China Money Podcast - Audio Episodes

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture investment and tech sector for the week ending March 19. From Chinese business enterprises to hutongs and everything in between in China, we are nearing the end of March 2021 and in the past 5 business days we  analyzed 72 of the top startup and private company deals closing with private equity and venture capital firms in China with a combined raise of more than US$2.3 billion in everything from seed to pre-IPO rounds. Investors such as KKR, Hillhouse Capital, Vision Plus Capital, Temasek Holdings, Zhen Fund, Orchid Asia, Source Code Capital, Vstar Capital, and Fidelity International all got involved in the dozens of deals this week with firms like Hetao101, NewMed Medical, and Yuanhua Intelligent. It was a great week for both China startups and alternative asset investors, so welcome to the March 26, 2021 edition of the China Money Podcast where we update you on the news, data, and insights you need for making private equity and venture capital decisions in China. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture investment and tech sector for the week ending March 19. We passed the halfway point this week for March 2021, and in the past 5 business days we took a deep dive into nearly 80 deals closing with private equity and venture capital firms in China with a combined raise of more than US$2.79 billion in everything from seed to pre-IPO rounds. Investors such as Sequoia Capital China, Temasek, Tiantu Capital, Cherubic, SoftBank, Tencent, Firstred Fund, Everest Venture, and Shunwei Capital all got involved in the dozens of deals this week. It was a great week for China startups and alternative asset investors, so welcome to the March 19, 2021 edition of the China Money Podcast where we update you on the news, data, and insights you need for making private equity and venture capital decisions in China. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture investment and tech sector for the week ending March 12. We are nearing the ides of March 2021, and in the past 5 business days we counted over 70 deals closing with private equity and VC firms in China with a combined raise of more than US$2.3 billion in everything from seed to pre-IPO rounds. And one firm even raised a whopping 700 million in its Series A, while we saw other news concerning Huawei, AstraZeneca, and Xpeng Motors dominate the investment headlines. Startups in China this week raised funding from over 250 corporate venture capital, private equity and regular venture capital firms like Matrix Partners China, Hillhouse Capital, Warburg Pincus, Shenzhen Capital Group, Lilly Asia Ventures, Hina Group, Fengrun Investment, New Hope Group, Xiaomi, Fuho Capital, Meridian Capital, FutureX Capital, Addor Capital, GSR Ventures, Cowin Capital, Brill Capital and many others. Matoka Capital's Danny Levinson sits in as guest host this week too. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture investment and tech sector for the week ending March 5. So this was another great week for startups and growth companies eyeing China's venture capital and private equity coffers. We saw over 60 documented investment deals close this week, and those deals totaled more than US$1.5 billion. True, this was a 50% drop from last week's massive US$3.2 billion, but this was a week of quality, not quantity, with deals done by firms like Matrix Partners, Centurium Capital, Cedarlake Capital and China Unicom. Plus a bunch of Clubhouse clones are popping up in China while the automotive sector sees new investments in electric vehicle services. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture investment and tech sector for the week ending February 26. This was a massive week for China's venture capital and private equity investors as well as the startups and businesses that closed their funding rounds. We documented 99 deals that closed this week, and those deals totaled more than 3.204 billion US dollars. Just a massive week of dealflow across China! Key investors making commitments in China this week included Temasek Holdings, GGV Capital, Zhen Fund, BAI, GSR Ventures, Huaxing New Economic Fund, Lightspeed China Partners, Sequoia Capital China, Millennium Capital, and Oceanpine Capital. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture investment and tech sector for the week ending February 19. Matoka Capital's Danny Levinson sits in as guest host, and topics covered include private equity and venture capital deals done this past week with Sequoia Capital China, Tencent Holdings, KKR, Qiming Venture Partners, Temasek Holdings, Primavera Capital, FountainVest Partners, Evergrande Group, DCP Capital, DT Capital Partners, Redhill Capital, Join Hands Capital, and Yuanju Capital. Plus we break down the numbers in the massive Changsha-based Xingsheng Youxuan deal and in the Suzhou-based Liangyihui deal, respectively. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture investment and tech sector for the week ending February 13. Topics covered include private equity and venture capital deals done with CITIC PE and Guotai Junan; HNA's court-mandated reorganization; UnionPay online financial transactions during New Year’s Eve 2021; and the logistics industry gets some good news. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of September 9 to September 13, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese all-electric vehicle brand Byton is raising a series C round at US$500 million after the start-up experienced a management shake-up and reported layoffs; Sky9 Capital closed two new funds with US$440 million in total capital commitments; and Houbank, a Chinese online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform that counts Sequoia Capital China as a major shareholder, has been put on file for investigation and prosecution of alleged "illegal absorbing public deposits." Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of September 2 to September 6, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Alibaba Group paid about US$2 billion to acquire Kaola, an import e-commerce platform operated by NetEase, Xianghe Capital closed its second USD fund at US$425 million and debut RMB fund at RMB1 billion (US$139.30 million), and Chinese automotive company Geely sued WM Motor for "infringement of trade secrets." Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of August 26 to August 30, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) unicorn Megvii, the developer of facial recognition software Face++, filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, Tencent poured US$125 million into Kuaikan Manhua, an online platform for Chinese original comic artwork targeting young readers, and Ince Capital Partners raised US$163.3 million for its debut fund. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of August 5 to August 9, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Venturous Group is creating a capital pool worth US$1 billion to power the second transformation of China driven by smart urbanization and digitization, Didi Chuxing launched an independent company for its autonomous driving unit, and JD.com is leading a new round of investment worth nearly RMB1 billion (US$141.83 million) in Xinchao Media Group. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 29 to August 2, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese investment bank China Renaissance's private equity unit raised its third RMB-denominated fund at over RMB6.5 billion (US$943.08 million), Chinese venture capital firm Joy Capital closed an early-to-growth-stage fund at over US$700 million for TMT and consumption investments, and Didi Chuxing teamed up with British oil and gas major BP to launch a joint venture for the construction of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in China. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 22 to July 26, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include SoftBank launched "SoftBank Vision Fund 2" to raise US$108 billion to facilitate the continued acceleration of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, China collected about RMB200 billion (US$29.08 billion) for "Big Fund II" to back homegrown chip developers, and Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing secured a US$600 million investment from Toyota. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 15 to July 19, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include SoftBank-backed Chinese robotics start-up CloudMinds filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York stock exchange to raise up to US$500 million, SoftBank Ventures Asia reached the first closing of "Growth Acceleration Fund" at about US$269 million, and Chinese online K12 education platform Knowbox closed US$150 million in a series D round of financing led by Alibaba Group to enhance its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled education offerings. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 8 to July 12, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Hong Kong-based growth capital fund Genesis Capital reached the final closing of its second fund at US$850 million in total capital commitments, Chinese logistics robotics firm Geek+ was close to secure over US$150 million in a series C1 funding round, and Plum Ventures raised RMB532.5 million (US$77.49 million) for its fifth angel fund. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 1 to July 5, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese biotechnology firm Lepu Biotech closed RMB900 million (US$131.47 million) in a series A round, Tencent led a series C round worth RMB250 million (US$36.32 million) in Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Synyi, and Qualcomm Ventures backed Chinese autonomous driving firm Zongmu Technology. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of June 24 to June 28, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Warburg Pincus closed "Warburg Pincus China-SEA II" at over US$4.25 billion for investments in China and Southeast Asia, Chinese online healthcare services provider Miaoshou Doctor confirmed to be valued at over RMB7 billion (US$1.01 billion) after a series C3 round, and JD Logistics reached the first closing for its debut RMB fund. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of June 17 to June 21, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include China issued eight principles to regulate the research and application of artificial intelligence (AI), Centurium Capital closed its debut China fund at over US$1.89 billion in capital commitments, and Cathay Capital reached the first closing for its second investment vehicle at €320 million (US$359.40 million) to support start-ups in China, Europe and North America. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of June 10 to June 14, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese securities regulator launched the much-anticipated Nasdaq-style high-tech board, Vivo Capital rounded up over US$1.28 billion for the ninth private equity fund, and HSBC introduced a US$880 million technology fund for China's Greater Bay Area. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of June 3 to June 7, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Sinovation Ventures closed the third RMB-denominated fund at RMB2.5 billion (US$361.72 million), China issued the first batch of 5G licenses for commercial use, and ByteDance, the Chinese operator of short videos app TikTok, invested RMB1.26 billion (US$182.27 million) in a pre-initial public offering (IPO) round of financing in Chinese sports commentary app Hupu. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of May 27 to May 31, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include global investment powerhouse Warburg Pincus plans to raise up to US$4.25 billion for its second China and Southeast Asia-focused private equity fund, cloud computing infrastructure developer Beijing Qinhuai Technology secured US$570 million fresh funds from Bain Capital, and K12 online after-school tutoring services provider GSX Techedu seeks to raise US$208 million in an IPO in the United States. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of May 20 to May 24, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese online travel service platform Mafengwo secured US$250 million in a new round of financing led by Tencent, innovative drugs developer Allist Pharmaceuticals raised RMB1.18 billion (US$170.75 million) fresh funds, and JD-backed ESR closed a new fund to focus on the development of "large-scale logistics facilities" in Japan. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of May 13 to May 17, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com entered into agreements for a series A funding round of its healthcare unit, JD Health, Singapore-listed property major CDL agreed to invest nearly US$1 billion in China, and the Shanghai government issued a guideline, seeking to transfer the global financial hub into a "hotbed" for AI innovation. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of May 6 to May 10, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Megvii raised US$750 million fresh funds, Allianz Real Estate committed US$600 million to GLP's China and Japan-focused funds, and Chinese retail giant Suning.com teamed up with Jack Ma-backed Yunfeng Capital to launch a private equity fund with an aim to raise up to US$2.5 billion. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of April 29 to May 3, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Suning.com, one of the largest retailers in China, planned to team up with private equity firm Guojun Capital to launch a fund of funds with a target size of RMB10 billion (US$1.48 billion), CITIC Capital Partners acquired Hangzhou UCO Cosmetics in a RMB1.4 billion (US$207 million) carve-out transaction, and Chinese lithium-ion battery maker Phylion Battery secured RMB810 million (US$120 million) in a pre-IPO funding round. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of April 22 to April 26, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include private equity company Hosen Capital saught to raise as much as US$1 billion for its third USD-denominated fund for acquisitions of Asian food producers, new energy vehicle (NEV) maker Hozon Auto secured RMB3 billion (US$446 million) in a series B round, and private healthcare network Tencent Trusted Doctors entered the unicorn club after a US$250 million new funding round. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of April 15 to April 19, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Londian, a Chinese high-tech company that specializes in power equipment, new energy and new materials, raised US$250 million fresh funds from SK Group, DCP Capital closed its debut USD fund at over US$2 billion, and Ping An raised about US$758 million in capital commitments for new funds. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of April 8 to April 12, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Dignari Capital Partners, a Hong Kong-based firm that specializes in credit and special situations investments, hit the final close for its second China-focused investment vehicle at US$626 million, Chinese venture capital firm Source Code Capital raised US$570 million fresh funds to finance early-to-middle-stage new economy companies, and Chinese healthcare-focused Shiyu Capital reached the final close for its second RMB fund at over RMB3.18 billion (US$473 million) in committed capital. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of April 1 to April 4, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Intel Capital injected US$177 million into 14 start-ups including China's Cloudpick and EEasy Technology, Alibaba closed a strategic investment in Chinese furnishing services start-up "Many Craftsmen," and Alibaba-backed Chinese online celebrity incubator Ruhnn Holding Ltd raised US$125 million in a U.S. IPO. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Chinese co-working space operator Ucommune is seeking to maximize the value of the thousands of start-ups and entrepreneurs on its platform, by bridging start-up resources with Chinese schools and students through a newly-introduced brand, Ucommune Academy. "We're trying to figure out the future [development] direction of the co-working space because co-working is a new concept in China, with only three to four years' history," said Josh Zhang Peng, chief strategy officer of Ucommune and executive headmaster of Ucommune Academy, in a phone interview with China Money Network earlier this month. Zhang said that Ucommune believes education is an effective avenue to test if the new business model can truly help them export start-up resources and capacities. Ucommune launched the new brand as the Chinese government is aspiring for home-grown innovation and an upgrade of its economy in the industrial value chain. Chinese educational institutions were among the first group to answer the government policy by starting to provide entrepreneurship and innovation education to students in senior schools and universities. "But the Chinese market already stepped forward, while schools are slow to catch up, so we think maybe our capacity in serving the market can be helpful in building the equivalent entrepreneurship education," said Zhang. Josh Zhang Peng is the chief strategy officer of Chinese co-working space operator Ucommune and executive headmaster of Ucommune Academy, an entrepreneurship and innovation education affiliate launched by Ucommune in March 2019. Ucommune Academy raised nearly RMB10 million (US$1.48 million) in an angel round led by Letai Capital, an investment vehicle of Chinese online learning service provider Shanghai Retech Enterprise Management Group. The company already forged cooperation with a few universities in Beijing, with a 2019 plan to scale up across China through collaborations with over 50 schools. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Below is an edited version of the interview. Q: Can you give us a brief introduction of Ucommune Academy, including what does it do, and what are the reasons behind the launch of this brand? A: Ucommune Academy was launched in 2018. As we have gathered over 10,000 small and medium enterprises on our co-working platform Ucommune after three-and-half-year operation, we want to maximize the value of these companies and entrepreneurs. Since 2014, Premier Li Keqiang launched the so-called "massive entrepreneurship" as a national policy, universities are actually among the first group of institutions to answer the government's appeal. A lot of Chinese universities started to build their entrepreneurship academies or entrepreneurship faculties. But since universities don't a resourceful start-up related ecosystem, Ucommune Academy wants to help universities build their entrepreneurship education. Universities and senior schools are the first tier we target by helping students start their own projects and businesses. We seek to select high-end entrepreneurs: someone who has run a business for over one year; someone who already attracted venture capital in series A or B round; someone who is a pioneer in a certain industry. We send these entrepreneurs to schools to teach students how to start a business. By doing so, we try to link the market with universities, and also give universities more innovative ideas, information, support, and service in their entrepreneurship education. Q: What are the most frequently-asked questions from these young students you've talked to? A: The most frequently-asked question is: If I start a business, what could be the most valuable industries to start with? Because they don't know the general trend. To give them the answer, we usually select the most popular industries based on the start-ups on the Ucommune platform,

