When talking about his business, Misa Zhu, founder of Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Rokid, frequently uses two words not often associated with tech: gorgeous and patient.
At first glance, the investment strategy of veteran private equity manager Cynthia Zhang appears risky. As founder of recently launched private equity firm FutureX Capital, Zhang plans to make mid-to-late stage investments in promising Chinese tech stars, whose valuations are perhaps the highest in the world.
For Jonathan Larsen, an 18-year Citi veteran, joining China’s Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. was like an army general being asked to lead a small, elite squad. As Global Head of Retail Banking and Mortgages at Citi, Larsen oversaw a global team of 80,000 employees. But when he joined Ping An this May as Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of the US$1 billion Ping An Global Voyager Fund, the team was just him and his assistant on his first day.
China’s healthcare sector is seeing a flood of new capital from from non-professional investors such as Chinese coal mining and factory bosses, according to James Huang, a managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) China, who focuses on life sciences. As a result, valuations have become excessive, forcing more experienced investors to adopt new strategies to get ahead of the "dumb money."
"I’ve never seen two Chinese guys comparing (car) engines (like people do in Europe)," says Freeman Shen, founder of Chinese electric vehicle start-up WM Motor Technology Co., Ltd. "China doesn’t have a long driving culture…the car is more a tool for people to get from point A to B."
In this episode of China Money Podcast, Gobi Partners managing partner Ken Xu speaks to our host Nina Xiang. Xu discusses what he sees as the next technology frontier markets in China, and how Gobi is investing in the artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and new infrastructure-themed industries. You can read a Q&A and watch a short video of the interview. Don’t forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to …
Zhifei Li, founder of Chinese artificial intelligence firm Mobvoi, once joked in a Wechat post that the best business model for a Chinese AI company was to become an Internet celebrity via smart marketing and then pivot to become an e-commerce firm. But, he added self-deprecatingly, "because I’m not handsome enough and my Mandarin is terrible, I choose to sell premium hardware powered by our own proprietary AI technology."
This Podcast Is Sponsored By TiENPAY TiENPAY is not your average fintech start-up. With the company’s origins dating back to the first mobile wallet launched in Australia in 1996, the Hong Kong-based firm has a grand dream: to become the number one global mobile wallet clearance and settlement platform.
At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions (also known as the Summer Davos) in Dalian last week, China Money Network caught up with Prof. Xiaodong Lee, former president and CEO of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), to chat about the development of the Internet industry in China and the country’s role in managing the world wide web.
Millions of ambitious young people wake each morning wanting to "change the world," but few have as ambitious a goal as Bill Liu, founder of Chinese flexible display company Royole Corporation. If Thomas Friedman argued that "the world is flat," then Bill Liu’s mission is to bend, curve and roll up that world.
In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Jie Gong, a partner at Pantheon’s Asia Investment Team, spoke to our host Nina Xiang. Gong discussed new and important trends she sees in China’s private equity and venture capital space, and what the fund-of-funds manager looks for when considering backing funds in China.
To say that Meng Xing, V.P. and entrepreneur-in-residence at Chinese venture firm Shunwei Capital, has been busy would be a gross understatement. Over the past ten years, the 31-year-old venture capitalist and entrepreneur has founded two artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, selling one, an image recognition AI company, to Amazon and the other to a listed Chinese company. In between, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan Hong Kong and casino giant Caesars Entertainment, on top of getting an …
Liu Xing (pictured), a partner at Sequoia Capital China, spoke to China Money Network’s Nina Xiang earlier this week in Beijing on investing in artificial intelligence start-ups in China. Liu joined the venture firm in 2007, and specializes on seed, early and growth-stage companies in the consumer and TMT sectors. Watch the video interview and read a Q&A below: Q: How would you assess artificial intelligence investments in China right now? A: I think the whole AI sector (in China) …
James Zhou, founder of China’s biggest robot maker Ubtech Robotics, was fascinated by the Transformers show as a young boy in Shanghai during the 1980s. A few decades later, he’s turned his childhood passion into Ubtech, a US$5 billion technology powerhouse based in Shenzhen.
