Circles.Life is the new telco challenger startup in Asia. Securing several rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, Singapore's EDBI, Silicon Valley's Founders Fund, and Warburg Pincus for its fully-digital technology and business model innovation, it offers cloud-based telecommunications services around simplified data-focused plans, a simple onboarding process, and easy-to-use mobile app. The case explains how its 'fully digital' strategy improves upon established unit economics, enables rapid expansion beyond Asia, and diversification beyond voice and data offerings. Such innovations are often based on improvements in back-end infrastructure that differentiate the disruptor from competitors. In this case, Circles.Life develops a new technology stack with featuries in the e-commerce, network intelligence, and system operations layers that are substantial improvements over other MNVOs (mobile virtual network operators). These eliminate physical retail outlets, cut customer acquisition and service costs through automation, and allow the company to introduce non-telco services such as event ticketing, insurance, games and shops on the platform by early 2020. Meanwhile, 5G is promising to transform the telecom competitive landscape in Asia.

ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, the viral short video app, made headline news when its valuation jumped to $75 billion, surpassing Uber ($72 billion) to become the world's most valuable start-up. ByteDance leveraged capabilities in consumer-focused artificial intelligence (AI) to become one of the first Chinese Big Tech digital platforms to succeed outside China, notably in the US and India. The case focuses on the strategic value of predictive AI on the supply and demand sides of digital content, illustrating how AI-based tools enable the production of viral content and customized delivery and consumption. It compares the Chinese and US approach to AI, drawing a distinction between their implementation and innovative capabilities. Other issues include the internationalization of digital platforms, notably the management of inappropriate and illegal content in the respective institutional settings, and China's unique approach to content filtering that combines AI with human censors. Competition with China's other Big Tech companies - Tencent and Baidu - is also discussed. The case can also be used as a general introduction to artificial intelligence, including a brief history of AI (Section 2), categorization of AI applications (Section 3), and a comparison of AI in China and the US (Section 4).

When Alibaba, China's leading digital platform and cloud-based services company, fails to acquire the US firm Moneygram, CEO Jack Ma decides to go it alone and develop a digital strategy using blockchain technology as the basis for a global remittance service, GCash, within its cloud services business. Alibaba's financial services affiliate Ant Financial, begins by targeting cross-border money transfers made by domestic workers in Hong Kong who routinely send money to their families in the Philippines. It subsequently forms a strategic alliance with Globe Telecom and Standard Chartered Bank which provide market access and financial intermediation. The case focuses on the value proposition of blockchain in cross-border financial services, particularly in Southeast Asia, and how it fits into Alibaba's "iron triangle" cloud services strategy in the region where there is fierce competition from Google and Digital Ocean. Blockchain technology is utilized to disintermediate the US-based SWIFT system and the dominant remittance service providers, Moneygram and Western Union, that charge high fees. As an illustration of how to launch proprietary cypto- and blockchain-based networks, the case explains how they differ from digital platforms, and how they are complementary, such as network effects and synergies with Alibaba's installed customer base.