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of March 25 to March 29, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Chinese multi-service property firm Ke.com is raising US$800 million in a series D round led by Tencent, Chinese big data solutions provider MiningLamp Technology secured RMB2 billion (US$297 million) in a series D round, and Chinese fresh food chain supermarket Yipin Shengxian completed a RMB2 billion (US$297 million) series B round. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of March 18 to March 22, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include Alibaba-backed Chinese car service provider UCAR would pay RMB4.10 billion (US$610.63 million) for a 67% stake in car manufacturer Borgward, Chinese state-owned investment firm NewMargin Ventures launched a RMB10 billion (US$1.49 billion) new fund, and Singapore-based investment firm Tembusu Partners said to launch several China-focused funds totaling at least RMB1 billion (US$149.26 million). Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of March 11 to March 15, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include SoftBank plans to pour an additional US$1.6 billion into Didi Chuxing, China beefs up efforts to boost the industrial internet development by setting up a series of preliminary industry standards in 2020, and Lufax unveiled series C round to reach a US$39.4 billion valuation. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of March 4 to March 8, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include China's securities watchdog finalized regulations for a Nasdaq-style innovation board to help the country's most valuable start-ups raise capital, Chinese online marketplace for classifieds, 58.com, entered into an agreement to sell its stake in online car trading platform Chehaoduo for US$713.6 million, and Baidu invested RMB3 billion (US$446 million) in Chinese electric vehicle start-up WM Motor. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of February 25 to March 1, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include SoftBank Vision Fund invested US$1.5 billion in Chinese auto retail services platform Chehaoduo, Chinese AI chips designer Horizon Robotics raised US$600 million in a series B round, and Tiger Global and Ant Financial led a US$500 million series C round in Chinese online apartment rental platform Danke Apartment. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of February 18 to February 22, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include American property developer Greystar-led China fund reached first close at US$450 million, Hong Kong-based on-demand logistics company Lalamove secured US$300 million in series D round, and China is set to debut the world's first 5G railway station in Shanghai by late 2019. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of February 11 to February 15, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include TPG Capital Management has reached the final close of its seventh Asia-focused private equity fund "TPG Capital Asia VII" with over US$4.6 billion in commitments, Hong Kong-based venture capital fund All-Stars Investment has collected US$500 million to expand its portfolio of start-ups, and Tencent leads a US$300 million investment in American social media network Reddit. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of January 28 to February 1, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include China unveiled detailed rules for the new Nasdaq-style technology board in Shanghai, Indonesian ride-hailing company Go-Jek reached the first close of its series F round of financing led by Google, Tencent and JD.com, and Chinese private equity firm ClearVue Partners plans to raise US$600 million for its third fund. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of January 21 to January 25, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include China has approved the establishment of a Nasdaq-like science and technology board in Shanghai, Beijing further broadened the tax incentives for investments in the country's technology start-ups, and CITIC Capital plans to raise US$2 billion for distressed assets investments in China. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of January 14 to January 18, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include China will introduce a positive policy to attract foreign direct investment, CITIC Construction teams up with Japanese ITOCHU to launch a fund for building data centers in China, and American venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures anticipates raising US$400 million for two China-focused funds. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of January 7 to January 11, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered China pledges to grant temporary 5G licenses in 2019 to promote its commercial use by year end, Chinese private equity firm Sinocurrent launches a US$1.45 billion mergers and acquisitions fund, and Hong Kong-based financial services company China Everbright Limited raises US$539 million for its CEL Global Investment Fund. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of December 31 to January 4, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang in Hong Kong. Topics covered include China's unmanned probe Chang'e 4 makes historic touchdown on the far side of the Moon, Lightspeed China Partners raises US$560 million for its largest fund family IV, and Chinese venture capital firm Shenzhen Capital Group launches its first US$524 million merger and acquisition fund. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of December 24 to December 28, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China considers a new foreign investment law to curb forced tech transfer, Chinese bike-sharing firm Hellobike raises several billions of yuan in a new round of financing led by Ant Financial and Primavera Capital Group, and China's state-owned firm SIIC sets up US$7.28 billion fund for biomedical investments. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of December 17 to December 21, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Hong Kong-Based private equity firm Gaw Capital eyes final close of US$2 billion fund by the second quarter of 2019, Lightspeed China Partners targets to raise US$560 million across two new funds, and Baidu's fintech spin-off Du Xiaoman Financial gets US$2.89 billion credit line from Bank of Tianjin. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of December 10 to December 14, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China potentially eases its high-tech push formulated in the "Made in China 2025", Eastern China's Zhejiang Province plans to invest over US$17.5 billion to accelerate the technology industry, and China launches US$12.8 billion fund to boost high-tech industries in the Greater Bay Area. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Chai Xiangfei, founder of Chinese artificial intelligence startup HuiyiHuiying, is modest and painfully honest, something that is rare among Chinese entrepreneurs. When asked about the future of applying AI technology to the healthcare sector, Chai did not talk about billion-dollar market potential. "I always tell my team that...the most important thing is who can survive longer. If one can survive for five years, he/she will be the winner," Chai told China Money Network in an interview in HuiyiHuiying's headquarters in Beijing last week. The honesty may come from Chai's experience as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University, as well as working at the Holland Cancer Research Center and the radiology department in Leuven University. Before founding the Beijing-based medical imaging AI startup in 2015, Chai had worked in fields that rely on precision and accuracy. But venturing into the tech startup world in China for almost three years has altered Chai's mentality, for sure. "I changed from the mindset of an engineer and a scientist to a businesses person. Before, we only thought about the technology and products. But now the more important things are: How can you make money? Who are the real payers for your products?" Chai confessed. This focus on the end user has led HuiyiHuiying to create products with maximum value potential. Since hospitals are the paying clients for HuiyiHuiying's medical imaging AI products in China, the company has focused on hospitals' needs on key diseases: major vascular diseases and cancers including breast cancer, lung cancer and liver cancer. These two types of diseases accounted for roughly 66% of the causes for death in China in 2016, the biggest killer diseases by a wide margin, according to the World Health Organization. Because hospitals are organized around disease types, HuiyiHuiying has designed its products to assist single disease throughout the diagnosis and treatment process. In November, the company launched two full cycle health management platforms for breast cancer and cardiac diseases. "Different hospitals always have different processes that need to be adjusted to. For some big customers, we always need to adjust, even the algorithms, to do the fine tuning," said Chai. If the future is the survival of the fittest for healthcare AI startups, HuiyiHuiying is currently among the strongest in China. Last month, Intel Capital led a strategic investment round in the company, with participation from Beijing Singularity Power Investment Fund, a state-backed firm. Even though the company did not disclose how much it raised, people with knowledge of the matter said it is around RMB200 million (US$29 million) to RMB300 million (US$43 million). In January this year, Chinese private equity firm CDH Investments invested an undisclosed amount in the company. In Chai's own words, Chinese venture capital markets has cooled during the second half of 2018, even though "AI was still very hot" during the first half. To be able to secure financing in today's crucial environment is a testament of HuiyiHuiying's team, but also its intense focus on execution and business fundamentals. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Below is an edited version of the interview. Q: HuiyiHuiying last month raised strategic investments from Intel Capital and Beijing Singularity Power Investment Fund. Was it easy to close this funding round in the so-called "VC winter"? A: The Chinese VC market, especially during the second half of 2018, fundraising has become more difficult in general, even for the AI industry. During the first half, fundraising in other industries was difficult but AI was still very hot. I guess investors have become more selective in companies, with a stronger focus on if you have a viable business model,

