#23. Didi's ban and demonetizing homophobia in Brazil - Trends III
Didi's cybersecurity review and ban, Sleeping Giants 🇧🇷 demonetizing homophobia, and more.
Welcome! Have you been wondering:
What is going on with Didi’s ban after its IPO? 🚘🇨🇳
Who are Brazilian homophobic media… and what are organizations doing about it? 🏳️🌈🇧🇷
What to read to be caught up with the startup scene in Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Latin America? 🤓🌎
If you wonder what Emerging Markets explorer 🧭 is, start here.
Didi: IPOed, cybersecurity review, and ban
Didi Chuxing is a Chinese ride-hailing company that IPOed on June 30 in the NYSE at a $73BN valuation. Shortly after, it was submitted to a cybersecurity review by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
The results were not so good: the Didi App was banned from the Chinese App store under claims of data violation. This means that users that have it can still use it, but new users cannot download it. The findings and consequences were subject to debate these days, as the Didi share price fell 5%.
Didi is not the only company under security review: the CAC has submitted to review the recruiting App BOSS Zhipin, and the freight dispatching platforms Huochebang and Yunmanman. All three companies IPOed in the US in 2021.
Last but not least: guess who had a relevant stake in Didi? You guessed correctly: our old friend Softbank. The Vision Fund invested $11BN, owning a stake of 20%. Softbank’s took a hit of 5.4%, being at its lowest level since November 2020.
Failure stories: #DesmonetizaHomofobia in Brazil
Sleeping Giants Brasil is a Brazilian organization modeled after Sleeping Giants, which works on tackling poor practices in advertising, fighting fake news and hate speech.
Last week, Sleeping Giants Brazil fought for the demonetization of the show of Sikêra Jr., a homophobic reporter for the Alerta Nacional show on Rede TV. They created a social media campaign with hashtags like #DesmonetizaSikera or #DesmonetizaHomofobia to raise awareness of companies funding his show.
The campaign had the goal of having people calling out companies funding Sikêra Jr’s show. Sleeping Giants themselves called out companies like MRV or Caixa for providing ads for this homophobic show on that thread, with many more being called out by the people sympathizing.
By using the organizational power of social media, they got 34 companies so far removing their ads from Sikêra Jr’s and further support. The campaign is still running, and you can watch the results on their Twitter account.
Source recommendations
Yesterday I continued with the source-recommendation thread. It’s becoming the mega thread of source recommendation I needed when starting to research Emerging Markets. 😅
In each recommendation, I attached a fave article/issue. These are some of the best:
Tech in Asia - How SEA got to its current $122BN market cap: reading this article encouraged me to invest in $SEA. I do not regret this decision.
Startupeable: Startups en Latinoamérica: Guía Introductoria 2020. This guide serves as a great entry-level for the Latin American startup ecosystem, mapping the most relevant players by industry and region.
DealflowBR: DealflowBR #35 - Lições de 100 Investimentos Anjo, Próximos IPOs no Brasil, a16z Empresa de Mídia e mais...: This issue includes Brazilian IPOs, macro-trends for listed companies and more investment lessons.