Asia Tech Startups Raise Backing (Not So Silently)
Founder Li Tao with Rebecca Fannin after raising $300 million for his Chinese startup Apus in early 2015.
The rise of a mobile software company from nothing to a $1 billion valuation in just over a year from its first product release would typically draw rapt attention, and jealousy, inside Silicon Valley.
Across Asia, investments in technology start-ups have escalated at the same swift pace and to the same heights as in the United States. In the first six months of this year, 46 Asian start-ups have had fund-raising rounds of $100 million or more, just short of the 48 in North America, according to the research firm CB Insights.
The focus of investors in Asia — China and India in particular — reflects an increasingly decentralized reality in global technology investment. Asian banks, private equity firms, venture capital funds and hardware and Internet giants are all willing to invest in domestic start-ups. And American investors are increasingly willing to back Asian players with advantages in their home markets.
Continue reading article at NYT: Asia Tech Startups
Read related article on how Apus raised $100 million, Forbes.