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of December 3 to December 7, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China unveils 38 punishments for serious intellectual property (IP) violations, China Mobile plans to set up a US$1.46 billion 5G industrial fund, and China's renowned physicist and founder of Danhua Capital Zhang Shoucheng commits suicide. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of November 26 to November 30, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese private equity firm Boyu Capital seeks to raise at least US$3 billion for new USD-denominated fund, China's authorities tightens norm on systemically important financial institutions deemed as "too big to fall", and Legend Capital raises US$257 million From South Korea's SK Group to co-launch a fund in China. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Spencer Deng, founder of Shenzhen-based robotics and AI start-up Dorabot Inc., wants to build a Silicon Valley startup with Shenzhen speed to fully automate the whole logistics process. Ever since being put into an internship as a teenage delivery boy at EMS, the 30-year-old entrepreneur has been thinking about how to solve this complicated puzzle making machines do all the boring and repetitive logistics work. Now, leading a team camped out in a remote warehouse in Shenzhen, Deng works with dozens of robotics geeks from around the world trying to solve specific puzzle pieces. In one corner, a Yaskawa robotic arm is being "trained" to read parcel labels on a conveyor belt, pick up the parcels and drop them into different sorting containers. With an aim to achieve cost savings and better efficiency in the task of sorting, Dorabot bought the Yaskawa robotic arm. It then placed cameras on the it, added self-made graspers, and built back-end systems to enable the arm to read labels via image recognition, quickly figure out how best to pick up the item based on its shape and material, and put it in the correct containers. "One of the big reasons why the (robotics/AI) industry is growing so rapidly is that deep learning made huge breakthrough around 2010, leading to significant improvements in computer vision, facial recognition...This suddenly opened up a lot more applications (in other sectors)," Deng told China Money Network in an interview at Dorabot's Shenzhen headquarters. "If we capture enough data from the logistics industry (using image recognition), we might be able to improve optimization significantly." The optimization part is best explained in an example. Dorabot is helping a global furniture company optimize pellet placement in their containers for shipping. It takes a lot of training for very skilled workers to know how to place the pellets to save space and material. But with cloud-based systems, AI algorithms and deep learning capabilities, the best placement solution takes a second to be generated, and the workers just need to execute it. For now, most of Dorabot's products are in the research and development stage with a few being implemented in real-world use cases. But Deng's timing to start an AI company in logistics is impeccable. Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com, as well as major express delivery firms, have all been pushing aggressively in smart logistics. During this year's 11.11 shopping festival, ALOG Technology, a key supplier of warehouse management services for Alibaba's Tmall Supermarket, worked with Chinese AI unicorn Megvii Technology and Ares Robot to help handle the massive 1.35 billion orders placed during a one-day event. A total of 500 fulfillment robots worked for five days non-stop (except for battery recharge) to fulfill 1.5 million goods, says Megvii in a Wechat post. Megvii acquired Ares Robot, a logistics robotics firm, earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. In Deng's vision, however, making the logistics process partially automated is far from enough. Kiva Systems, now known as Amazon Robotics after it was acquired by the American e-commerce giant in 2012, is a symbolic solution most commonly seen in today's warehouses around the world. Alibaba's Cainiao warehouses use lots of similar fulfillment robots - mostly made by Chinese copycats of Kiva Systems - to move goods around in warehouses, so workers don't have to walk around to pick up or put back certain products. "The difference between automation and robotics/AI is that there is no "thinking" or "learning" in automation," says Deng in the interview. "Automation is perhaps a lower level system that companies use before moving to more intelligent robotics/AI solutions." In a way, what Deng envisions is a more "fancy" system that can further squeeze efficiency improvements from existing systems that have already cut significant numbers of human laborers.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of November 19 to November 23, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese intelligent electric vehicle start-up Leap Motor raises RMB2 billion (US$290 million) in series A round of financing, JD Finance forays into stock-breeding with facial recognition technology for pigs, and China's Shenzhen city launches two funds worth US$360 million. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

