IDG Capital has joined a Series A funding round in China-based AI chatbot developer Xiaoice, which increased its valuation to $1 billion. With more than 660 million users, Xiaoice can communicate with users on social media and even write poetry, sing and compose. Currently, smart assistants of Huawei and Xiaomi use Xiaoice’s technology, as do in-car systems of multiple Chinese automakers. The company, split off from Microsoft last year, will use the funds in product development and expanding its app businesses in China and Japan.

Shein, a China-based women's fashion e-commerce platform reaching tens of millions of customers worldwide, has overtaken Amazon as the most downloaded shopping app in monthly U.S. rankings. With almost $10 billion in revenue, the company has shortened the time from design to mass production from the two to three weeks achieved by Spanish chain Zara to just five to seven days. With world-class big data developers and machine-learning experts, Shein's algorithm can recommend items to users whose profiles are similar to those of previous purchasers. Previously, IDG Capital joined Shein's Series B round.