Daily Tech Snippet: Monday, January 16

• Six-Hour Meeting of Chinese Tycoons Eases LeEco Cash Crunch: It took Jia Yueting just over six hours in December to snag $2.2 billion from a Chinese real estate mogul to keep LeEco afloat. In so doing, the entrepreneur secured a vital financial and strategic ally as he prepares to do battle with the likes of Tencent Holdings  and Tesla. Jia’s LeEco, the sprawling conglomerate with interests ranging from electric cars and TVs to entertainment, announced Friday its cash crunch was almost over after winning 16.8 billion yuan in strategic investments, mostly from Sun Hongbin’s Sunac China Holdings Ltd. Jia declared he’ll now use the money to “far surpass” China’s three biggest internet companies: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.  Jia said on Sunday most of the money, around 10 billion yuan, will be paid to him in exchange for the shares he controls. The deal makes Sun and his company the second-largest shareholder in LeEco and ends a months-long quest for capital that quickened after Jia publicly admitted in November LeEco had expanded too quickly and was facing a squeeze. “With Sunac China, LeEco will no longer fight alone,” Jia told journalists in a five-star Beijing hotel ballroom on Sunday. “This is the first time for LeEco has introduced or had a second major shareholder so it’s a very important turning point.” Tianjin-based Sunac is the white knight that’s signed on to Jia’s vision. Chairman Sun Hongbin, who hails also from Jia’s home province of Shanxi, said he was inspired to invest after the meeting with Jia, who at the time was trying to sell company property to raise money.

• SpaceX nailed its first launch since last year’s big explosion: Early Saturday morning Jan. 14, SpaceX successfully launched ten communication satellites made by Iridium — one of its largest satellite customers — into low earth orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The mission, part of a larger effort to replace at least 70 of Iridium’s satellites by 2018, was a much-needed positive start to what should be a busy year for SpaceX. SpaceX has a lot to accomplish in 2017, but it’s crucial to remember that all of this is in service of the company’s ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars. That’s why each commercial launch is critical for the company Elon Musk founded 15 years ago. Not only is it proving that the technology works, but each contract is helping Musk fund his ambitious and expensive mission to colonize Mars. Saturday’s unblemished execution — from launch, to completing the mission of deploying the satellites, to landing back on its drone ship — is a good sign for the company, particularly after one of its $60 million rockets exploded with a $200 million satellite on it last August.