As moviegoers were mesmerized by the futuristic stories in Christopher Nolan's science fiction film Interstellar, Harvard University's theoretical physicist Lisa Randall says the high-grossing movie - even though "technically accurate" - failed to illustrate the type of extra dimensions she tries to picture in her own mind. "They have to make it [the fifth dimension] visible to people looking at the screen, which means that some of the subtle effects - that are on scales that you'd never be able to see with your naked eyes, won't be shown in the movie," Randall explains in a recent interview with China Money Network in Hong Kong during her trip in Asia. But as the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University with research interests in elementary particles, fundamental forces and extra dimensions of space, Randall appreciated how the movie inspired people's interests in science. That inspiration is critical in pushing scientific research forward, she believes. Outside of sci-fi movies, what China has done in practical measures is "inspirational" too, and could be "ground-breaking", Randall says. For example, China's ambitious plan in building the world's most powerful particle collider will produce something twice the size and seven times as powerful as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The planned particle collider, namely China Electron Positron Collider (CEPC), is a long-term project first proposed by the Chinese high energy physics community in 2012. It is a facility used to measure the precise properties of the Higgs boson, or the so-called "God particle", which is regarded as a crucial link that could explain why other elementary particles have mass. Scientists in China have released details for the collider, saying it will produce over one million Higgs bosons in a seven-year period. The project is expected to start construction in 2021 and be completed in 2027, and then put into operation one year after. "Just the idea that it might exist [in China in the future] already has been an incentive for many people to come here," said Randall. "The prospect of having this collider has brought a lot of American physicist who I know – I mean, maybe other countries as well – to China." Concerning the overall research environment in China, Randall says her main concern lays in the "hierarchical system" that she has observed. "It seems like it's an environment where there's one person who gets a lot of resources and people have to accommodate that," she says. Instead of focusing funding a few great scientists and let them have the right to determine everything, Randall believes that China should spread resources more widely, so that the young generation can be more independent and have a chance to lead new innovations. Lisa Randall is an American theoretical physicist working in particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University. Her research connects theoretical insights to puzzles in the current understanding of the properties and interactions of matter. She has developed and studied a wide variety of models to address these questions, most prominently involving extra dimensions of space. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Below is an edited version of the interview. Q: If you look at the global top 20 best universities to study physics, twelve are American universities and only one university is from China, which is Tsinghua University. Why American universities are so strong in providing good physics research environment? And what should China do to improve this? A: Well, (American universities) have a longer history of doing this. I think it's only recently that China has had these very big modernization. One thing China is doing is promoting experiments and observations. There are dark matter experiments,

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of November 5 to November 9, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China-focused venture capital firm H Capital's plan in raising US$700 million fifth fund, Kai-Fu Le's Sinovation Ventures closing RMB2.5 billion (US$361.40 million) RMB-denominated fund, and Chinese e-sports team IG's 3-0 sweeping victory at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of October 29 to November 2, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese President Xi urges to boost China's development of the new-generation artificial intelligence technology, U.S. charges Chinese firms for stealing Micron trade secrets, and Chinese Fortune Venture Capital launches a new RMB fund worth US$667 million. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of October 22 to 26, 2018, with Eudora Wang sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Bytedance is completing a US$3 billion pre-IPO round of financing, Tiger Global Management raises a US$3.75 billion technology-focused venture capital fund, Bridgewater files first private equity fund in China, and Tencent teams up with supermarket chain operators ParknShop and Yonghui to form a joint venture. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of October 15 to 19, 2018, with Eudora Wang who is sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China Life Insurance Company sets up a US$2.17 million fund, cross-border venture capital firm GGV Capital closes US$1.88 billion-worth new funds, and Chinese online, mobile advertising firm Panshi raises a US$320 million series D financing round, and Alibaba injects a US$290 million series C round of investment to Chinese liquor e-commerce retailer 1919 Wines & Spirits Platform Technology. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

After 10 years as a managing director at Chinese sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation (CIC), Winston Ma started his own investment firm earlier this year. As chief investment officer of newly established China Silkroad Investment Capital, Ma plans to seek investment opportunities around a buzz phrase: Digital Silk Road. After Chinese president Xi Jinping first raised the concept in 2017, Digital Silk Road has become part of what Beijing hopes to alleviate the negative perceptions related to traditional infrastructure projects that the Belt and Road Initiative has been financing in the past several years. Compared to funding bridges, roads and dams, promoting e-commerce or supporting 5G networks have a lower chance of creating negative environmental impact. Other component of the Digital Silk Road could include adding big data platforms and other high-tech tools to make all types of projects more efficient. Ma was among the first group of overseas hires by CIC at the Chinese sovereign wealth fund's inception in 2007. He was a founding member of CIC’s Private Equity Department, and later the Special Investment Department for direct investing. Before CIC, Ma served as the deputy head of equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, as well as having worked at J.P. Morgan and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. Ma is the author of multiple books, including China's Mobile Economy, Digital Economy 2.0, Investing in China, and The Digital Silk Road: China's New Growth Story. He spoke to China Money Network during during an interview on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions held by the World Economic Forum in Tianjin last month. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Below is an edited version of the interview. Q: You just published a new book: Digital Silk Road: China's New Growth Story. Tell us briefly the main ideas in this book? A: This is the third book of a series on China's digital economy. The first book was China’s Mobile Economy, published in 2016 at the high time of China’s mobile Internet boom. The second book, Digital Economy 2.0., came out in 2017 after the G20 Hangzhou Summit, where President Xi and other leaders announced to use the digital economy evolution to bring new growth to the global economy. The third book is titled Digital Silk Road, as President Xi last year used this term to describe the intersection between the digital economy and the Belt and Road Initiative. The third book focuses on China’s digital transformation and its global impact. You can think of the Digital Silk Road as the convergence of the digital economy initiative and the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2013, when the Belt and Road Initiative was announced, people related it mostly to traditional infrastructures investments in things like railroads, reservoirs, dams, and high-speed rail. However, in recent years, the digital economy is revolutionizing the global economy. So, it is natural to add the digital economy component to the Belt and Road Initiative. Specifically, when people think about the Belt and Road, they should think about smart infrastructure, that may include 5G networks, satellite towers, smartphone and its related economies. Q: Do investments in Digital Silk Road work similarly to traditional infrastructure, where China offers the financing and expertise with strong government support? A: Yes and no. It is similar in the sense that there is still a lot of government support and Chinese capital involved. But at the same time, you will see more diverse forms of investments for the Digital Silk Road. For example, you may see a lot of traditional projects financed by debt and banking loans. But for the Digital Silk Road, there may be more equity-linked investments. Q: And more private capital participation? A: That’s right. So traditionally,

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of October 8 to 12, 2018, with Eudora Wang who is sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese viggie-selling app Meicai raises US$600 million, Chinese Airbnb copycat Xiaozhu.com raises $300 million, Tencent Music's U.S. IPO delay, and Chinese telecom-maker Huawei launching self-developed AI chips. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Jack Ma said last month that China needs to focus on "new manufacturing", while the U.S. launched a trade war in order to bring "old manufacturing" back to the world's largest economy. Putting the contrast aside, the focus on new manufacturing has never been stronger in China. Efforts to build smart factories and government subsidies toward the initiative are growing across the country. A recent report published by the China Development Research Foundation, a think tank initiated by the Development Research Center of the State Council, documented some of such campaigns. In one example, Dongguan, a small city in coastal Guangdong province, has cut 250,000 jobs, or around 5% of the city's registered labor force, during a three-year "robot-for-humans" campaign. The city government spent RMB200 million (US$29 million) each year to finance companies to upgrade automation equipment. A company in Hangzhou has cut the number of workers to 11 to 13 per production line from 200 to 300 per production line ten years ago. Another kitchen appliances maker in Hangzhou received government subsidies equaling 5% of the costs to upgrade its production lines. Now it is able to cut labor force by over one third from three years ago and is aiming to achieve fully automated productions in ten years. Shenzhen government is spending RMB500 million (US$72 million) to support robotics, wearable and smart equipment sectors locally each year. Our guest of this episode of China Money Podcast, Hao Jingfang, is one of the authors of the report. Hao is also a science fiction writer and won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "Folding Beijing" in 2016, becoming the first female writer in Asia to receive the award. China's new manufacturing efforts echo Hao's observation that, "Whenever there’s a technological breakthrough, it is an advantage for Chinese tech companies to test the idea in a massive market." As companies, governments and investors push to "upgrade" Chinese manufacturing to full automation and "intelligent factories", a large number of jobs will disappear. But the report concludes that with careful management and retraining of the labor force, China will be able to overcome the coming labor disruptions from mass adoptions of robots and AI. However, Hao, a PhD graduate from Tsinghua University with degrees in both physics and economics, is concerned over the difficulties China will face transitioning from "technology adopters" to "technology originators." "A lot of companies are just too short-sighted. Because in the past, there were many opportunities for those companies to make quick money...Perhaps there’s no patience in these companies to aspire for bigger things. And also the investors, they want to just copy the fastest successful business model. So they are not patient enough to make long term investment," Hao told China Money Network during during an interview on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions held by the World Economic Forum in Tianjin last month. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Below is an edited version of the interview. Q: You have written science fictions about China at a distant future. And as a director working at China Development Research Foundation, you have a unique vintage point observing China's technology space. What's your overall view of how the Chinese technology sector has grown and developed? A: The Chinese technology sector has grown quite rapidly. It has advantages of a large (domestic) market and close relationships to its customers. Whenever there's a technological breakthrough, it is an advantage for Chinese tech companies to test the idea in a massive market. However, there are some fallback too. The one main problem is the lack of basic research. Investments in basic research in China is comparatively lower comparing to developed countries.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (Hyperloop TT) aspires to build 2,000 kilometers futuristic Hyperloop lines in China one day, says the firm's co-founder and chairman Bibop Gresta. "We are talking to five provinces right now. Guizhou is the first one we signed," Gresta told China Money Network during an interview on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions held by the World Economic Forum in Tianjin. https://youtu.be/Uw3a-Hi2yY8 Hyperloop TT has already sealed a deal with Guizhou province in China's southwestern region to build its first track in the country, the company said in an announcement two months ago. The deal marks the third commercial agreement for Hyperloop TT, following announcements on similar agreements in Abu Dhabi and Ukraine earlier in 2018. "In the future, we will not build, maintain or operate anything but act as a licensing company with enormous knowledge and intellectual property (IP) technologies," Gresta said. "In Guizhou, we are foreseeing a six-month feasibility study, and then 38 months to implement the first line. We are talking about an overview of a maximum of five years to add the first passenger in China. Then we are planning to roll out 2,000 kilometers in China." According to the People's Daily, the hyperloop project in Tongren, Guizhou province, is expected to cost about RMB10 billion (US$1.5 billion), covering a total distance of 60 kilometers (37.2 miles). The California-based Hyperloop TT focuses on building hyperloop systems enabling capsules to travel in a vacuum tube, an idea first proposed by technology magnate Elon Musk. The technology is said to be able to move capsules reaching speed of up to 1,223 kilometers per hour (760 mph). Hyperloop TT's ambitious plans in China comes at a time when the country is embroiled in a fierce trade war with the United States. The White House and U.S. President Donald Trump have repeatedly blamed China for unfair trade practices, IP infringements, and forced technology transfers. Gresta also discussed how his company deals with intellectual property protections when doing business in China. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Q: For those who are not familiar, please give us a brief introduction of hyperloop Transportation Technologies? A: My company is the first company to bring Elon Musk's vision to travel inside a tube at the speed of sound into reality. Imagine putting a capsule full of people inside a tube, sucking the air out of the tube so there's no resistance, and you can move people from point A to point B at almost the speed of sound using a tiny fraction of energy. Sounds like science fiction but we are actually building it. Q: How much progress have you made in R&D? How ready is this technology now? A: We have finished all the testing and prototyping, and now construction has started. There is a big prototyping construction in Toulouse, France. It will be divided into two parts. One is 320 meters and the other is 1.4 kilometers. This is the certification track which will also be used to certify the technology. We have already started the development of the first commercial line in Abu Dhabi. Most recently, we signed a deal with the local government in Tongren City in Guizhou province to build the first commercial line in China. Q: Certainly, there is a lot of potential, but there are also lots of criticisms and questions about how the technology will be realistic in terms of costs and potential risks. One of those criticisms comes from the consideration for safety. Could you tell us a little bit about safety concerns and how do you plan to handle this issue? A: All the criticisms are based on the initial designs of the hyperloop. Nobody has really looked into what we are doing. The most important thing you have to understand about the hyperloop is that it is based o...

