Women In VC: Why They Get Ahead Faster In China + Video
The largest venture capital fund raised by a woman is in Beijing, not Silicon Valley. Chen Xiaohong’s recently raised $500 million for her firm H Capital sets a new benchmark for female venture capitalists and the business. Women are getting ahead faster in China than in U.S. venture circles, where accusations of sexism and discrimination have been prominent. Among top U.S. venture firms, women comprise about 10 percent of the investing partners. That contrasts with China, where about 17 percent of investing partners are female. Besides Chen, this elite group includes Anna Fang of ZhenFund, Jenny Lee of GGV Capital and Ruby Lu, formerly a partner with H Capital. View Silicon Dragon video, Women in VC, to get a better idea of how they are getting ahead and challenges faced.
Startup accelerators have sprung up in Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian hubs over the past few go-go years. But now the question is being asked, what is the value that accelerators are really bringing to startups? Is it just hype? When can corporate accelerators be beneficial? A Forbes article by contributor James Giancotti examines the trend and urge startups to choose wisely – ie 500 Startups or Y Combinator.
Chinaccelerator leader William Bao Bean chimed in, noting that it is hard to measure the value of an accelerator. He notes: Hard to measure value in an accelerator program. Outside funding of graduates is an imperfect method. While 70% of Chinaccelerator go on to raise within six months there are always one or two companies that don’t raise funds because they are profitable or self-funding.
White Ops, a portfolio company invested in by San Francisco-based Eleven Two Capital and its founder Shelley Zhuang, has raised a $20 million, Series B financing. The digital advertising security service drew lead investment from Paladin Capital Group and Grotech in addition to Zhaung’s firm.
Northern Light Venture Capital has led a $25 million financing in a second round for Chinese drug developer TenNor Therapeutics. Joining this round were current investors Frontline BioVentures, WuXi PharmaTech Healthcare Fund I, Oriza Venture Capital and Relativity Healthcare Fund.
Chinese recruitment app Boss Zhipin has raised $28 million in a Series C financing to develop new antibiotics in a later stage of clinical development. Social media tech writer Robert Scoble says he’s hearing that Chinese drone maker DJI has a “mind-blowing” drone coming out next year. He adds that he heard DJI was showing off the drone at a recent conference he attended.
INDIA
As the ride-sharing app market continues to be hot, Softbank has led a $750 million investment in Uber’s Southeast Asia rival Grab, pegging its value at $3 billion.
ISRAEL
Israel crowdfunding platform OurCrowd has raised $72 million in a third round of financing. CEO and co-founder Jon Medved, said the new funds will be split evenly between the venture arm and OurCrowd, which plans to to open more international offices. Singapore’s UOB Group was one of the backers.
