Featured Event
AI Superpowers
with Kai-Fu Lee
Sept. 28, 5-8pm
St. Francis Yacht Club
San Francisco
Fireside chat:
VC, Author &
AI Expert
Kai-Fu Lee,
Sinovation Ventures
Video Preview: Ted Talk
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AI Superpowers | Kai-Fu Lee: How AI Can Save Humanity |
Panel of AI
Venture Capitalists
& Innovators
+
Network reception
overlooking the Bay
...
(
your ticket includes
a signed copy of
AI Superpowers book,
out just in time
for our event!)
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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
Hong Kong
November 8
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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
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.
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.
Jack Ma's new business card after announcing he will retire from chairmanship in one year and become a "Hangzhou man."
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