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of September 17 to 21, 2018, with Eudora Wang who is sitting in for Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China AI Top 50, a ranking of China's 50 most successful AI companies, and Hillhouse's US$10.6 billion new fund, the largest such private investment vehicle raised for the Asian markets. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of September 3 to 7, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Goldman Sachs joining a US$450 million deal investing in Chinese fresh produce e-commerce firm MissFresh, Baidu Video scoring a US$100 million series B round from parent company Baidu Inc. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of August 27 to August 31, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China's plans to build a US$145 million superconducting computer, a number of Hong Kong IPOs including China's largest hotpot chain Haidilao, Xiaomi-backed Internet home appliances maker Viomi, and online renovation platform Tubatu. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of August 13 to August 17, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese co-working space operator Mydream+ scoring US$120 million in VC funding, EV pioneer NIO drives to New York seeking for a US IPO, and Lu Qi, Baidu's former chief operating officer who stepped down in July, joining Y Combinator to lead its China efforts. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of August 6 to August 10, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Dada-JD Daojia, a Chinese online grocery delivery firm, raising US$500 million from U.S. retailer Walmart and JD.com, and Zhihu, China's Quora, scores a US$270 million new round, possibly before it's IPO. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 30 to August 3, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese electric vehicle unicorn Xiaopeng Motors raising a US$587 million massive round, and China Money Network releases China VC Tracker for the month of July that analyzes VC market trends in the past month. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 23 to July 27, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include WeWork China raising a US$500 million series B round of financing led by Temasek, the SoftBank Group the SoftBank Vision Fund, and Megvii Inc., also known as Face++, reportedly nearing a US$600 million round from investors including Alibaba and Boyu Capital. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 9 to July 13, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include 58 Suyun, a freight business unit under Chinese online marketplace 58 Daojia, securing US$250 million funding, and Tiger Global Management leading a US$150 million round in Aihuishou, a Shanghai-based smartphone and consumer electronics recycle start-up. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.  

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of July 2 to July 6, 2018, with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese VC Tracker for the month of June, where a monster round completed by Ant Financial drove monthly VC deal value over 300% more than that of May, and computer vision solutions firm Trax raising a US$125 million round from Chinese investment firm Boyu Capital. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the China venture and tech sector for the week of June 18-22, 2018 with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese AI chip maker Cambricon's massive round worth several hundred millions of U.S. dollars, Vipkid's US$500 million series D+ financing, and lots of other VC news and tech topics. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of June 11-15, 2018 with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Chinese AI company Yitu Tech's US$200 million venture round, Baidu Inc's plans to issue China Depositary Receipts, and China Money Network's efforts to compile a list of 50 leading Chinese AI companies to shed light on the industry. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of June 4-8, 2018 with host Nina Xiang and guest Fritz Demopoulos, founder of Queens Road Capital and co-founder of Qunar.com. Topics covered include Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc.'s dual listing in Hong Kong and in China via the newly implemented CDR program, Ant Financial's massive US$14 billion new round, and how to keep up with shifting new tech trends in today's world. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

For Chinese venture capitalist Wei Zhou, founding managing partner of China Creation Ventures, the changes he has witnessed in China during his professional life have been awe-inspiring. "When I graduated from university, most of my classmates were assigned jobs in semiconductor-related areas as we studied physical electronics. But they all left that industry because there was so little progress," Zhou told China Money Network in an interview in his firm's Beijing office two weeks ago. "Now, I think it is the best time to reinvest into that area." Granted, Zhou recognizes that Chinese companies still lag behind Silicon Valley when it comes to core research breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and other deep tech areas. But there are many positive developments in these sectors, creating new opportunities for VCs like himself. "For the past decade, we didn’t invest much in deep tech, because it didn’t make money. Now we see the rise of AI in China, even if it is not as cutting-edge like Google, but the advantage in China’s AI sector lies in the speed with which Chinese people and even Chinese government are adopting new things," Zhou said. "This high and rapid adoption is enabling new technology to find commercialized applications more easily and swiftly." For example, Zhou's firm invested recently in a company called CowaRobot, a low speed autonomous vehicle solutions company. One of the company's products is a road sweeping robot that is being tested in Changsha city, Hunan province. With around 300 cities in China with a population over one million, the potential mass commercialization of this robot could be huge. China Creation Ventures is also looking into sectors such as the private rocket launch industry in China, something that did not exist just a few years ago. In 2007, Zhou joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers China and was responsible for Internet, wireless, media and online financial services investments. He has observed how the spending behavior of Chinese millennial is creating new investment opportunities that would have not made sense a couple of years ago. "In the past, we always look for companies with potential to grow to over 200 million to 300 million users. We don’t want to invest in companies targeting users below 100 million because it’s too small. Now, even if a company only targets 30 million to 50 million users, it can still be very profitable and valuable," Zhou said, explaining that Chinese young people today pay for whatever they like online. One example that illustrates this trend is Himalaya FM, an audio platform in China and a portfolio company of Zhou's firm. The company recorded RMB196 million (US$30.5 million) in revenues in December 2017 when it did a membership promotion for two days, something that would have been unimaginable in the past when users were unwilling to pay for content online. Another anecdote illustrating this shifting behavior is that factory workers are sometimes spending 1/3 of their monthly salaries on mobile entertainment, Zhou said. In the past, Chinese factory workers would be saving most of their income to send to their families. China Creation Ventures completed fundraising for its first RMB fund at RMB1.5 billion (US$220 million) in July 2017, and reached first closing of its U.S. dollar dominated fund at nearly US$100 million three months later. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Q: Which sectors do you find the best investment opportunities right now? A: There is a different "hot sector" every month nowadays and they are shifting rapidly. For us, we first look at the macro trends on what will happen in the next several years, instead of specific sectors. For example, we sensed a turning point about two years ago on China's young generation taking a more prominent role in shaping consumption power,

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of May 27 to June 1, 2018 with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include China Money Network's freshly released China VC Tracker for the month of May, how Chinese AI company SenseTime raised US$1.2 billion in a two-month period, and how the battle to gain an upper hand in omni-channel retail continues between Tencent and Alibaba. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of May 21-25, 2018 with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include two massive healthcare VC rounds, including Sequoia Capital and Yunfeng Capital's US$260 million investment in biomed firm Brii Bio, and Ally Bridge Group's US$300 million investment in Tencent-backed cancer detection start-up Grail. In addition, there are lots of insights from China's official blockchain report. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of May 14-18, 2018 with host Nina Xiang. Topics covered include Alibaba's founder Jack Ma's views on blockchain, the world's largest Bitcoin miner Bitmain leading US$110 million in Goldman Sachs-backed Circle, and Chinese autonomous driving start-up Roadstar.ai raising a massive US$128 million financing round. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of May 7-11, 2018 with host Nina Xiang, together with guest Shai Oster, the Asia bureau chief for The Information. Topics covered include the implications of a recent murder by a Didi driver who passed facial recognition to log into his father's account to take orders, Xiaomi's rice cooker maker raising a series C round (and of course Xiaomi's upcoming IPO), and the planned listing of Canaan, China's second largest Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of April 30-May 4, 2018, including Chinese robot maker Ubtech scoring a US$820 million around, and Baidu's financial services arm securing a US$1.9 billion round. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, listen to all the news headlines in the week of April 23-27, 2018, including Baidu's new AI fund, a number of VC fund closings and six mega VC rounds each worth US$100 million and more. One round was a whopping US$1.9 billion. Be sure to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @chinamoneypod, follow us on our LinkedIn page. Please scan the QR code below to follow us on Wechat.  

