Twitch Of China Does NYSE IPO, Tesla Killer in China Revs Up
The Twitch of China, HUYA, went public last Friday on the NYSE, buoyed by major Chinese backers Tencent and social entertainment company YY, which together own 75.7 percent of the newly listed company’s shares.
HUYA raised $180 million in the IPO and was trading up 30 percent at mid-day, as one of a series of Chinese tech companies that have gone public this year.
The company, which is a spin-off of NASDAQ-listed YY and was funded by Chinese gaming leader Tencent in March with $460 million, is aimed at China’s tech-savvy youngsters who are into games and e-sports. CFO Henry Sha, interviewed by Silicon Dragon, said the listing went to New York because of a large sophisticated investor base that already understood Twitch positioning and could more easily relate to HUYA.
Read Forbes: The Twitch of China IPO
Two startups that caught Silicon Dragon‘s eye at TechDayNY (see Forbes write-up) were voice-powered commerce platform Jetson.ai and long-term apartment rental service Para. Both have a China angle.
They’re perfect for the Silicon Dragon pitch contest we’re having June 18 in NYC as part of our annual forum in the Big Apple.
By the way, we have a happy ending (or start?) to report for Ellie Li, who pitched at last year’s Silicon Dragon pitch contest. She went on to get seed financing from Lair East Labs in NY.
You can hear my interview with her and investor Lee Lin of Lair East Labs here, at Silicon Dragon podcast: financing from Lair East Labs in NYC.
The Pinterest of Video.
Silicon Dragon founder/editor Rebecca Fannin was interviewed by NASDAQ Spotlight last week at its Times Square location. I chatted with host Lyanne Alfaro about the future of mobile, livestreaming and ride shares in China.
You can check out the video interview here:
China In Action.
NEW FUNDINGS
GSR Ventures leads $47 million, Series A round in Chinese e-commerce platform XYB2B.
DCM Ventures is among investors in a seed round for cryptocurrency portfolio tracker Blockfolio. The funding will be used to develop a communication platform called Signal to address growing misinformation in the crypto ecosystem.
Sequoia Capital China heads up $40 million 2nd round in China’s Mabspace Biosciences.
CStones‘ $260 million Series B financing from new investors Sequoia and Yunfeng Capital will fund more trials as the Chinese biotech firm weighs IPO options.
Chinese long-term apartment leasing firm Uoko in Chengdu raises $157 million from investors including Legend Capital, Matrix Partners China, SIG and Shenzhen Venture Capital.
IPOs
Chinese fashion e-commerce firm Meili is reportedly seeking a $500 million IPO in NY. It’s backed by Tencent, Sequoia Capital China and GGV Capital.
DEALS
Alibaba has acquired Rocket Internet’s Daraz to expand its empire in Southeast Asia, having already bought into Lazada.
NOTEWORTHY
The Elon Musk of China, William Li of NIO, explains why its Tesla killer won’t fall into the same trap as troubled electric car startup Faraday Future. Read post, Business Insider.
In an about-face on trade, Trump vows to protect jobs at China’s telecommunications firm ZTE as U.S. sanctions kick in. NY Times, ZTE turnabout.
“Trade policies won’t fix the fact that China is investing heavily in tech R&D and education while the U.S. is cutting.” Dean Merit Janow of Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs with Silicon Dragon’s Rebecca Fannin at Techonomy 2018.