Baidu’s IPO Of Video Streamer iQIYI Cheers Robin Li, Others?
China’s BAT companies that have powered into next-generation technologies are capitalizing again. Baidu, the B before Alibaba and Tencent, jumped into video streaming with an investment in iQIYI in 2010, then bought out co-investor Providence Equity Partners in 2012. Last week, Baidu took its majority-owned video subsidiary public in the U.S., raising $2.2 billion.
Baidu co-founder Robin Li was at Nasdaq for the IPO debut. That brought back memories of a beaming, younger Li proudly posing at Nasdaq Times Square headquarters when Baidu went public in 2005.
Shares in iQIYI fell slightly in their trading debut, leading public market investor Fred Liu of NY-based Hayden Capital to tweet that the IPO is proof that U.S. investors lack understanding and interest in Chinese company ADRs.
iQIYI is waging a pricey battle with Tencent Video and Alibaba-own Youku Toudou to attract viewers.
View video of Silicon Dragon’s Rebecca Fannin on CGTN’s global business show about the Chinese video streaming market and the IPO of iQIYI.
Shanghai, New York Rivaling The Valley
A perennial question in Silicon Valley corridors is which market may eventually challenge its leadership. KPMG does an annual survey of technology executives that gets at this question.
For the past couple of years, China has been gaining on the U.S. for tech innovation leadership but this year’s report shows a solid vote for the U.S. as the most promising market for tech breakthroughs. (Go figure!) But Asia won marks. Of ten rival cities, seven are in Asia, including two in China – Beijing and Shanghai.Read more at Forbes, top tech hubs, and download the KPMG publication here, The Changing Landscape of Disruptive Technologies, written with contributor Rebecca Fannin.
Chinese co-working space UCommune opened its first space in the U.S., in the Wall Street area at Serendipity Labs. Los Angeles is next. UCommune, one of the larger outfits in China’s booming workspace markets, has 130 locations in China and recently acquired two rivals, You Space and Wedo as the sector consolidates. Venture backers include Sinovation Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, ZhenFund and Matrix China. UCommune founder and chairman Dr. Mao Daquing and co-founding shareholder Omer Ozden of RockTree Capital were in NYC to celebrate the launch.
FUNDING DEALS
Alibaba buys remaining shares of China’s food-delivery startup Ele.me valued at $9.5 billion, as the e-commerce giants moves further into semi-related retail businesses.
AI and security intelligence startup Aella Data comes out of stealth mode with VC investor Feng Deng of Northern Light Venture Capital as a backer.
Sequoia Capital China has led a $50 million, Series C investment in Chinese oncology startup Adagene. Plus, Singapore’s GIC backed Chinese drug maker Hua Medicine in a $117 million fourth round.
Alphabet X spinout Dandelion in NY raised $4.5 million to build out its geothermal heating and cooling system for homes. ZhenFund and NEA were investors.
Qiming Venture Partners has co-led a $12 million Series A funding round for the personal health testing service run by LetsGetChecked.
FUNDS
Influential angel investor ZhenFund is eyeing a $190 million fifth venture fund since 2011.
IPOs
OneSmart International Education, a K-12 after-school education company, debuted on the NYSE and raised $179 million, one week after ed startup Sunlands. It’s founded by a Harvard Business School graduate and funded by Carlyle and Goldman’s VC arm.
Singapore-based oncology specialist Aslan Pharma has filed for a $86.2 million IPO on Nasdaq.
NOTEWORTHY
China spent an estimated $279 billion on R&D, an increase of 14 percent. Don’t expect these numbers to fall anytime soon as China invests in technologies of the future and goes all out to to win the tech race.
