| Jeff Bezos in Bangalore after investing $2 billion in Amazon India. |
Intense interest from prominent investors is helping to drive eye-popping valuations among Indian tech start-ups.
Venture capital firms, hedge funds and the likes of business executives such as Rupert Murdoch are all vying for a piece of India's rapidly growing e-commerce market - particularly companies aimed at the growing number of aspiring middle-class consumers.
It is a radical turnaround from just a few years ago, when fewer smartphones, a smaller number of Internet users, general government inertia and a lack of funding hampered many entrepreneurs and start-ups.
Read NY Times article, India tech heats up.
For background, read Startup Asia book.
Chinese Investment In Israel Rises
Chinese companies are pushing deeper and further into Israel than ever before, and Israeli companies and government officials are returning the embrace. "There seems to be a kosher stamp from the government on both sides to let these trade relations blossom and bloom," says Jon Medved, founder and chief executive of OurCrowd, the Israeli crowdfunding company.
A large delegation from Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, was recently in Tel Aviv to attend Cybertech, Israel's main conference on cyber security, an area in which the security-conscious Jewish state excels. Alibaba in January invested an undisclosed sum in Visualead, an Israeli company specializing in QR code technology.
Read Financial Times article: http://on.ft.com/1e4ga6N
GUANXI COMES TO ISRAEL
Upround Ventures' recent Israel Innovation Summit at the IBM Innovation Center in Tel Aviv took note of this China-Israel investment link with a program that included a panel of angel investors from Hong Kong.
See program.
Has Israel become Asia's go-to market? It's a question being asked more often now.
"Israel is a small nation that has managed to become a high-tech superpower," Israeli angel investor and Upround 2015 Summit panelist Gigi Levy told the website NoCamels. "This is something that is very appealing to the Chinese business person."
STARTUP ASIA NEWS
CHINA
The transition underway at Chinese social media company Renren underscores the fast and furious startup scene for China tech innovation and investments.
Renren, which started out as the Facebook of China, is pivoting now to the internet finance business and diversifying into more profitable areas with investments in such seemingly far afield areas as logistics.
Read Forbes, Renren pivot.
Trucker Path Raises $1.5M From Renren To Help Truckers Truck Better http://on.tcrn.ch/l/1uhT
Sotheby's: "We're honored to confirm China's Dalian Wanda Group as the buyer on 5 May of Monet's rare view of rose-covered arches."
The purchase was made by Wang Jianlin, a real estate tycoon who bought AMC theaters a few years ago.
CITIC Securities' teams up with China Renaissance to serve Internet firms http://reut.rs/1bScdR0
Can China Reach Full Potential Of Internet Technologies? http://onforb.es/1e4f0It
Chinese web users took the Amtrak crash as an opportunity to throw criticism of China's govt back in America's face http://atfp.co/1e4cWAe
In China, the Legal Status of Many Golf Courses Is Full of Holes http://on.wsj.com/1Fbijq4
Alibaba sued in U.S. by luxury brands over counterfeit goods http://reut.rs/1EMYRNf
Narendra Modi Starts Trip to China With a Burst of Sightseeing nyti.ms/1e4do1p
INDIA
Lightspeed Is Raising $115 Mn India Fund To Invest Heavily In Burgeoning Startup Landscape http://4-2.co/1KWBPsn
India tops China in tech venture capital deals: Report: Sequoia Capital was the most active investor http://binged.it/1c5bWep
"India resembles China 10 years ago": Rupert Murdoch & Jack Ma fuel India's tech start-up boom, via FinancialReview http://buff.ly/1E46srp
Five-month-old PepperTap raises $10 million to deliver groceries in 10 more cities - The Economic Times http://ecoti.ms/ZqlA6Y
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