SILICON DRAGON NEWS
SiliconDragonventures.com                                       Sept. 10, 2018         
Featured Event
 
AI Superpowers
with Kai-Fu Lee
   Sept. 28, 5-8pm
St. Francis Yacht Club
San Francisco

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  Fireside chat:
VC, Author &
AI Expert
Kai-Fu Lee,
Sinovation Ventures
 
Video Preview: Ted Talk
AI Superpowers | Kai-Fu Lee

AI Superpowers |
 
Kai-Fu Lee:

How AI Can Save

Humanity



Panel of AI
Venture Capitalists
& Innovators
+
Network reception
overlooking the Bay
   
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InvestHK
 
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Silicon Dragon 
Annual Awards

Presenting Awards for
Top VC, Founder, Deal
and Startup of the Year
+ VC Panel

Hong Kong
Nov. 15, 5-9pm

Thanks to our sponsors:
Morrison & Foerster
KPMG


PARTNER EVENT
 
Competing and
Collaborating
with an
Innovative China:
 
featuring discussions on
U.S.-China Trade Tensions and Impact on VC & Deals

Fireside Chat: 
Dixon Doll of
ImpactVC and
DCM with
Rebecca Fannin,
Silicon Dragon

Lunchtime Talk:
Xiang Bing,
Founding Dean,
CKGSB
Panels:
Baidu, Fosun,
Rhodium Group

September 27
University Club
New York City


10% discount:
enter code SD
on the link above




Speaking
appearances
  
  Cyberport Venture Forum
Hong Kong
November 8

Silicon Dragon 

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@silicondragon
@rfannin

 
Jack Ma is stepping down as chairman of the board at Alibaba to focus on philanthropy. He's sure to have a major impact there too!
 

News of Alibaba co-founder and executive chairman Jack Ma laying out a succession plan run the e-commerce conglomerate causes me to reflect on the near two decades that China's first-generation Internet companies have been at the forefront of an era I first documented in Silicon Dragon.
Alibaba, the A of China's BAT or Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent is nothing like the business it was even just 12 years ago, when I interviewed Ma in Hangzhou at Alibaba's headquarters, then a drab office building and now a sprawling corporate campus.
The business has morphed from e-commerce to entertainment to local services. And it's gone from its home base in China to edge into Southeast Asia and the U.S. with strategic investments and acquisitions.
When Jack Ma does step down from running Alibaba next year, what will his successor and current CEO
Daniel Zhang face?
Lots of competition from domestic Chinese rivals Tencent and Baidu - the B and T of the BAT - in far-flung fields that Alibaba has entered in a land grab of fast-emerging sectors.
Another challenge Alibaba faces is
Pinduoduo, the social commerce upstart that went from 0 to $23 billion in revenues in three years and scored a $1.5 billion initial public offering in New York in late July.  The speed at which Pinduoduo has ramped up shows the forces at work in China's next-generation of emerging companies. It took Alibaba 16 years to reach $23 billion in revenues.


Meet Daniel Zhang, the "free and unfettered spirit" who will succeed Jack Ma in 12 months.  SCMP

 
VC DEALS
 
AI and robotics startup  Ringle.AI has snagged $30 million from  Bertlesmann Asia Investment and
IDG Capital
 
Tencent has made yet another far-reaching investment in China with its co-investment of $450 million with Goldman Sachs in MissFresh, a Chinese fresh food 
e-commerce group. 

Chinese payments service provider Lianlian in Hangzhou has bagged $146 million from Sequoia Capital and Boyu Capital

Sequoia Capital India has joined a $20 million, Series B financing of Malaysian-based O2O platform Fave that connects retailers with customers using discount codes.   
Hillhouse Capital has led a $55 million financing of Chinese online education startup
Kaochong.   

Orchid Asia  has led a $70 million, Series E funding of
SoYoung,  a Chinese startup focused on cosmetic surgery.
Matrix Partners, the Russian-China Investment Fund 
and    BOC joined.

 
IPOs

China's large online pharmacy  111, Inc . is planning to raise $140 million on Nasdaq, Sept. 12. The  VC funds behind the deal are Verlinvest Asia, ClearVue Partners and Zall Capital, though the two founders didn't need much funding since they made a fair amount of money from the sale of their first company, Yihaodian (YHD.com), the online grocery business that was acquired by Walmart and subsequently JD.com.
 
The B2C pharmacy clocked revenues of $110.5 million in the first half of 2018, up 68% year over year. 

Investment bank China Renaissance led by rainmaker Fan Bao is moving toward a $400 million IPO at a valuation of $2.5 billion to $2.8 billion in Hong Kong. Some proceeds will go toward making tech investments. 
Bao is raising $600 million for a new VC fund under its Huaxing Growth Capital arm.      

  
DATA

 China continues to be a strong source of unicorn financings of startups, accounting for 29 percent of unicorns in 2018. In rankings of cities with unicorns, Beijing comes in second while Shanghai places fourth. 
Silicon Valley remains in the lead with 22 percent of all unicorns. CBI Insights points out that Silicon Valley is no longer the one and only.  

...
NOTEWORTHY 


   
Even street musicians in China have switched to digital payments with Wechat or Alipay these days. 


 
Steve Stine, Senior Regional Leadership Advisor and INSIDE ASIA radio talk show host, interviewed
Silicon Dragon's Rebecca Fannin for a view on China's tech history and prospects.
Hear the episode: Silicon Dragon Inside Asia



Jack Ma's new business card after announcing he will retire from chairmanship in one year and become a
"Hangzhou man."