SILICON DRAGON NEWS

www. Silicon D ragonV entures.com       @SiliconDragon        Dec. 9, 2019    
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Stakes Rise In U.S.-China Tech Cold War With Latest Supply Block     

The U.S.-China tech cold war has taken on new meaning as Beijing has ordered Chinese government offices and public institutions to remove foreign software and computer equipment and replace it with domestic suppliers within three years.
This is a real example of the "splinternet" or separation of eastern and western technology worlds that is coming, and quickly. I t follows U.S. blocks on American companies selling to Chinese tech companies in artificial intelligence and telecom networking.
This push back by the U.S. on Chinese technology has the effect of making China more self-reliant on its own technologies. China has been dependent on the U.S. for some core tech while Chinese development is underway. But now the motive to push that effort forward strengthens, as news comes that the Chinese Communist party has a directive to boost its domestic tech supply. It amounts to a decoupling of these two tech superpowers.   Read more at Forbes : Splinternet

China tech is going global. This trend is one of the ongoing drivers of China's leap in technology from copiers to innovators as China's entrepreneurs work hard and innovate fast.  A few years ago, very few Chinese brands were known outside their home country. China's smart phone maker Xiaomi was one of the exceptions as the top seller in India. 
Now other China tech makers are becoming recognizable internationally as Chinese tech continues to advance. In developing Caribbean nations such as Jamaica, where I recently moderated some technology sessions at the so-named Tech Beach Retreat, attendees largely from the region knew the names of the Chinese tech titans and what they do.
China tech ascendancy is not always viewed in a favorable light from the West, as we have seen with TikTok, the China-made, 15-second video app that has gone global over the past two years, and has been in the public eye recently for alleged censorship of content.  Read more: global trendsetters.

FUNDS 
New venture funds continue to chase a China opportunity in spite of the ongoing U.S.-China tech cold war.   Sequoia Capital has raised $3.4 billion to invest in the U.S. and China, with the bulk of that amount - approximately $2.4 billion of that amount reserved for Chinese venture and growth deals.
And Sequoia is not the only one going after China deals, politics aside.  South Korean conglomerate SK Group has launched an $850 million fund with China's private equity firm Hillhouse Capital to invest in Chinese startups that can create synergy with its telecom company's businesses. 
YCombinator recently shut down its China funding and accelerator program but that didn't stop its founder Qi Lu from setting up his own fund, MiraclePlus.
Read more: 
dry power for China

Long-time India investor, Accel India. has raised $550 million for its sixth fund to back Indian tech startups.
   
  DEALS
Tencent is investing an additional $2 billion in Chinese short video app Kuaishou, a rival to the better-known TikTok.  With the capital, Tencent gains a 20% equity stake in Kuaishou. 
Ironically, Tencent probably should have developed its own 15-second video app, given its base in digital communications and entertainment, but instead the spark came from two Chinese startups outside the Tencent ecosystem. Other backers of Kuaishou are DCM Ventures, Baidu Capital, Morningside Venture Capital and Sequoia Capital China

Beijing-based AI startup Aibee has raised $74 million in a Series A funding led by ClearVue Partners. Participating investors included GSR Ventures and Sequoia Capital China, which led a $60 million round in Aibee a year ago.

Two Chinese healthtech startups snagged financing, moving China up the ladder. Suzhou Ribo Life Science got $28 million in a Series C deal led by Panlin Capital.   EOC Pharma got $71 million in a Series C round for development of oncology products. 

In a trend toward Chinese corporate giants investing in Indian startups, 
Ping An has made its first venture investment in India, leading a $70 million, Series D funding in autotech startup  CarDekho . Along for the ride were Sequoia India and Hillhouse Capital
 
In Indonesia, Populix, a consumer insights platform, has raised $1 million in seed financing led by Intudo Ventures

In Singapore, financial technology provider FinAccel has raised a $90 million Series C round led by Australia's Square Peg Capital.  
 
NEWS
* Reddit gained 30% more monthly users globally in 2019, despite censorship concerns after Tencent bought into the social media platform. 
* Singaporean delivery business Grab teamed up with Mastercard to launch a prepaid cashless card in Asia, following the model of Chinese tech titans branching out into related businesses. 
* Huawei is seeking to block an FCC decision last month that further restricts the Chinese telecom giant's ability to operate in the U.S.

SPEAKING UP

Thought leader and producer Chris Fenton
interview on  Hollywood-US  China action
.