SILICON DRAGON NEWS
SiliconDragonventures.com                                       May 21, 2018         
Silicon Dragon 
NY 2018



Last week for
early bird rate! 

VCs SDNY 2018
Venture Panel
China-US VCs
Hans Tung, Nan Zhou, Mason Du, Brian Cohen, Jim Robinson, Robin Li

blockchain SDNY 2018
Blockchain Innovation Panel 
Gurus Jason Fang, Lou Kerner, Paul Brodsky

Leftover in China
Book Talk
Author Roseann Lake


DJI drone leader
Brand Chats: 
Designed in China Drone Leader DJI
NY Rep Adam Lisberg
Peter Prodromou,
Racepoint Global

PITCH CONTEST


 2 NY Semi-finalists Win Trip 
To Beijing To Compete 
In Global Finals
Aug 8-10
Global Champion wins:  
- Funding Up to $200,000
- Grants, Loans
- Strategic Advice 
- Co-working Space in Beijing

Deadline to apply to pitch in NY: June 1
 


Silicon Dragon
2018 Events


NEXT EVENT
Los Angeles

China - LA 
Digital Entertainment
Capital & Innovation

On The Circuit
Speaking Gigs  

China Careers Summit
US-China Strong Foundation
June 1
Washington, DC

Summit
June 22-23
Bangkok



Silicon Dragon
Silicon Dragon News

Join The 
Silicon Dragon Circle
-
VIP Invitation
s
- Premium Content
- Networking Intros

China's BAT Companies Not Going Mainstream In The U.S. Anytime Soon - Here's Why
Silicon Dragon Google in China  

Will China's BAT companies - Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent - go mainstream in the U.S. anytime soon? Probably not.
While these Chinese tech giants are becoming better known in the U.S. as a Silicon Dragon market has risen from China and stands to challenge Silicon Valley for leadership,  these titans are actually focused not on the U.S. but on their home market as well as increasingly, Southeast Asia. A battle for global tech leadership will not be fought in the U.S.
Consider this: only 1 percent of Baidu's revenues come from international markets, only 11 percent of Alibaba's revenues stem come from outside China, and only 5 percent of Tencent's revenues are from international markets. Compare this with much larger international revenues for Google at 53 percent, Amazon at 32 percent, and Facebook at 56 percent of their total revenues.
Mobile and Internet brands from the BAT are not catching on in the U.S. due to cultural differences, language issues, security concerns, and regulations.  
It's with investments that China's BAT are actually breaking through in the U.S.  Over the past five years, the Big Three Chinese Internet companies have inked 95 tech deals totaling $27.6 billion.

PS. You can catch my article on the Power of the BAT
In Techonomy magazine, spring 2018.


An inspiring all-women conference about China was held by  SupChina last week in New York to discuss how women are shaping the rising global power China.
Wei Sun Christianson, CEO of China for Morgan Stanley, spoke about how technology is reshaping China with gains in mobile payment, artificial intelligence and next-generation telecommunications, plus she noted the impact of China's Big Three. 
"China is moving toward tech leadership and is no longer the copycat. In Silicon Valley, the talk is about how China is transforming itself and becoming important to the world. The rest of the world is watching China's pace of innovation and its impact," she said.  
( Music to Silicon Dragon ears.) 
 Broadcast journalist and media entrepreneur Lan Yang, considered the  Oprah Winfrey of China spoke about media fragmentation in China. She alone has 40 million followers!
Wei Christianson Janet Yang
Wei Christianson, Janet Yang
 Cultural insights came from Hollywood producer Janet Yang who talked about her new initiative to promote Asian female talent and the rise of China in the movie-making business. She mentioned that a new film,  Crazy Rich Asians, could be the first Asian-themed movie to make a splash in the U.S. since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.


DEALS AND IPOs

Ant Financial
The talk of the town  Ant Financial's expected $10 billion fund raise this week, looping in Carlyle, Warburg Pincus, Temasek and the Canada Pension Board. One catch: investors can't put money into rivals Tencent, group buying sites Meituan-Dianping and e-commerce giant JD.com.  What's next? An IPO of the Jack Ma-controlled unit that could edge up to Alibaba's own $25 billion public debut in 2014.   
No confirmation yet of a $2 billion fund raise for Ant Financial's closest rival JD Finance, which is also heading toward IPO status.

Haidilao, China's popular hot pot chain, has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong. If you want to sample the food in the U.S., head on over to Los Angeles suburb Arcadia, and you'll find the restaurant amid a vast shopping mall.
It's the only Haidilao so far in the U.S. although the chain operates nearly 300 hot spot restaurants in China and 24 overseas.

In other deal news:
Sequoia Capital China and LYFE Capital put $37.5 million in China pharma startup HiFIBiO Therapeutics in a second round joined by a host of firms.
Sequoia also backed Chinese heart valve developer Venus Medtech.

SOUTHEAST ASIA
500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures and Sequoia Capital India invested $85 million in community marketplace Caroussel, a startup that Silicon Dragon featured two yeas ago and greenlighted for Forbes Asia 30 under 30.   


NOTEWORTHY

 In tech-trendy China, even glorified vending machines are raising billions. A buzzy Beijing startup, Mr. Fresh, has free-standing shelves where shoppers can scan QR codes and grab what they want. Purchases are tracked through facial recognition. The retailing concept has caught on Chinese office lobbies. At least 19 startups have pulled in $1.7 billion funding of these new-fangled kiosks.   Tencent and IDG Capital are backing them.

Consulting firm Racepoint Global has teamed up with corporate image tracker Reputation Institution to launch ChinaRepTek, to track how Chinese consumers regard brands and help them upgrade.

Veteran U.S. producer Rick Ambros is debuting a series of local-language films in Vietnam through his new startup production company  Pacific Horizons Pictures, along with Ivanhoe Pictures, which is bringing out  Crazy Rich Asians.  
Ambros will be speaking at Silicon Dragon LA 2018, July 25 at the Pasadena Convention Center.    

STAY TUNED
Silicon Dragon's analysis of venture capital investment comparing China and the U.S. is due out this week at CNBC.com. Full details in next week's issue.