1st Chinese IPO on Nasdaq
Since Virus Crisis
Flies Through Headwinds
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In the first significant IPO since the coronavirus pandemic and the first Chinese listing since the
Luckin Coffee
fiasco, Kingsoft's cloud spin-off raised $510 million on Nasdaq at a $3.5 billion market cap, despite the tough stock market environment and negative U.S.-China relations.
As readers of
Tech Titans of China
know, the parent
Kingsoft
is the company that famed Chinese serial entrepreneur and angel investor
Lei Jun
spearheaded and transformed.
Read what
Kingsoft Cloud is up against: (hint)
Tencent and
Alibaba.
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SoF
i, a unicorn and one of the largest fintechs in the U.S., has entered the Asian market with the acquisition of
8 Securities
in Hong Kong. The deal, for an undisclosed amount, will bring enhanced mobile app services to the region via the renamed
SoFi Hong Kong.
Chalk one up for Hong Kong startups.
By the way, Silicon Dragon first was introduced to 8 Securities founder
Mikaal Abdullah
in 2012, not longer after he started up his mobile investing app targeted to millennials in Asia.
SummitView Capital led a $98.6 million funding of AI-powered cloud computing startup
Enflame Technology in Shanghai.
Qiming Venture Partners USA
joins several investors in $71 million, Series C investment in health testing at home app, LetsGetChecked (including for the coronavirus).
Chinese biotech startups are hot.
Shiyu Capital
leads $278.5 million, 1st round in Shanghai-based
Mabwell Biotech
.
Lilly Asia Ventures
and
Lake Bleu Capital
put $100 million in
RemeGen
, a lupus drug developer.
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Deals: India
In Bangalore, AI voice platform for businesses,
Vernacular.ai,
raised $5.1 million in Series A from Exfinity Ventures and Kalaari Capital, to expand in Southeast Asia and the U.S.
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U.S.-China VC Flows Trickling In
Troubled U.S.-China relations coupled with
the economic impact of COVID-19 took their tolls on cross-border VC investment flows between U.S. and China superpowers.
U.S. venture capital investment in China during 2019 fell to 293 financing rounds, totaling $5 billion, a drop from a record $19.6 billion in 2018, according to a new report by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on U.S. China Relations.
For the first quarter of 2020, VC investment is estimated at $600 million, half as much as Q1 in 2019. The outlook is cautiously optimistic, however, as delayed deals get underway, biotech attracts venture capital, and investors jump at lower valuations for startups.
Meanwhile, Chinese venture investors did 261 deals in the U.S. totaling $2.6 billion in 2019, a drop from $4.7 billion in 2018. Capital controls and restrictions on investments led to the drop.
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While
Tesla battles with officials about when it can reopen its Silicon Valley production plant and threatens to move operations,
Tesla
has entered into an agreement for a capital loan of up to 4 billion yuan ($565.51 million) with a Chinese loan agency for its Shanghai factory. The loan will be used for production expenditures at the plant, which also halted operations but due to supply chain issues.
Shanghai's
Disneyland
is reopening this Monday, May 11, the first of its theme parks to do so. Of course, it's sold out.
Rivalry with
Baidu
escalates as
ByteDance
prepares to launch its Wikipedia-like search site. ByteDance, the maker of entertainment app
TikTok
, is also moving into gaming and education.
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Silicon Global
Online Weekly Series
Ask A VC Anything!
May 2020 Schedule
Every Thursday
VC Kamran Ansari
Greycroft VC
May 14
4-5:30pm PT
Chat
Q&A
Break-out discussion
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VC
Melissa Guzy
Arbor Ventures
May 21, 4pm PT
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VC Sean O'Sullivan,
SOSV
VC Kyle Lui
DCM
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Silicon Global Online
Ask A VC Anything
On Demand Replays
$15 each
Brian Cohen
Jim Scheinman
Gary Rieschel
Jay Eum
Jeff Chi
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US-China 2020
Investment Report Launch
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Virtual Discussion
8-9:30pm ET
with Rhodium Group
NCUSCR
AmCham Shanghai
and Silicon Dragon
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Silicon Dragon
NY Online Forum 2020
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Learn how game-changing tech is speeding up and which VCs are funding it
fastest
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- VIP invitations
- Weekly issues of Silicon Dragon News
- Connections
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Showtime
Webit Virtual
The New World After COVID-19
with journalists from CNBC (me), The Economist, BuzzFeed, France 24 TV
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