36Kr Daily Hot List - 2026-02-13

36Kr Daily Hot List for 2026-02-13. Tech and business news explained simply.

Yuanqi Forest's Founder's 9th Anniversary Letter: Made Progress in 2025, But Market Still Tough

The boss of Yuanqi Forest (a drink company) told his team they did better at making money in 2025 by cutting costs and focusing on their best products, but he warned that competition is still fierce and they need to keep working hard instead of expanding too fast.

LiberLive's new U1 guitar sells fast, their C series has shipped over 500,000 units

A company made a new easy-to-play guitar that helps regular folks make music without lessons, and it's selling like crazy because people want to create music without all the hard work.

Livestock robot company gets millions in funding

A company that makes smart robots to clean barns and check on farm animals just got a big investment, which matters because it could make farming safer and cheaper by using machines instead of people for dirty, risky jobs.

Space tech company gets big funding boost

A Chinese company that makes special space cameras for satellites just got nearly 100 million yuan in new investment because their technology lets satellites take clear pictures of Earth day or night, even through clouds, which helps with things like disaster response and could make space imaging much cheaper.

U.S. Attorney General refuses to apologize to Epstein case survivors; Insta360 CEO responds to giving houses at company party; 12306 adds 'lower-class first-class seat' warning

The U.S. Attorney General wouldn't say sorry to victims of a sex trafficking case, a tech company boss gave away houses and cars at a work party, and China's train ticket app now warns you if you're getting a crummy first-class seat—basically, it's a mix of people in power not taking responsibility, companies trying to keep workers happy with big gifts, and a small but annoying travel hassle getting fixed.

This robot company is putting 'embodied data' into 10,000 backpacks

A robot company made a backpack that records how people do real-world tasks like folding clothes or factory work, so they can collect tons of cheap, real-life data to teach robots how to do those jobs better and faster.

Alipay's AI payments top 120 million, JD Food Delivery hits big numbers, and Xiaomi sells over 37,000 YU 7 cars in January

Alipay's AI payment tool hit over 120 million uses, showing people are really trusting AI with their money; JD Food Delivery helped nearly 400 restaurant brands get over a million orders, meaning more folks are ordering food online; Xiaomi sold 37,869 YU 7 cars in January, which is a solid start for their new electric car.

Farm robot company gets new money, now worth 5 billion yuan

A company that makes smart farm robots just got millions in funding to help farmers deal with worker shortages by using drones and robots to do jobs like spraying crops and picking mushrooms.

Big players are coming after DJI's camera business

Phone companies like OPPO and vivo are now making small handheld cameras to compete with DJI's popular Osmo Pocket 3, which matters because more competition means better choices and possibly lower prices for people who love making videos.

Three big news stories: Founder of Pang Donglai retires and changes his nickname to 'Silly Rascal'; Chinese hotel group gets called in by consumer association; New scam center appears in Myanmar near KK Park.

A popular supermarket founder in China is retiring and joking about his past mischief, a hotel chain is being told to fix unfair rules for customers, and a new criminal scam center has popped up in Myanmar right near a known bad area, showing these illegal operations are spreading and getting harder to stop.

Companies expect HBM4 testing to finish by mid-2026

The big memory chip makers are almost done checking their new HBM4 chips, which are needed for better AI computers, and they'll be ready for Nvidia's new systems around mid-2026, meaning faster and smarter AI tech is coming soon.

Railway investment hits 46.3 billion yuan in January, up 5.5% from last year

China spent more money on building and fixing railways last month compared to the same time last year, which means more jobs and better train services for people.

Lanrui Optoelectronics raises hundreds of millions in Series C funding

A Chinese company that makes smart glass that can change color with electricity just got a huge cash injection from investors, which means they can build more factories and labs to make enough of their special glass for cars and electronics to meet growing demand.

Wo'an Robot sets up an embodied AI company in Shenzhen with 100 million yuan registered capital

A robot company in Shenzhen just started a new business that will develop smarter robots and AI software, which matters because it shows big money is being invested to make robots more helpful in our daily lives.

Big money bought tech stocks, sold telecom stocks this morning

Big investors put more money into electronics and computer companies while taking money out of telecom and media companies, which means they think tech is a better bet right now than communication businesses.