SILICON DRAGON NEWS
www. Silicon D ragonV entures.com       @SiliconDragon        Jan. 13, 2020    
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San Francisco Dinner: 
Jan 30
StartmeupHK: Feb. 11
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Sydney, March 25
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New York, June 18
Los Angeles, July 29
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Silicon Dragon is covering the Asian Financial Forum and HKVCA in Hong Kong this week!

NEW DATA: 2 VC Superpowers?
A gap has opened up between the two superpowers of venture and tech.  In 2019, first figures show that venture capital in China nearly fell off the charts. But not the same for the US, where venture fund raising and deal flow remained fairly stable. Here's an early look at the numbers, China and US, side by side. Clearly, the tech cold war, Chinese economic slowdown and lower deal valuations are having an impact on China venture. There has been a lot of easy money chasing deals. Now, it could be too little money on the chase, and startups could be starved. Stay tuned.     
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China VC Fund Raising
# of funds   Amount Raised in Billions
    2018   218   $32.9 B 
   2019   81    $13.8 B
US VC Fund Raising
     2018  468   $40.5 B
  2019  386   $46 B

VC-Backed Deals In China
    2018   5356   $107 B
     2019   3348   $48.6 B
VC-Backed Deals in US
       2018  5656    $102.4 B
       2019  4633    $105.3 B
Source: Preqin


Silicon Dragon Rocks 
CES 2020 in Las Vegas! 
Tim Zanni tech chat Tim Danks tech chat Josh Fenn tech chat Meridian tech chat   
Speakers Baidu execs Hong Kong VIPs    SD CES 2020
Fireside Chats: Global Tech Titans
Tim Zanni , Partner, Global & US Technology, KPMG
Tim Danks, VP of Risk Management & Partner Relations, Huawei Technologies USA
Josh Fenn , Senior Marketing Manager &  Chris Cheung , Product Manager, Facemoji,  Baidu USA
KPMG's Zanni covered some preliminary findings from the firm's annual technology innovation survey.
He noted that New York City, Beijing and Tokyo scored exceptionally high as leading hubs while London, Shanghai and Taipei also factored in among the top 10 cities cited. New York City's high placement was partly due to Amazon's early decision to base some operations there, later withdrawn.  Zanni further highlighted the domination of U.S. tech companies known as the  FAANGs (also Chinese ones, the BAT +) and the impact of their size and scale. Besides mobile and cloud services as key technologies, he pointed to several others on the horizon - and already here to some degree -  such as AI, 5G and IoT.
Huawei's Tim Danks spoke about the rise of innovative Chinese tech titans and their impact globally while also discussing the US-China tech cold war. He highlighted the company's long-range strategic goals in the roll-out of 5G telecom, the development of its own smartphone operating system, and the next priorities geographically and technologically. 
Josh Fenn and  Chris Cheung of  Baidu honed in on the tech titan's reach into international markets with branding efforts for entertainment and social media companies and advertising for China-based digital marketers looking to reach American markets. Baidu is even helping Hollywood producers Sony and Paramount Pictures promote their film releases with voice-activated keyboard apps for smartphones.
Tech Chat
Hasan Gadjali, co-founder, Meridian Innovation,
 pinpointed the role of the Hong Kong Science & Technology Park as a catalyst for his startup's success as a developer of low-cost thermal sensors primarily used for IoT devices and smart appliances in emerging markets. His company has raised $6 million in financing so far.
PLUS
In the wake of the U.S.-China tech cold war, large Chinese brands and long-time China venture investors were noticeably low profile at the recent Consumer Electronics Show. That's understandable given the ongoing tensions over China's rise as a technology innovator, its threat to Silicon Valley dominance, and ongoing regulatory issues over Chinese tech investment in the U.S.
 Elsewhere at CES 2020, smart cities and smart home devices (especially those made in South Korea) were definitely in, thanks to Samsung and LG. Hyundai launched a swift-looking passenger-flying drone. 
Read more for examples. 
Elsewhere, India brought a delegation to CES for the first time! And Chinese electric scooter maker Niu released a self-balancing three-wheeled electric motorcycle TQi and an urban electric motorcycle RQi that can go up to 100 mph - both firsts. And, both support 5G communication.


DEALS IN THE WORKS
China's social media and e-commerce startup Xiaohongshu, or "Little Red Book," is in early talks to raise funds at a valuation of about $6 billion.   

QUOTED:  Silicon Drago n
The Economist Life is getting harder for foreign VCs in China