Hamilton Tang, managing partner of Chinese private equity firm SMC Capital China, is betting on horses; or more importantly, the growing number of wealthy Chinese who want to own one.
Venture capitalists around the world are having second thoughts about the value of some of their earlier investments. Over the last year, 102 companies were obliged to raise financing at a lower valuations than during earlier funding rounds, according to CB Insights. While only a few Chinese companies are on the list of so-called down rounds, that will not last long as more Chinese tech firms will be forced to raise money at lower valuations, says Tommy Yip, managing partner at …
C-Bridge Capital, a Shanghai-based private equity firm focused on China’s healthcare sector, hopes to profit handsomely by bringing better drug know-how from developed markets to the underdeveloped Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Headed by finance veteran Fu Wei, the US$700 million-under-management firm led a follow-on US$100 million round in Chinese pharmaceutical start-up Ascletis earlier this month. Ascletis has licensed and conducted clinical trail on a hepatitis C treatment drug developed by an American company, and is launching the drug in China during the …
Since an early age, Wang Jun has been fascinated with the fundamental philosophical question: What is life? The ex-CEO of Chinese genome sequencing giant BGI and founder of China’s highest-valued precision health start-up iCarbonX now aims to help people answer that question for themselves. Wang entered Peking University, China’s top university, at the age of 16 after achieving the highest college entrance exam score in his hometown of Dongtai county, in Jiangsu province. During the early 1990s, he pursued his …
The closing months of 2016 have been kind to Qiming Venture Partners. The US$2.7 billion-under-management Chinese venture capital firm saw three of its portfolio companies list in public markets during the past month: in Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Grant Horsfield, founder of Shanghai-based resort and co-working space operator naked Group, always sees things differently. When others saw dilapidated farm houses in China’s countryside, he envisioned seclusive luxury resorts. Now, a year after entering China’s co-working space, the South African entrepreneur is convinced that the future of his multi-pronged hospitality and property business lies in fast execution.
In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Jixun Foo, managing partner at GGV Capital, spoke with our host Nina Xiang, on GGV’s new funds, China’s travel and education sector, and why Chinese companies have a better record of avoiding "down rounds."
In this episode of China Money Podcast, returning guest Dr. Marc Faber, renowned investor and publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, speaks with our host Nina Xiang. Dr. Faber played a game of Long & Short, where he spelled out his view on central banks, currencies and commodities, among other items.
In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Wang Lihong, a managing director at Bain Capital, spoke to our host Nina Xiang on the firm’s education investments in China, where the future of online education lies, and potential deals in the Chinese restaurant sector.
In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Herry Han, partner at Lightspeed China Partners, spoke with our host Nina Xiang, on making early-stage investments in China’s media and mobile healthcare sector.
In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Roger Wu, a partner at consumer-oriented private equity firm Maison Capital, spoke to our host Nina Xiang on China’s O2O (online-to-offline) bubble and the firm’s investment in a Chinese healthcare device maker.
In this episode of China Money Podcast, founder of charitable organization the Yao Ming Foundation, Yao Ming, speaks to our host Nina Xiang on philanthropy and what wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs should do to get more involved.
Dr. Zhi Yang, founder of BioVeda China Fund (BVCF), answers five questions in this video interview with Nina Xiang, host of China Money Podcast. Q: What is a key industry trend that is overlooked by most people?
In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to four top Chinese healthcare investors, including Qiming Venture Partners’s Nisa Leung, Ally Bridge Group’s Frank Yu, Bain Capital’s Li Min and BioVeda China Fund’s Dr. Zhi Yang answer the same following five questions:
Li Min, principal in charge of healthcare investments at Bain Capital, answers five questions in this video interview with Nina Xiang, host of China Money Podcast.
Frank Yu, founder of healthcare-focused investment firm Ally Bridge Group and formerly head of China Investments at Och-Ziff Capital Management, answers five questions in this video interview with Nina Xiang, host of China Money Podcast.
Nisa Leung, managing partner leading Qiming Venture Partners‘ healthcare investments, answers five questions in this video interview with Nina Xiang, host of China Money Podcast.