SILICON DRAGON NEWS
SiliconDragonventures.com      @SiliconDragon               March 26, 2019         
NEXT EVENT!
Silicon Dragon
Hong Kong 2019
April 17


Weijian Shan, 
Author, Out of the Gobi
Chairman/CEO, private equity firm PAG

Venture Speakers
Ming YehYuan Liu Duncan  Chibo Tang
Yuan Liu , ZhenFund
Ming Yeh, CSC UpShot 
Duncan Chiu
Radiant VC
Chibo Tang
HK Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund

Smart City Panel
Investor/Founder Chats
Reception/Dinner

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Cooley
KPMG
+ Partner
HK Cyberport

Silicon Dragon 
Beijing 2019
April 25
featuring
Martin SuterMartin Suter, head of China digital commerce with team,
Anheuser-Busch XMotors
He Xiaopeng, founder, Xpeng Motors
 
VC Dealmakers
Jixun Foo, GGV Capital
David Yuan, 
Redpoint China
William Bao Bean
Chinaccelerator/MOX
Hurst Lin, DCM
Anita Huang
Sinovation Ventures
Henry Yin, Cooley
 
  Program, Reception, 
VIP Dinner

 
on Amazon

VIDEO

Rebecca Fannin, author of Tech Titans of China - BeFast.TV interview
Tech Titans of China - Author interview

China's Techie Electric Vehicle Makers On Journey To Build Car of the Future and 
Upend Detroit and Silicon Valley 

Xiaopeng He
Xiaopeng He, founder & chairman, Xpeng Motors

China is on a journey to disrupt the auto making industry with spiffy electric cars outfitted with smart technologies and self-driving capabilities in a race with the US for market leadership of the car of the future. China already is the leading maker of electric vehicles and is the world's biggest automotive market. Detroit and Silicon Valley, stand guard! 
I recently met with the founder of the highly charged Chinese electric car maker, Xpeng Motors, that is at the forefront of China's advances in electric vehicles. 
In an interview with Xpeng founder and Chinese internet tycoon Xiaopeng He in Silicon Valley, he took me through the company's latest milestones: 
opened a Silicon Valley office, tripled headcount to 3,000, broke ground for a self-owned factory in China, beefed up the research team, and launched its first all-electric model - the sport utility vehicle G3 priced at $30,000 to $38,000. Designed for China's young, tech savvy drivers, it sports in-car karaoke and a 360-degree rotatable roof camera for taking group selfies.  
This is China tech speed, read Forbes

A few weeks after our interview, Tesla charged a former engineer recruited by Xpeng Motors of stealing its trade secrets for driver-less technology. 

The lawsuit comes as a US-China technology race intensifies, Silicon Valley tech leaders go on alert, and the US cracks down on corporate espionage by Chinese companies.
 
More from my interview at Xpeng Motors will be published in my upcoming book,   Tech Titans of China, published by Hachette Book Group. 
You can already pre-order the book on Amazon

The founder of Xpeng Motors, a Chinese Internet tycoon, will be speaking at our April 25 event in Beijing, 
His venture investor Jixun Foo of GGV Capital will be on stage too! 

VENTURE DEALS
Cross-border payments fintech Airwallex becomes a unicorn with $100 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Gobi Partners and others.    

B2B marketplace Zetwerk raises $9 million from Accel, Sequoia Capital.   

Stanza Living secures $10 million in venture debt from Sequoia India and Alteria Capital.  

M&A DEALS
Careem acquisition is a big victory for Uber, David Chao of DCM says. This is after Uber has been one-upped by Didi in China and by Grab in Southeast Asia. 
The ride-hailing market remains a hot space.  

NOTEWORTHY
San Francisco c onsiders banning cash-less   Amazon stores. So much for innovation in America. Cash-less stores are going mainstream in China.  

Nuro , the SoftBank -funded robotics firm, is launching autonomous-vehicle grocery delivery from two Kroger stores in Houston. Must have liked Meituan's model in China! Do you want your groceries this way? Forbes

PODCAST
Silicon Dragon's Rebecca Fannin chats with founder Renee Wang about her startup journey into the fast-growing podcast app market with Castbox . She sold her house in Beijing to start Castbox in 2016 and just snared $13.5 million on top of $12.5 million last year to ramp it up with original shows, voice search technology, and even blockchain. How she's staying ahead against lots of rivals. Silicon Dragon podcast
More episodes coming soon! 

ARCHIVE
Facebook imitates WeChat, Ofo's Mess for VCs
Silicon Dragon News:  March 11, 2019
China VC Returns - 21%
Silicon Dragon News: March 18, 2019

 

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