Author: Rebecca Fannin

Forbes Midas List 2015: A Good Year For China Venture

Four new venture capitalists arrived on the Forbes Midas List of 100 top tech investors following a stellar year for China-based companies, which saw smartphone maker Xiaomi crowned as the world’s highest-valued private tech company and Alibaba as the largest-ever IPO. Sequoia Capital’s China team added one more VC to the firm’s already stacked Midas roster. Coming in strong at #22, Steven...

Sequoia VC: West Is In Denial Over Shift In Tech Power To China

It’s interesting to see Sequoia Capital venture investor Mike Moritz contending that Silicon Valley tech is over-inflated while China startup investing is still going strong — and stronger. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Moritz in an article at Fortune. Moritz argued that money splashed on Silicon Valley companies could probably be put to better use...

Leaping From The Future

Leaping into the future is hard enough as it is with all the myriad of obstacles that try to block our ability to advance in our external world. However, I have observed that the most difficult barriers exist in our own minds. Mental barriers of old ideas that we can’t let go of. Emotional barriers of...

PCH Fills Out Tech Ecosystem For Hardware Startups With Fab Deal

There’s a China connection in the recent deal that PCH made to buy the once high-rising and well-funded e-commerce startup, Fab, which crashed last year. The product development and supply chain firm PCH has a major manufacturing and logistics base in Shenzhen, where its operations assemble, package and get products ready to ship for major multinational companies as well as small to medium-sized...

The Difficulties (Not) of Starting A Business in Hong Kong

I have recently been asked by the Institute of Directors in Hong Kong China to detail the difficulties of starting a business in Hong Kong. I have been starting businesses from scratch pretty much for my whole working life from my recent firm NEST, an early stage startup investment firm, to my earlier business, agency Fluid www.fluidhk.com. I had to think long...

Alibaba, Tencent, Qihoo 360 Driving Up Valuations

Late stage valuations are being driven by corporate venture capitalists seeking access to innovation so they are willing to pay more, pointed out VC Mark Suster at the PreMoney conference in Miami. These new investors include China’s tech titans Alibaba, Renren, Tencent, Fosun and Qihoo 360. It’s the theme of Silicon Dragon San Francisco 2015, March 25. In fact,...

Are Chinese Tech Startups Overvalued?

Technology startups in China are raising cash at a record pace from private investors, prompting concerns about potential overvaluation. The latest hot deal is an $800 million-plus round for Shanghai-based Dianping, an online-review site similar to Yelp Inc., as the WSJ’s Rick Carew and Juro Osawa report. Late demand from new investors increased the fundraising, pushing Dianping’s...

Why Asia’s Tech Titans Are Investing In U.S. Startups

Asia’s wealthiest technology companies are leading a wave of investment in U.S. startups with the hope of gaining a toehold in Silicon Valley and taking some hot new products home. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., China’s largest online retailer, recently invested $200 million in Snapchat Inc. The investment pushed the Venice, Calif., mobile-messaging company’s value up to...

Huawei’s Leaps Ahead In Mobile With Wearable Smartwatch

Huawei has introduced a 7-inch tablet with cellular voice capabilities alongside its Android Wear smartwatch that was leaked before the Mobile World Congress event. Huawei already sells a large phone direct to consumers in the U.S.: You can buy the Ascend Mate2 with its 6.1-inch display for $299.99 off contract. The new MediaPad X2 brings the screen...