SILICON DRAGON NEWS
SiliconDragonventures.com                                       July 16, 2018         
Silicon Dragon 
LA 2018

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Focus
LA's Digital Entertainment Scene
Meets China Meets Tech Innovation: 
Short-form Video, 
Gaming, Social Media, 
Livestreaming


Conference
VIP Reception 
Rooftop After-Party!

Janet Yang
Film Producer Chat:
Janet Yang
"Hollywood must think
bigger about China"

Credits include: 
The Joy Luck Club
Shanghai Calling
Empire of the Sun

+ LA Special
Transit Innovations

SkyTran
could SkyTran work 
in LA? 

+ China Angle 
An LA Lean-In
Guru in China

Joy Chen
China Content Creator 
Joy Chen
Famed author of " Don't Marry Before Age 30"

Check out the 
WSJ article on her! 


Silicon Dragon 
LA 2018: 
4th annual forum
Pasadena Convention
Center plus rooftop party in DTLA

Thanks to our sponsors

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Supporters

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LACI
Innovate Pasadena
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America Innovates

Media Partners: 
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BusinessWire

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AI Superpowers With Kai-Fu Lee 
        
Kai-Fu Lee

I've been reading a new book by AI expert Kai-Fu Lee with great interest. The book, AI Superpowers, which is due out this September, underscores a race between China and the U.S. for AI's development. It delves into the tech innovation upgrade and entrepreneurial energy that are leading China to catch up to the U.S. leadership position in AI at an astonishingly rapid rate.
This insightful book by Lee who is both an AI pioneer and  a China venture capitalist as head of tech-savvy Sinovation Ventures in Beijing lays out how China is set to dominate the AI era due to having more data. It's a wake-up call for Silicon Valley, a message I understand well as the author of Silicon Dragon, published a decade ago when most Sand Hill Road VCs did not want to hear that the Chinese are coming.
Lee has led AI groups at Microsoft, Google and Apple in both the U.S. and China and have invested in next-generation high-tech Chinese companies. He's in a good position to write knowingly about AI and China's ascendancy, and how competition between these two superpowers is heating up. Well known in China for his influential micro-blog on Weibo (China's equivalent to Twitter), Lee tells the story clearly about a new world order in technology that could put China and Silicon Valley on the same level in AI.
Lee will bring his wisdom and expertise with a talk and AI panel held by Silicon Dragon Ventures with AAMA in San Francisco, the evening of Sept. 28, at the St. Francis Yacht Club overlooking the Bay.   He will be speaking about and signing his new book.
Tickets may be purchased here and include a signed copy of AI Superpowers
https://AIsuperPowers.eventbrite.com




500 Startups Does Its Own Mary Meeker-Like Internet Report, Just For China

Edith Yeung
Venture capitalist Edith Yeung is fashioning herself as a Mary Meeker documentor  of tech trends, except just focused on China.
Her massive new China Internet Report is filled with statistics on China's Internet landscape: lists of top Chinese unicorns, most active investors, IPOs, acquisitions and startup cities along with charts on the number of Internet and smartphone users.
What's really useful about the report is that it does some side-to-side comparisons of China and the U.S.  A diagram of leading Internet players dissects how Chinese and American brands stack up in search, shopping, payments, ride-sharing, messaging and other leading tech sectors.
Yeung, a partner and head of China for 500 Startups, delves into four key trends she sees evolving in China. 
To read more, check out Forbes
China Internet Report

IPOs
China's super fast growing e-commerce group Pinduoduo,  a Facebook-Groupon mashup, is targeting up to $1.63 billion for a U.S. IPO. Backed by Tencent and Sequoia Capital China , the startup has cracked the market for budget-savvy consumers eager for a deal with fun and interactive shopping experiences. 

DEALS
Yitu Technology
CIIT Asset Management
to expand its facial recognition system overseas. It's moving into major Southeast Asian markets
  
FUNDS
The VC arm of China's Internet giant Meituan-Dianping, Longzhu Capital, has closed a $300 million first fund. Backed by Tencent, China Merchants Capital and Noah Holding, the fund will invest in catering, retail and local services.   

NOTEWORTHY
 China's penetration of Silicon Valley creates risks for startups. More than 20 Silicon Valley venture capital firms have close ties to a Chinese government fund or state-owned entity. While the U.S. government is taking an increasingly hard line against Chinese acquisitions of U.S. public companies, investments in startups, even by state-backed entities, have been largely untouched -- so far. Connie Chan, who leads the Asian network at a16z writes on Twitter: M any of our companies have seen great success working with Chinese investors and strategics, and we continue to encourage these cross-border win-win partnerships.

Wang Gongquan of CDH Fund, a major VC/PE fund in China, said on his WeChat that "the 3-month stock price performance of Xiaomi and Meituan will determine whether or not the current bubble in Chinese Internet bursts or the dreams of explosive growth continue on."
  h/t @ruima