Google search

GOOGLE chief executive Sundar Pichai told a U.S. House panel Tuesday that the Alphabet Inc. unit currently has “no plans” to launch a search engine in China but did not rule out a future offering.

But Pichai added that internally Google has “developed and looked at what search could look like. We′ve had the project underway for a while. At one point, we′ve had over 100 people working on it.”

Luckin’s valuation

LUCKIN Coffee, a coffee chain with ambitions to challenge Starbucks Corp. in China, said yesterday it has raised US$200 million in its latest funding round, increasing the company’s valuation to US$2.2 billion.

The fundraising was led by investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and China International Capital Corp., Luckin said. In July, Luckin raised US$200 million, bringing its valuation to US$1 billion.

Henan opening up

HENAN, China’s fifth-biggest province by economic output, has pledged to open up its markets further to foreign investors, easing investment curbs on its auto and aircraft industries and loosening rules on employment of foreigners.

Henan will scrap a rule controlling the number of foreign technicians in foreign-invested firms in construction and engineering design.