Silicon Dragon
 www.SiliconDragonVentures.com                           NEWS                                        July 1, 2014  
                                                                                                  
      
  Featured Event:
  
STARTUP ASIA
SYDNEY 2014:
August 21
  
  
  Matt Barrie
 Keynote speaker Matt Barrie, CEO, Freelancer.com, rejected a $430 million buyout offer from Japan's Recruit to instead list 
in Australia
  
  
Closing The Finance Gap for Australian Startups
to Scale Globally 
  
featuring these
startup investors  
  Jeffrey Paine Ann Parker
Niki Scevak
  
Jeffrey Paine, Founding Partner, Golden Gate Ventures
Ann Parker, Director,
Telstra's muru-D
Peter Hyunh, Director,
Optus-Innov8 Seed
Niki Scevak, Managing Director 
Blackbird Ventures  
Tony Holt, Co-founder / Partner
Square Peg Capital
MC/Moderator: Rebecca Fannin,
Founder, Silicon Dragon
  
    (Find out how they're each angling to bet on startups that have the potential to make a splash and strengthen Australia's startup ecosystem.) 
 
Tech Chats with Leading
Innovators and Founders on the Frontiers of Change
 
  Yang Zhang, CEO & Co-founder,
Singa Entertainment
Jodie Fox, Co-founder & CCO,
Shoes of Prey

Emil Davityan, Co-founder, Exec Dir.

Bluedot

Stephane Ibos, Co-Founder & CEO,

Maestrano  

  

  Yang Zhang Jodie Fox Emil DavityanStephane Ibos

 

Commentators/ Moderators

Michael Bailey, Editor, BRW

Jana Matthews, Director,

UniSA Centre for Business Growth

James Riley, Founder & Mng. Editor, InnovationAus.com

Rose Powell, Reporter,

Sydney Morning Herald

  
  
  
Location: KPMG Executive Offices
15th floor
10 Shelley Street
Time: 5-9pm 
Tickets include full program plus
cocktail reception and appetizers
  
   
Thanks to our Sponsors
  
KPMG
Telstra's muru-D
UniSA Centre for Business Growth  
   
  
  
  
  

 

 Presenting

 

Silicon Dragon 2014 Global Events

  
August 21, Sydney
September 18, Shanghai
October 2, Silicon Valley
November 13, Awards
November 20, Bangalore

 

For speaker and sponsor
inquiries, please email
  
CCTV Interview with Rebecca Fannin on Alibaba's IPO on NYSE
CCTV Interview with Rebecca Fannin on Alibaba's IPO on NYSE
  
Co-hosting Innovation Dialog from Silicon Valley  
E-commerce trends in China and US as Alibaba IPO nears
  
  

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Jackie, Chris

 Jackie Yang of TransLink and Chris Evdemon of Innovation Works at Silicon Dragon VIP luncheon

 

 

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   VIDEO CLIPS

    
  Silicon Dragon News is edited by
Rebecca Fannin.

 

 

China Tech Innovator With 200 Patents Gains $80 Million More to Break Through

LatticePower tour
Touring Nanchang lab with founder/inventor

 A lot of people are skeptical about China's potential for technology innovation. But one Chinese company I wrote about in my book Silicon Dragon in 2008, and have been tracking since then, has certainly been setting some new standards in cleantech - and ability to raise venture investment.

    LatticePower Corp., which grew out of research by physics professor Jiang Fengyi (pictured) at his Nanchang University lab in China, claims to be the first company to commercially develop high-quality, reliable and affordable LED lighting - a major step in a goal of replacing conventional light bulbs and fixtures with energy-savings LED lights.

The China-based company is no lightweight. It's filed for more than 200 global patents and attracted financial support from the World Bank, several leading venture capital investors and now, $80 million more.

LatticePower has been championed by its lead investor, Sonny Wu of Chinese-US venture firm GSR Ventures.

Read Forbes, China proving them wrong.

 

 

 Alibaba: Roses & Thorns

 As IPO Nears

As Alibaba prepares for its gigantic IPO on NYSE, more concerns over investor risks are popping up over its corporate structure and management partnership overseeing board nominations.

A key concern on Capitol Hill and Wall Street is Alibaba's use of a variable interest entity (VIE), which allows for foreign investment through an offshore holding company.  and Wall Street too. While VIEs have been the accepted way of investing in venture-backed China-based companies listed in the U.S., Chinese courts could strike down the legality of VIEs in China, which could leave investors with fewer rights.

If that all sounds remote, remember what happened with AliPay at the Chinese e-commerce giant.

