SILICON DRAGON NEWS
SiliconDragonventures.com                                       August 6, 2018         
Silicon Dragon 
Shanghai 2018

AUGUST 13

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featuring a panel of
leading VCs investing in China's top startups

Helen Wong
Qiming Ventures
(think Youku-Tudou)
 
Nicholas duCray
Cathay Innovation
(think Pinduoduo)

+
 
Dominic Penaloza
Innovation & Tech Head
WeWork China

  
Thanks to our sponsors and partners
 
Sidley
Chinaccelerator
SOSV
MobileMonday Shanghai
WeWork

...
 
SPECIAL EVENT

 

Kai-Fu Lee

 

AI Superpowers
with

Kai-Fu Lee

and AI Panel  

St. Francis
Yacht Club
San Francisco  
Ticket includes a
signed book + reception 
  RSVP
 

 
Silicon Dragon 
Annual Awards
Top VC, Founder, Deal and
Startup Fund Raising 
of the  Year
Hong Kong
November 15, 5-9pm



Speaking
appearances
  
Overseas Technology 
Entrepreneurs Contest
Beijing
August 11
Keynote Talk

Cyberport Venture Forum
Hong Kong
November 8
Moderator

VC panel Synch SYNCH 2018: 
Rebecca Fannin
with VC panelists 
Alex Liang of Oriza Ventures and Xuezhao Lan of Basis Set
Ventures -
August 2018

Silicon Dragon 

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@silicondragon
@rfannin

Could Google Beat Baidu This Time In China? 

Google in China Rebecca - Kai-Fu Lee
Circa 2006: Google Beijing headquarters
Silicon Dragon's Rebecca Fannin with then-Google China president Kai-Fu Lee, now a venture capitalist at Sinovation Ventures and author of upcoming book, AI Superpowers.
Hear his talk Sept. 28 at the yacht club in San Francisco:


Will Google do better this time in entering China with Dragonfly, its project to bring a censored search engine back to China?
Google attempted to become the top search engine in China for nearly a decade and stopped without success in 2009. The global search powerhouse struggled in China with inferior search results, unreliable service, censorship issues and intense competition from Chinese upstart Baidu - by now a familiar story for many American brands facing obstacles in China.
Read Forbes: Google Deja Vu

 
Starbucks - Alibaba
Starbucks on demand in China, courtesy Alibaba
 
Starbucks has managed to become one of the few successful American businesses in China, a major feat in tea-drinking nation China. Now America's biggest coffee brand has scored by forging an alliance with online marketplace Alibaba to boost sales amid U.S.-China trade tensions and reports that Chinese consumers are boycotting Starbucks.
The move comes as Starbucks sales have recently slumped in China by 2 percent while competition has intensified. Local rivals such as newcomer Luckin Coffee are gaining market share against the dominant Starbucks with 660 outlets, competitive prices and ordering over a mobile phone app.
The partnership of Alibaba and Starbucks comes at an opportune moment -- and it mimics the digitalized upstart Luckin Coffee that launched early this year.


 
FUNDS
  Golden Gate Ventures in Singapore is giving startups in Southeast Asia a boost with the recent raising of $65 million toward a $100 million fund investing in the emerging region. Existing investors include Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Mistletoe, run by Softbank chairman Masayoshi Son's brother Taizo.


 Vynn Capital
, a Southeast Asian VC firm investing in
  early stage startups and based in Malaysia, is partnering with the  United Nations World Tourism Organization
to develop Asia's tourism and hospitality business. Vynn Capital's managing partner Victor Chua, a former investor with Gobi Partners, won a Forbes 30 under 30 award.  
 
  
DEALS 
China new energy vehicle maker XPeng Motors has raised $587 million in a Series B financing from Primavera Capital and Morningside Venture Capital  at a post-money valuation of $3.67 billion. 
Read Forbes:  China's Bid to Lead EV Market 
 
Medlinker, a China mobile medical services startup based in Chengdu, pulled in a $147 million, series D founding round, backed by CIC, Sequoia Capital, and  China Renaissance co-founder.  Medlinker becomes China's newest unicorn while China Internet old-timer Sohu loses its unicorn status.  

Tencent and Alibaba have co-invested $53 million in former Voice of China TV producer, Shanghai Canxing Culture & Broadcast Co.    
 
Hershey has quietly sold its candy unit Golden Monkey to a state-owned food processing business after acquiring the Shanghai-based chocolate maker for $577 million in 2014. 

DATA: China VC Hitting Highs In U.S.
 
China VC - US  
 Chinese venture capital investment in the U.S. reached nearly $2.4 billion in the first five months of 2018, at the level of its previous full-year record set in 2015. The Rhodium Group predicts that China VC in the U.S. will surpass prior records in 2018 due to a big jump in biotech deals and shift to later-stage funding rounds. This comes in spite of heightened U.S.-China tensions.
At the same time, Chinese FDI investment in the U.S. continues to decline. After reaching a record high of $46 billion in 2016, it fell in the U.S. to $29 billion in 2017, and to only $1.8 billion in the first five months of 2018.
 
 
FEATURED VIDEO: TRANSIT INNOVATORS IN LA
...
Silicon Dragon LA 2018 - Panel: Transit Innovations

Silicon Dragon LA 2018 Panelists: 
Phil Roberts, Eric Mika, Kevin Noertker, John Cole discuss their amazing innovations to upgrade mobility, with moderator Ruby Salo of Nixon Peabody.

 See Highlights, Silicon Dragon LA 2018