When talking about his business, Misa Zhu, founder of Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Rokid, frequently uses two words not often associated with tech: gorgeous and patient. That's because making high-end AI products that are both technologically superior and beautiful to look at is key to Rokid, a company Zhu likes to describe as "a product company for the consumer." Patience is another key value for the Hangzhou-based start-up, which in January raised a nearly US$100 million series C round led by the most patient of capital providers: Singapore's national wealth fund Temasek Holdings. "(If you are building) a 100-year business, why rush?" the 42-year-old former Alibaba research lab chief told China Money Network during a one-hour interview at the company's headquarters in a lush, attractive compound near Hangzhou's West Lake. He likes to call this office, surrounded by greenery and a small pond, "the jungle," and the hundreds of staffers "monkeys." "Nobody tells you what to do here. You need to figure out what you are passionate about," he said. It takes courage - and carries with it a certain degree of risk - to "be patient" in the age of super-fast business and technology cycles in today's China. Rokid's Founder Misa Zhu Speaks To China Money Network For the smart speaker market that Rokid is competing in, the industry landscape is shifting daily. Tencent Holdings Ltd., for example, announced that it would launch its own Tingting smart speaker to the public on April 20. Alibaba Group, Baidu Inc, Xiaomi Inc and JD.com Inc have all released self-branded smart speakers. Not to mention numerous independent start-ups like Mobvoi, which China Money Network spoke to last year, that are eyeing the Chinese smart speaker market. Around 350,000 smart speakers were sold in China last year, according to market research firm GfK SE. Compared to other Chinese AI start-ups, Rokid's "patience" is in great contrast to those that are ultra aggressive in both product development and fundraising. According to China Money Network's China Unicorn Ranking, there are eight unicorns (private companies valued at US$1 billion or more) in the AI sector. Rokid, according to Zhu, is not a unicorn yet as he doesn't "want to be a unicorn so fast" to put "great pressure on everybody." By contrast, Beijing-based Chinese AI company SenseTime raised a US$600 million round led by Alibaba earlier this month at a valuation of US$4.5 billion. Another company, Face++, raised US$460 million led by China State-Owned Assets Venture Investment Fund last October. Zhu said that he does not feel "pressured," as "it is still very early stage" for the AI industry. Rokid, as an AI product company for consumers, has the potential to one day become something like "Apple plus Google," because everything we use will be "smart" in the future. "In ten-years time, AI technology will become ubiquitous. There will be smart cars, smart TV, smart everything. The consumer market will be the biggest AI market, and the most successful AI company will be the consumer product company," Zhu predicts. "For now, we just focus on building gorgeous products." Rokid's smart speakers do indeed look different from the pack. The Alien, the company's first smart speaker product released in 2016, is shaped like a drop of water. The Pebble, Rokid's mass-market smart speaker product, looks like a nicely rounded "pebble". Both products are, frankly, gorgeous. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Q: Rokid wants to be an AI company that's patient and doing business for the long-term. What would a successful AI company look like in ten years, in your opinion? A: Rokid is more of an user interface company than a pure AI company. To be exact, we are a product company to the consumer with a focus on user interface, which means connecting end-users with high technol...

At first glance, the investment strategy of veteran private equity manager Cynthia Zhang appears risky. As founder of recently launched private equity firm FutureX Capital, Zhang plans to make mid-to-late stage investments in promising Chinese tech stars, whose valuations are perhaps the highest in the world. China is home to 137 unicorns, or private companies valued at US$1 billion or more, boasting a combined valuation of US$659 billion. It's a concentration  far greater than in any other nation, including the U.S., according to China Money Network's own China Unicorn Ranking. But Zhang, who formerly headed the private equity arm of China Asset Management Co., Ltd., one of China's largest fund managers, believes that it still makes sense to buy Chinese tech stars at what some might consider exhorbitant valuations to achieve returns of "two or three times of investment in one to two years." For example, Zhang reckons that the valuation of Chinese news recommendation and entertainment content platform Toutiao is "quite reasonable, even cheap," she told China Money Network during an interview at Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Center. She noted that Toutiao has a current valuation of US$20 billion, while recorded revenue of nearly RMB16 billion (US$2.55 billion) in 2017, up from RMB6 billion (US$955 million) in 2016. Baidu, by comparison, has a current market capitalization of US$77 billion, even though Baidu recorded revenue of just RMB13 billion in 2017. As such, Toutiao could be worth a lot more than its current price tag after an initial public offering. Another Chinese tech company Zhang feels bullish about is Xiaomi Inc, the Chinese smartphone and smart device maker. Xiaomi, she predicted, could be a more affordable version of Apple for the world's middle class consumers. Given the potential size of the global market, Zhang estimated that once the company starts to monetize its comprehensive and massive user data and generate revenues from other areas such as gaming, "(Xiaomi) could be worth probably over US$100 billion in two year’s time with potential to climb even higher." FutureX Capital has secured initial investor commitment of US$200 million, and Zhang is looking actively to invest into companies similar to Toutiao and Xiaomi. This investment strategy has worked for her in the past. While at the private equity arm of China Asset Management she and her team invested RMB13 billion (US$2.07 billion) across five funds from 2014 to 2018  into companies like Alibaba Group, Chinese photo touch-up app Meitu, Chinese Groupon-like company Meituan Dianping, ride hailing firm Didi Chuxing and Kingsoft Cloud. Most of these companies, despite large valuations, have seen valuations multiply steadily over the past few years. Read an edited interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Q: Can you give us an overview of your past work and why you started your own fund? A: I started my investment career at one of the largest mutual fund managers in China, China Asset Management, and observed big changes in the investment industry and in our portfolio companies. In 2011, I proposed to expand the company's business into private equity. Over the next five years, we made concentrated investment into ten companies including Alibaba, Meitu, Dianping, Didi, Kingsoft Cloud and others, which have all assumed leading position in their respective industries. Out of those ten companies, we have exited from eight with IRR of over 50%. Q: Coming from a public equity mutual fund background, you must have both a public equity and private equity mindset. Can you tell us a little more about your new fund FutureX Capital and its investment strategy? A: When I founded the private equity business in China Asset Management in 2014, I made a very clear strategy to do mid-to-late stage investment, including PIPE (private investment in public equity),

For Jonathan Larsen, an 18-year Citi veteran, joining China's Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. was like an army general being asked to lead a small, elite squad. As Global Head of Retail Banking and Mortgages at Citi, Larsen oversaw a global team of 80,000 employees. But when he joined Ping An this May as Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of the US$1 billion Ping An Global Voyager Fund, the team was just him and his assistant on his first day. But his responsibilities and opportunities are possibly greater than ever. As CEO of Ping An's new Global Voyager Fund, Larsen is leading a growing team of professionals to deploy US$1 billion to companies globally to help the Chinese insurance giant's drive toward becoming an innovative conglomerate. On top of that, as chief innovation officer of the whole group, Larsen works with the senior management team to make sure that Ping An comes out as a leader of innovation ahead of its competitors in the mid- to long-term. "Its a welcome change and it’s very energizing to come to a new domain with very different mission and agenda. Even though the scope of people management is different, the nature of the roles are actually complimentary," Larsen told China Money Network at Ping An's Hong Kong office at the International Finance Center. Ping An, the country’s largest insurer by market value, launched its first overseas fund - the Global Voyager Fund - to primarily invest in fintech and healthcare technology globally, with US$1 billion to be allocated by the parent group. The fund has an ambitious objective: to fully invest the US$1 billion in the next three to four years in companies that will "move the needle" for Ping An's innovation objectives. "The Global Voyager Fund is one of many levers for driving innovation within Ping An," says Larsen. "It’s about making investments in companies that have distinctive technologies, platforms and models that could achieve success and have strategic relevance for Ping An’s existing and new business." For fintech, Larsen says that he is most concerned with three parameters when considering a potential investment: the technology, how that technology is likely to unlock value, and what is the synergy between the technology and Ping An. A positive investment needs to click all three boxes. Personal and business lending platforms, business model innovations and insurance tech space are some of the areas that Ping An is particularly interested in, Larsen says. In September, Ping An Global Voyager Fund made its first investment in European fintech company, 10x Future Technologies, a fintech company founded by former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins. The company focuses on providing holistic technology solutions to banks that allow them to keep their APIs and data in one place. Such a platform could be integrated in Ping An's own bank and its Ping An Financial OneConnect, a platform under Ping An tasked with exporting the fintech capacity of the group to other financial institutions. In healthcare, Ping An has paid attention to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnostics, helping physicians shape treatment paths, as well as the use of wearables, and mobile technology for adherence monitoring and follow-up consultations. Ping An, of course, has a healthcare insurance business in China and also owns Good Doctor, a personal health mobile app with 500,000 daily active users. Any investments in these areas would likely have an attractive strategic component for Ping An, Larsen says. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.   Q: You joined Ping An in May as chief innovation officer and also the CEO of the US$1 billion Ping An Global Voyager Fund. What's the biggest change from your past retail banking role at Citi? A: During the last four and half years, I have been running the global retail banking group at Citi. From front to back,

