman, seduced hundreds of men, and then posted the videos online.

Here are the before-and-after photos…

On a personal note: single or not, with asiabits you’ll never feel lonely. Invite your friends to join us.

It’s worth it—the first coffee shipments are already on their way! 👇🏻

🚀 Benchmarks

🔢 Facts & Figures

214.8 billion USD

Japan’s M&A volume in the first half of 2025 jumped to its highest level since 1980.

10 billion CNY

The sum JD.com is investing in its “Double Hundred Plan” to nurture benchmark brands in China’s on-demand sector.

3.6%

China’s producer-price index fell this much year-on-year in June—the sharpest decline in almost two years.

Top Bit: ☕ Starbucks Seeks Multibillion-Dollar Partner for Its China Business

Starbucks is inviting bids for either a minority or majority stake in its China unit. Early offers value the business at up to USD 10 billion—despite intense competition from discount chains such as Luckin Coffee. Starbucks intends to keep a “significant” residual holding and is looking for a partner who can help safeguard growth and its premium positioning.

Details

☕ Store network & growth: China is Starbucks’ second-largest market with 7,594 shops; the plan is to exceed 12,000 locations by 2030.

💰 Valuation range: Bids run between USD 5 billion and USD 10 billion.

🏦 Bidder field: Contenders include Chinese PE heavyweights Centurium (an early Luckin backer) and Hillhouse, along with U.S. firms such as Carlyle and KKR; several sovereign funds are also sounding out the deal.

🔗 Deal structure: Starbucks aims to keep a blocking minority of roughly 30 % to safeguard brand control and quality standards.

📉 Market pressure & price war: Local challengers Luckin and Cotti sell coffee from RMB 9 (~USD 1.15), rapidly gaining share. Starbucks has countered with discounts of up to 20 %.

Why it matters

• Market access – A strong financial partner could unlock new scaling paths for Starbucks in the world’s fastest-growing coffee market.
  

• Competitive pressure – Fresh capital would fund store expansion and digital initiatives as Starbucks battles Luckin & Co. in an intense price war.
  

• Signalling effect – A buy-in by Western investors would be a vote of confidence in China’s consumer sector despite ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Background

China is Starbucks’ second-largest market after the United States, yet local rivals are rapidly gaining share with rock-bottom prices and aggressive expansion.

CEO Brian Niccol declared a “China reset” in 2024: deeper localisation, new beverages, digital menus, and cheaper non-coffee options. The planned partial sale is designed to bankroll that offensive while letting Starbucks retain strategic control.

📊 All Details & Data: Reuters, Yahoo Finance, CNBC

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Head Of The Day

🇨🇳Jianyu Chen

💡 From indebted MBA student to digital entrepreneur: Born in China, Li moved to Singapore carrying roughly USD 100 000 in debt. There, he launched a small online-gaming start-up that quickly attracted millions of users. Today his company, Sea, earns its money through e-commerce and digital payments.

👉 Lesson learned: Sometimes a negative bank balance is the best motivation to create something big.

Market Bit: 🤖 Robotera Raises $70 Million for Humanoid AI Robots

Details

🤖 $69 million Series A: Haier Capital, CDH VGC & others inject RMB 500 million to scale R&D and manufacturing.

🏭 Production ramp-up: Over 200 units delivered, hundreds more in the works; more than 50 % of orders come from outside China.

🧠 End-to-end large model ERA-42: Fuses vision, planning, and action to grant robots human-like autonomy.

🦾 Broad hardware line-up: Service bot Q5, industrial humanoid SRAR 1, and the XHAND1 gripper cover use cases from retail to logistics.

Why it matters

• China’s AI push – The mega-round shows how aggressively domestic investors are financing humanoid robotics as a strategic growth field.
  

• Export potential – With more than half the orders coming from abroad, Chinese embodied-AI players are now moving onto global markets.
  

• Scaling test – Whether Robotera can mass-produce complex humanoids will be a litmus test for the entire hardware start-up scene.

👉🏻 Full Story: Caixin Global, Yicai Global

Top Reads

🌏 Manus AI moves its headquarters to Singapore: The Chinese start-up aims to secure Nvidia chips and U.S. investment more easily there while battling declining user numbers, fierce competition, and U.S. restrictions at home. Manus is now hiring locally, offering highly paid positions. Full story.

🛡️ Taiwan launches largest military drills: The 10-day exercise tests Taiwan's response to cyberattacks and invasion threats, involving a record 22,000 reservists and new US gear. Beijing calls the drills a bluff and intensifies pressure with export controls. Full story.

🛬 Rubio boosts US focus on ASEAN during Asia visit: Secretary of State meets Southeast Asian leaders in Kuala Lumpur, highlights security cooperation and trade ties despite Trump’s tariff campaign. Topics include South China Sea, transnational crime, and trade tensions. Full story.

Optional Reads

Pakistan: YouTube considers blocking government-critical channels after court order citing "anti-state" content. More on that.

Singapore: Waiting time to set up family offices cut from 12 to 3 months to attract super-rich faster. More on that.

South Korea: Samsung unveils thinner, lighter foldable phones and focuses on AI partnerships to challenge Apple and China. More on that.

🥠 Fortune Cookie

🥾 Heartbreak Marathon: Driven by lovesickness, a Chinese man left his phone behind, walked out of his apartment, and spent six days trekking nearly 40 km through Hangzhou’s mountains. Living only on berries and stream water, he was finally found ragged but safe after a search with drones, sniffer dogs, and more than a hundred helpers. He now vows: no more solo heartbreak adventures!

Today’s issue has unexpectedly turned into a “single-men edition.” Big hugs from all of us!

See you tomorrow,

Thomas, Michael & the Team of asiabits.

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