 Read Forbes, Thorns.

 

 

 

 

  

Australia

Melbourne-based LIFX, maker of a WIFI-connected LED light bulb, raises $12 million from Sequoia Capital, a new investor from Sand Hill Road in the Australian market.  

 

INDIA 

Fidelity Growth Partners invests $13 million in series C funding in India's dairy foods company Milk Mantra.

 

Sequoia has invested an additional $5.2 million in Akosha.com, an online consumer forum it's backed since 2001.

 

JAPAN

Rakuten Ventures  Japanese e-commerce giant  Rakuten launches $100 million fund to invest in tech startups in Asia, Israel and the U.S. (Yes, these are the global hotspots!) Rakuten Ventures will be run by Saemin Ahn (photo), based in Singapore.  

 

Moi Corp., the Tokyo startup behind Twitcasting, raises $5 million for mobile live streaming in an investment led by Indonesia's Sinar Nas.

 

Japanese news app Gunosy receives $12 million in investment led by telecom giant KDDI and VC firm JAFCO.

  

KOREA

Travel guide service MyRealTrip raises $1 million led by SmileGate Investment along with Capstone Partners.    

   

US / Silicon Dragon

DCM has led a $10 million financing of Yik Yak, a social messaging app for 'yaking' anonymously with other users from any location. Joining the round were Renren (a Facebook of China), Azure Capital Partners and venture capitalist Tim Draper.

The fast-growing app, founded in late 2013 y entrepreneurs Brooks Buffington and Tyler Droll, is popular on college campuses. "The evolution of social networks is moving toward a private, unfiltered communication model, and Yik Yak is at the center of this shift," said Buffington.

YikYak raised $1.5 million in an earlier infusion in April from DCM, Azure and several angels.  

 

Walden International portfolio company GoPro went public June 26 on NASDAQ and traded up 30.6% by market close on its first trading day. Priced at the high end of its range at $24 per share, GoPro raised $213.6 million. GoPro, which makes cameras and accessories popular for filming extreme action sports, reached a market cap of $3.9 billion at closing.

GoPro raised VC from early investor Walden, then with Riverwood Capital, Steamboat Ventures, US Venture Partners and others in 2011.  Foxconn also had a stake in GoPro.     

 

CHINA

Interviewing Gary Yang for Silicon Dragon 

Gary Wang's

Chinese animation studio Light Chaser Animation, which aims to be a Pixar of China, has raised Series B financing of $20 million from GGV Capital and Chengwei Capital

Wang was the founder of Tudou, the online video sharing platform that went public in the U.S. and was bought by rival Youku in a $1 billion deal. GGV also backed Tudou.

 

Lightspeed China Partners has closed its Fund II, with $260 million in capital. The fund was heavily oversubscribed and had several new LPs including Singapore's GIC and Horsley Bridge, MD James Mi noted.

Lightspeed China MD James Mi tells about his new $260M VC fund

The focus is largely the same as its first fund of $168 million - early stage investment in China-based Internet, mobile Internet, tech-enabled services, and enterprise IT sector, except more deals in cloud computing, SaaS and Internet security.
 The China VC firm collaborates strategically with Silicon Valley's Lightspeed Venture Partners, but they're separate funds.

Winners in the Lightspeed China's portfolio include Tujia, which on its way to be China's AirBnB/Homeaway, and Rong360.com, Qunar for the financial industry.  Lightspeed China led series A financings two years ago for both. Tujia just raised $100M series C while Rong360.com is closing a series C round with over $50M soon.

 

Tian Ge Interactive, operator of China's online video broadcasting platform 9158, files to go public on the HKSE.

 

Investors Tencent and Innovation Works cash out on a $434 million acquisition of Chinese portfolio company Elex Technology to Chinese Universe Publishing and Media Company.  Elex assists Chinese gaming and Internet companies on internationalization strategies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLIPS FROM SILICON DRAGON NY 2014

 

NYC panelists

Dealmaker panelists Tony Florence, Andrew Scharf, Harry Hui, Nazar Yasin, David Rose, Brian Cohen

 

Harry Hui, David Rose 

 Holstein, Nirmal      Above: Vicky Wu, ZAOAZO, Harry Hui, Clearvue Partners; David Rose, Gust; Bill Holstein, Rebecca Fannin, Nirmal Mulye  

 

 

See more photos

 

NY EVENT VIDEOS

 

Startup Investor Panel

 

Tech Chats:

Bernd Schoner

Vicky Wu

Nirmal Mulye

 

 

 

 

 Startup Asia
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