China's healthcare sector is seeing a flood of new capital from from non-professional investors such as Chinese coal mining and factory bosses, according to James Huang, a managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) China, who focuses on life sciences. As a result, valuations have become excessive, forcing more experienced investors to adopt new strategies to get ahead of the "dumb money." Huang, a long-time healthcare investor who previously worked at Vivo Ventures, say one strategy is to seek earlier stage investments to try to find true innovators. He often finds himself on university campuses talking to professors and top researchers, discovering and potentially backing pioneering research teams at the earliest possible stage an investor could go in. A pharmaceutical veteran who has worked at GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Meyers Squibb and ALZA Corp., Huang told China Money Network that half of the companies he's invested in have achieved exits. And having made 15 investments in China since 2007, Huang believes that only professional healthcare investors and industry professionals can achieve long-term success in the sector. As for the "dumb capital" chasing hot deals, it will slowly be washed out of the market.   Read an edited interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Q: What are some major trends emerging in China's healthcare industry? A: I think what is happening in China’s healthcare market is really exciting. The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) initiated a major reform program around 18 months ago. There are sweeping changes in the way traditional generic drugs file for approval, what's required for approval, and how new branded products can start clinical trials and "green channels" for certain breakthrough therapies. For example, the time that companies have to wait for CFDA approval of HIV products they developed or discovered could be shortened to less than six months from the current two to three years. The new policy currently only applies to the HIV area, but CFDA is going to expand it to all the therapeutic areas for drug innovation. As a result, CFDA can greatly reduce its workload, and focus on the truly innovative drugs. That’s really exciting, because patients in China can now enjoy true generic drugs with lower prices. Q: Did the shortened approval time lead to even higher valuations for Chinese innovative drug companies? A: Well, it not only influenced the valuations, but also could increase the success rate of those companies. In this industry, time is money. To develop a new product is expensive. If you’re successful, the payoff is very high, but if you don’t have a good product, you want to kill it as soon as possible, so that they can start to focus on other new products. Q: With the new policy proposals and the emergence of a new wave of innovative drug start-ups, do you think China has a chance to become a leader in innovative drug development globally? A: In some medical technology areas, China is actually taking a leadership position, such as gene sequencing. China has the world's largest gene sequencing service company, BGI Genomics Co., Ltd. With more multinational companies coming to China and utilizing service providers like BGI, there exists more collaborations between young Chinese tech companies and foreign institutions. Also, for the very first time, CFDA reforms are allowing multinational clinical trials to be conducted, so we’ll see more cooperation between Chinese and foreign hospitals and medical schools. For the past few years, China has allowed companies to conduct central laboratory services for clinical trials. One company, a pioneer in the area is called Kindstar Global, offers central laboratory services for both hospitals and pharmaceutical companies conducting multinational clinical trials.

"I've never seen two Chinese guys comparing (car) engines (like people do in Europe)," says Freeman Shen, founder of Chinese electric vehicle start-up WM Motor Technology Co., Ltd. "China doesn't have a long driving culture...the car is more a tool for people to get from point A to B." It's one reason his three-year-old company, with RMB10 billion (US$1.5 billion) in funding, is taking a different route than most of its rivals. Instead of simply producing a decent, mass market car, WM will offer its EV customers flexible ownership, essentially combining Tesla Motors and Uber in one company. It's an important selling point given that WM is targeting young Chinese consumers, who are famously quick to accept new things, but far less willing to purchase new cars. For Shen, the former chairman of Volvo China and a 20-year automobile industry veteran, the future of China's car industry will be shaped by three words: electrification, connectivity and sharing. As such, his company is creating a 100% electric car that is connected 24/7 and will let owners choose if they want to share their cars. "For example, a customer owns our car in Shanghai but he travels to Beijing a lot. With a Super ID (a membership service offered by WM), he can easily access another WM Motor vehicle while in Beijing and lease out his car in Shanghai," Shen told China Money Network at the company's headquarters in Shanghai. The "new business model", as the soft-spoken Shen calls it, is full of unforeseen challenges. Jia Yueting, the disgraced and currently exiled ex-chief of LeEco, wanted to build something similar with that company's smart car unit LeSEE and car hauling platform Yidao. That plan was cut short by corporate financial crisis that is still unfolding. And Tesla itself plans to launch a ride sharing system called "Tesla Network" as early as this years, allowing its car owners to share their vehicles, and creating immediate competition for WM. "The challenge is how to make this dream (become) real...we are in a race to see (which company) can get to the market (first)," said Shen. It is a race indeed. China, the world's largest car and EV market, already has three EV start-ups valued at US$1 billion, (NIO, WM Motor and BAIC BJEV, according to China Money Network's China Unicorn Ranking) with another one (Future Mobility Corporation) approaching unicorn valuation. The U.S., on the other hand, has none. Read more on five Chinese EV start-ups that could rival Tesla Competition between these well-funded Chinese EV start-ups is intense. NIO's ES8 model will hit the market in mid-December. Another Chinese EV start-up, CHJ Automotive (known as Chehejia in Chinese), completed a test production run two months ago at its new factory, which was built in only one year. Shen says WM Motor's high-tech customer-to-manufacturer (C2M) factory in Wenzhou will be completed at the end of this year and small volume production will commence during the first quarter of 2018. Only then will we know if his digital car dream can become reality. Read an interview Q&A below. Also subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. ON CHINA'S EV INDUSTRY: Q: How would you describe the current transition toward electric vehicles by China and the global automobile industry? A: As you know, China is already the largest car market in the world, and it also leads in electrification. The first reason China is going electric is because it relies on imports for about 60% of its oil, of which 80% is used by cars. From a national security respective, the Chinese government has to push very hard for electrification. Pollution is another reason. The electric vehicle revolution has been going on for about five years. However, at first not many people took it seriously. But I believe now is the right time. Customers are already well educated, and electric cars are a good solution for daily u...

Zhifei Li, founder of Chinese artificial intelligence firm Mobvoi, once joked in a Wechat post that the best business model for a Chinese AI company was to become an Internet celebrity via smart marketing and then pivot to become an e-commerce firm. But, he added self-deprecatingly, "because I'm not handsome enough and my Mandarin is terrible, I choose to sell premium hardware powered by our own proprietary AI technology." Behind the joke, however, lies Li's personal struggle to answer the billion-dollar question: What is the ideal business model for a successful AI company? A native of China's Hunan province, Li still speaks with a slight accent when China Money Network recently visited Mobvoi's Beijing headquarters. But there was no ambiguity in his conviction. "Our strategy is to develop the core voice recognition technology and then apply them to different hardware scenarios, where the technology makes sense for users," the former Google scientist with a computer science Ph.D. from John Hopkins University told China Money Network. "We are an AI company...(and) have the capability to combine algorithm, software and hardware all together." Mobvoi, a name derived from combining the first three letters of "mobile" and "voice", is among the leading players of a new pack of Chinese AI companies that are primarily focused on the so-called AI application layer. Instead of drilling deep into AI technology research, such as DeepMind Technologies, the vast majority of Chinese AI companies - 71% to be specific - are focused on generating real returns from applied artificial intelligence, according to a recent report released by Vertex Holdings, a member of Singapore's Temasek Holdings. This means Chinese AI companies have struggled with the brutal "business model" question for longer and deeper than their American peers, of which only 44% are application focused, according to a Tencent study. Discarding invalid answers (Li's Wechat post featured the survey choice "Continue painting an ever brighter picture for VCs to raise more money", which got the most votes from his friends), the choices for AI companies include: 1. Provide AI technology solutions to enterprises for a fee; 2. Go downstream to smart hardware. For Li, the first choice is abhorrently lousy. In option one, the only way to scale up is to try to grab more orders from enterprises, which inevitably leads to price competition and margin compression. Not to mention that Chinese technology giants such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT) could offer such services for free. In fact, a company in this camp, Face++, already provides free basic face and image recognition technology, while charging a fee for premium services, in a freemium (free+premium) model. As a veteran researcher with over a decade of experience first at the Natural Language Processing Lab of John Hopkins University and later on Google's translation team, Li believes he and his team's AI technology experience put Mobvoi at an advantage compared to other Chinese hardware makers. Other benefits of the software-hardware combo approach include brand awareness by end-users, potential to grow exponentially, and various ways to monetize the hardware. Investors seem ready to buy Li's vision. Having secured US$250 million in financing from Volkswagen Group China, Google, Sequoia Capital’s angel investment unit, SIG Asia Investment and others, Mobvoi is reportedly valued at a near-unicorn level, or approaching US$1 billion. Declining to disclose the company's valuation, Li prefers to explain his philosophy on what an AI company must do to survive and thrive. "If you want to make an AI company successful, you have to have products and integrate the technology in the products," Li said while flashing Mobvoi's Ticwatch S smart watch on his wrist. Mobvoi's first step of re-tooling itself to shift from being a voice interaction mobile app maker to a hardware developer came in 2015,

