Two Worlds: Polaroid and TikTok, DCM Scores Big-Time with Bet on China's Short Video App, Founders Fund Signs up for Miami office

February 8, 2021

www.silicondragonventures.com

Ahead of Their Time

For every company that’s making headlines today, there were those a decade or two ago that had already espoused a similar product, service or idea. For instance, there was Vestron before Netflix, and Quorn before Impossible Foods, and Polaroid before TikTok.

Delve into the business stories of ten pioneering companies in five different sectors – examining one who was an early predecessor that operated in a burgeoning market, and another, in today’s world that seems to have caught on to a winning formula. Channel News Asia On Demand examines what are the lessons to be gleaned? And how life-changing products and services have shaped the way we live, eat and connect.

Your editor Rebecca Fannin is quoted in episode 5: Polaroid and TikTok.

"The first Chinese tech titan to straddle this global world."

DEALS

PRC video app Kuaishou, a rival to China's Douyin (or TikTok in the U.S.) listed on the HKSE last week, and was 1,000x oversubscribed. Raising $5.4 billion in the biggest tech IPO since Uber, Kuaishou’s stock has nearly tripled, for a market cap of $160 billion on revenues of $6 billion. Credit for calling the deal goes to Ruby Lu and to DCM investors Hurst Lin in Shanghai and David Chao in Silicon Valley.

You can read more about what led up to the deal in Tech Titans of China.

$40 million that DCM put into Kuaishou is now worth about $12 billion.

Founders Fund signs up for a Miami office.

Daily Hunt's short video platform Josh has raised $100 million from Qatar Investment Authority.

NYC’s UiPath , a robotic process automation platform, has raised $750 million in a Series F funding at $35 billion valuation, led by Alkeon Capital and Coatue.

Greenoaks, Lightspeed lead Series D round in Sequoia -backed Zetwerk, a marketplace in India for outsourcing of small manufacturing jobs.

IDG Capital co-leads $390 million round in Chinese vocational edtech startup Fenbi.

Chinese marketing services firm Baosheng Media Group files and sets terms for a $28 million US IPO. Baosheng CEO Ms. Wenxiu Zhong is in Beijing.

Pony.ai raises $100 million more from Sequoia, Legend Capital and IDG Capital to advance autonomous vehicle tech, bringing the total to more than $1 billion.

Online math learning platform Cuemath nabs $40 million in funding from Capital G and Sequoia Capital India.

NOTABLE

Heartland Forward released its latest report, "Reshoring America: Can the Heartland Lead the Way?"

There are more than 160,000 Chinese American-owned businesses in the U.S., generating approximately $240 billion in revenue and supporting 1.3 million jobs: Committee of 100 study.

Beijing's blocking of drop-in audio chat Clubhouse (only on Apple) was expected.