SILICON DRAGON NEWS
SiliconDragonventures.com                                       January 22, 2018         

Silicon Dragon 
Israel 2018

January 29

Powering Up 
China-Israel Links


SPEAKERS

Ehud LevyYahal Zilka
Avishai SilvershatzAaron Mankovski
Carol Li Simon Weintraub
  
Canaan Partners Israel
Magma Venture Partners
Infinity Group
Pitango Venture Capital
Sunrise Israel Tech Capital
Yigal Arnon & Co.
SingTel Innov8 VC
Samsung Next
Viktor Ariel
SURE Universal
Payoneer
Superb Reality
ShieldIOT



Thanks To Our
Sponsors & 
Supporters

Yigal Arnon & Co.
WeWork

Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce
Israel-Asia Center
OurCrowd
TechCode
Upround Ventures
InvestHK


..........

Silicon Dragon 
London 2018
Focus on Fintech


2018 Events


PARTNER EVENT


Global Investor
Summit
Jerusalem
February 1, 2018
 
Join 
Silicon Dragon's event 
in Tel Aviv, Jan. 29,
on your way to OurCrowd!  



Join  
Silicon Dragon 
Circle 2018

Your Benefits 
 
   1 Guest
 
 
Ticket to a 
 Silicon Dragon event, 
1 VIP Dinner Invite,  
plus Intros in 
Silicon Dragon's
community


Sue Xu Brad Bao, Selina Wang  
Silicon Dragon held its annual forum in the Valley this past week, where we explored blockchain issues with founders, innovators and investors. We also highlighted the bike-sharing phenomenon with LimeBike co-founder Brad Bao on stage. Our signature panel of US-China dealmakers discussed unicorns, mega deals, China tech IPOs and more. 
If you missed it, you missed a great event, but if you're a Silicon Dragon member, you can catch the videos soon. 
Meanwhile, check out the photos of these venture power players: Sue Xu, Brad Bao, Selina Wang, Chuck Comey, Sanjit Dang, Eric Zhou, Elyse Killeen, Jake Seid, Jim Bai, Helen Wong, Eric Savitz, Rebecca Fannin, Fan Zhang, David Chen, Slav Hermanowicz.
See more photos here at Silicon Dragon

Chuck Comey Sanjit Dang  
Eric Zhou Elyse Killeen, Jake Seid Jim Bai
Helen Jake, Eric Sue, R, Fan Zhang
David Chen Chuck, R, Herman  

Venture Trends: Asia Investment Gains On U.S. 
It's perhaps no surprise that Asia is gaining on the U.S. as the largest source of  venture capital, more than doubling to $70.8 billion in 2017 compared with the U.S. at a 17% gain to $71.9 billion.
Globally, investment surged 50% to $164 billion, to a post-2000 record, driven largely by Asia's gains, according to the latest PwC /CBI Insights report. 
China accounted for four of the six largest global deals of 2017: ride sharing service Didi Chuxing at $4 billion, China Internet Plus (or the merged groups deals sites Meituan-Dianping) at $4 billion, bike-sharing startup Ofo at $1 billion, and electric car startup Nio at $1 billion.  
A separate year-end VC survey by KPMG breaks out China figures and notes that China venture capital investment rose 15% last year to more than $40 billion. 
What's hot in China tech is artificial intelligence, autotech and enterprise services. 
Investment in Israeli startups, meanwhile (and since we'll be in Tel Aviv next week), continues to grow as well, up 9% to $5.24 billion, according to IVC Research Center
For comparison, note that Europe saw a 40 percent rise in financing to $17.6 billion. 
Chalk one up for the Startup Nation! 

DEALS
In a reflection of the fast growth in the long-term apartment rental market in China, service provider
Ziroom has raised $622 million A financing that makes it one of those highly valued unicorns. Investors in the real estate company were private equity investor
Warburg Pincus, VC  Sequoia Capital China and social media company  Tencent

Pony.ai Silicon Valley-based autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai has lured in $112 million, first round led by China-focused VC funds Morningside Venture Capital and Legend Capital, along with earlier investor Sequoia China.  A team of ex- Google and Baidu engineers used their knowhow to form Pony.ai in late 2016. Plans are to roll out a fleet of autonomous cars in Guangzhou, site of the startup's Chinese base.  

Softbank's Vision Fund is investing $560 million in online car deals Auto1 in Berlin. It's the first European deal for the Japanese conglomerate's mega fund. 

Three  Draper Venture Network  funds joined forces to invest $75 million in blockchain security company Ledger, in a Series B round.

FUNDS
Former Cisco chairman John Chambers has launched a self-funded venture fund from Palo Alto focused on Iot, digital communications, security and agriculture. Given his role at the huge global telecommunications firm, wonder how many dollars will go toward Asia. 

NOTEWORTHY
Top Silicon Valley venture capitalist Michael Moritz , who spearheaded Sequoia Capital 's outreach to China and India and has been behind some of the Valley's most successful brands, sounds off in Vanity Fair about how the U.S. risks losing its superpower status to China in this era of Trump. 
In the Financial Times, Moritz aired that he believes the U.S. would be wise to follow China's lead, as least when it comes to work ethic and speed of innovation.  

The radical re-wiring of Europe's tech ecosystem.
Startup Grind

China is escalating its restrictions on cryptocurrency trading, focusing on online platforms and mobile apps that provide exchange-like services, reports Bloomberg