The 2020 ranking of top venture capitalists worldwide underscores that China is rising as a tech superpower, while Silicon Valley remains at the top.

On the annual Midas list, China grabbed 23 of the spots, a record. Silicon Valley maintained a strong lead with 54 VCs on the tally. Of the 23 from China, five were notably from Hong Kong. Other markets that placed well were New York and Boston.

Once again,  Neil Shen  of  Sequoia Capital China  topped the list -- the third year in a row. Of the China firms on the list, Sequoia placed 3, GGV Capital had 3 and Qiming had two.

Several Chinese tech titans factored into the rankings for the VCs performance.

Chinese driver-less car startup Pony.ai

has raised $400 million from Toyota to deepen and expand joint testing and development of autonomous driving.

Tests of robo-taxis services have been ongoing in China over the past year.

Now, Pony.ai i s launching a delivery service in Irvine, CA with e-commerce site Yamibuy . Customers order on Yamibuy and a Pony.ai vehicle picks up the package and delivers it. The customer then either comes to the car to collect it or an operator in the car will drop it off at the doorstep. It's a useful service since Californians remain stuck at home.

Aussie fintech startup AirWallex has snagged $160 million in Series D financing from Salesforce Ventures along with existing core investors DST Global, Tencent, Sequoia Capital China , Hillhouse Capital , and Horizons Ventures .

Venture Funds

In quick order, another China-focused venture firm has defied the odds and raised capital for new investing. Following Qiming Venture last week with a $1.1 billion new fund, now Lightspeed China Partners comes out swinging with $4 billion of new capital in three funds to invest in early and growth stage startups. Much credit goes to founding partner James Mi , who backed a number of Chinese tech startups that became titans.

China's Strategic Tech Depth

In India

In India, China’s tech giant companies and venture capital funds have become the primary vehicle for investments in the country – largely in tech startups. This is different from other emerging markets where Chinese investments are mostly in physical infrastructure. Chinese FDI into India is small at $6.2 billion, but its impact is already outsized, given the increasing penetration of tech in India .

US venture capital investment had a strong first quarter, reaching 2,298 deals totaling $34.2 billion in deal value. B ut COVID-19 is poised to slow VC deals for the remainder of the year. Read report by NVCA .

China is speeding up the launch of several blockchain platforms. Digital yuan for international blockchain-based payments and a national blockchain network are in the works. Major players Alipay and WeChat Pay and four major Chinese banks are behind China's Digital Currency Electronic Payment Initiative.

The Chinese-owned Waldorf Astoria is advertising virtual tours of studios and penthouses starting at $1.7 million. The trophy property on Park Avenue has been unoccupied for several years amid a major renovation and ownership transitions.

This was debated on a recent Silicon Dragon Online webinar, and the answer seems to be that Zoom is open in China. A new feature does require webinar adminstrators or hosts to opt into China data centers for transmissions to viewers in China.

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