VR Investments Keep Climbing, Shift To Sand Hill Road

There’s little doubt that VR and AR are going mainsteam, leading to a fourth wave of consumer technology change fed by massive investment in the sector such as the massive $794 million round for MagicLeap in 2014.
A record $2.3 billion has been invested in virtual and augmented reality startups in the last 12 months, with the third quarter of 2016 showing the ninth straight quarter of increased investment, according to a new report by Digi-Capital, an advisory firm. Read Forbes post.
The money is flowing in primarily from Sand Hill Road venture capital firms and corporate investors. This is a shift from the specialist VCs in the VR/AR, who spearheaded the early investments.
Silicon Dragon Valley 2016 highlights VR investments.

Hillhouse joins $100 million Series C round in Mobike as bike sharing battle heats up. Sequoia Capital and Qiming Venture Partners participated in the financing.

New NVCA survey showed 52% of VCs had degrees from a small cluster of 10 schools and 87% were Caucasian. http://on.wsj.com/19uJLlk 

Blue SKy VC’s Elaine Stead on why private equity doesn’t have a problem with women – it’s just fat and lazy.  StartupSmart.

The Uber-Didi merger is giving the companies headaches, most recently the “ghost driver” scam.

At Davos in 2015, China promised to treat Chinese and foreign firms like equals. Investors are still waiting.  http://econ.st/2djkjFU

London’s rivals — after Brexit, will Barcelona become the EU’s next fintech hub? http://on.ft.com/2dBqJmK

How an ancient Amazonian hallucinogenic brew became choice stimulant in Brooklyn & Silicon Valley. New Yorker.

Apple sets up first R&D center in Beijing http://ow.ly/urPo304HxF5

Is it easy to be an entrepreneur in Asia? Depends on where you ask. Forbes.

Didi Chuxing makes information security push with new U․S․ research lab. http://tcrn.ch/2dmRbvj 

INDIA
Druva scores $51 million for India’s Data Security Space, led by Sequoia Capital India and Economic Development Board Investments.

Payments are the next big opportunity in India, says Sequoia Capital partner Mohit Bhatnagar.

NIIT Ltd. acquires Bangalore edtech company Perceptron.

KOREA
This ride-sharing startup Quartz is succeeding in South Korea where Uber failed, by making the taxi union happy http://qz.com/792859 

JAPAN
Spotify says Hello to Japan.