This Podcast Is Sponsored By TiENPAY TiENPAY is not your average fintech start-up. With the company's origins dating back to the first mobile wallet launched in Australia in 1996, the Hong Kong-based firm has a grand dream: to become the number one global mobile wallet clearance and settlement platform. Founded by Singaporean entrepreneur and finance veteran William Tien, the company integrates a mobile wallet app, a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) currency exchange (with Bitcoin and other cryto-currency capabilities), and a digital asset pool that includes intellectual property rights to dozens of web films it plans to produce. "The difference of our wallet is that we focus on clearance and settlement, a less tapped market segment," said William Tien, founder and CEO of TiENPAY. "I've spent years traveling around the world and always had difficulty conducting currency conversions and cross-border transactions. We should have something that is universal so that people don't need to wait for two weeks before receiving money." TiENPAY Founder William Tien Speaks To China Money Network: TiENPAY, with its Shenzhen office housed in a Tencent Incubator, has the capacity to connect to more than 350 payment gateway or aggregators like Visa, MasterCard, China UnionPay, WeChat and Alipay. The company's services are currently set to cover the United States, U.K., Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Russia and India. Once fully operational, users can enjoy instant money transfers across country borders and convert currencies among major fiat money, bitcoin and other forms of digital currencies. TiENPAY’s innovative digital wallet conducted its first transaction trial in January between an account in China and another in Australia via China UnionPay. The mobile wallet app is to formally launch on Wednesday, and users will be able to download and sign up for its unique service offerings. The key to TiENPAY's systems is a network of financial institutions located in each of its operating countries to allow a seamless transaction experience for users. "Over the last four and half years, we have gone through a lot of regulatory work, and I'm telling you, it's very tough," Tien said. But the future looks promising. The company wants to expand to 35 countries in five years, and to bring in significant profits in the next five years. To achieve that, TiENPAY has come up with a creative idea: to produce 20 web films in China and Asia with a total investment of US$10 million. The first movie, a comedy on the subject of the mobile wallet, with episodes involving a bank robbery and kidnapping, is commencing production this week. You can listen to our conversation above or read a Q&A below. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: TiENPAY is such a unique product, how did you initially come up with the idea to start a company like this? A: I have spent years traveling around the world doing projects overseas and have always had problems of adapting to the local environment. I thought that I should have something that is universal and I don't need to wait for two weeks before I can get the money, or even for one month if in Russia. So the idea actually started back in 1996 in Australia, and we want to create an inter-operative mobile wallet that everybody can use. Q: What do you think sets TiENPAY apart from other types of mobile wallets? A: What makes us special is that we are inter-operative. The question is do I have a wallet that I can use in China, in Africa and in the U.S.? TiENPAY is the answer. The most important thing is that this kind of pavement is instantaneous. You don’t need to wait for three days for a bank clearance or go to the bank to remit the money. Q: How are you able to provide this transaction services acros...

At the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions (also known as the Summer Davos) in Dalian last week, China Money Network caught up with Prof. Xiaodong Lee, former president and CEO of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), to chat about the development of the Internet industry in China and the country's role in managing the world wide web. CNNIC, established in 1997, is best known for twice a year publishing the Statistical Report on Internet Development in China, chronicling the growth and major trends of the nation's Internet sector. As a unit operating under the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country's main Internet control and oversight authority, CNNIC is also responsible for the registration of Chinese domain names and Roman letter names ending with .cn. According to CNNIC's latest survey, there were 731 million netizens in China at the end of 2016, equal to the entire population of the European continent. There were 20 million registered .cn domain names, the largest pool of any country-specific domain names. China is also far, far ahead of other countries in terms of mobile Internet usage. In total, more than 697 million people currently use mobile Internet in China, of which 469 million use mobile payment apps, representing a penetration rate of 67% . That compares to a mobile payment penetration ratio of just 19% for U.S. smartphone users in 2016 and an expected penetration ratio of 33% in 2020, according to eMarketer. In addition, mobile payment in China goes beyond facilitating online transactions, and is widely used at offline venues such as restaurants, stores and transportation hubs, where users pay with their phones instead of cash or bank cards. Nearly half of Chinese mobile Internet users have utilized mobile payments while shopping at offline stores. Prof. Lee, who holds a P.h.D degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and teaches at some of China's top universities, also shared his views on how to better manage the Internet in the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) industry. He announced last week that he had resigned his post at the CNNIC, but did not reveal his next move. Read below a lightly edited Q&A transcript between Prof. Lee and China Money Network host, Nina Xiang. Subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: CNNIC has been conducting bi-annual surveys of China's Internet industry for the past 20 years. How has the focus of the survey changed over time? A: At the beginning, the report only covered fundamental resource statistics, such as how many domain names there were, how many Internet Protocol addresses there were, and how many servers were connected to the Internet, etc. As the Internet and particularly mobile Internet evolved, we tried to provide more detailed information covering different industries across different regions, as well as offering a lot of analysis based on the age or educational background of the users. The most obvious trend is that companies were initially focused on "copy-to-China," but more and more, there are new technologies and new business models originating from within China. That includes the sharing economy, think Mobike and bike sharing companies, and (innovative applications of) mobile payment services. It's a huge change in the past ten years, particularly in the past five years, I would say. It means that even more new business models and technologies will be applied first in China in the future. Q: The next big boom looks to be the IoT industry, which is expected to reach over eight billion connected devices globally this year. What kind of regulatory and management challenges does this create for regulators? A: I think if billions, or potentially trillions of devices are connected to the Internet,

Millions of ambitious young people wake each morning wanting to "change the world," but few have as ambitious a goal as Bill Liu, founder of Chinese flexible display company Royole Corporation. If Thomas Friedman argued that "the world is flat," then Bill Liu's mission is to bend, curve and roll up that world. Liu founded Royole in 2012 after gaining a Ph.D in electrical engineering from Stanford University at age 26. Five years later, the company provides flexible display solutions to various industries and has launched several consumer products, including a smartphone that can be rolled into a bracelet, the first of its type readily available to consumers. "Flexible display electronics are a very new way for people to interact with consumer and electronics information," Liu, now 34, told China Money Network during an exclusive interview at the company's headquarters in Shenzhen. "I believe flexible displays could be everywhere in the future, because it is convenient, easy to use, and provides more robust design possibilities." Royole is venturing into a new market with high potential. If any type of digital display, from computers, to phones and TVs, can be bent or rolled up, then everything from wristwatches to car dashboards can be completely re-imagined. Watch China Money TV's Visit To Royole's Shenzhen Headquarters: This alternate, flexible future is also exciting tech giants like Samsung and LG. Both are mass producing flexible displays for use on their mobile phones, the Galaxy S7 Edge and the LG G Flex 2. Apple, reportedly, may be buying around 100 million flexible panels for its future iPhones. "Flexible display is a huge business opportunity enabling industries worth hundreds of billions of dollars," said a tech venture investor who preferred to remain anonymous. "Its applications in wearable devices, healthcare, Internet-of-Things (IoT) and fashion are exciting. Think about the possibilities if smartphones can wrap around your wrist and brands can display ads on your T-shirt." That potential has made Royole a magnet for venture investors, and as a result it is currently the world's most valuable tech start-up focused exclusively on this frontier industry. The company has raised over RMB2 billion, or nearly US$300 million, in five financing rounds since 2012, with its latest valuation at a hefty US$3 billion. The company already has over 700 intellectual properties under its name in the field of flexible displays. Royole's challenge, however, will be to turn ideas into breakthrough products, then into a scaleable and profitable businesses. It remains to be seen whether Royole's products can win over consumers. The company has one showroom in Beijing - with another opening in Shenzhen in October - where consumers can view its rollable mobile phone, called the FlexPhone, as well as a transparent keyboard that can be rolled into a pen-size container, and a foldable 3D virtual mobile theater in the form of a headset. Some of the products, such as the headset, are also sold online. Liu would not disclose details on how sales are trending, but he said people are looking forward to new technologies and products, and he is confident his company is building momentum. Royole's business-to-business segment also faces major hurdles, one of which is the protection of its IP. Liu explained during a TV show last month that Royole decided to build its own factory partly to meet growing demand, and partly over difficulty in finding a manufacturing partner with proper business terms to secure solid protection of its IP. The B2B business also depends on its clients' ability to apply the new technology into their own products. The company has signed strategic partnership agreements with Chinese sports goods retailer Li Ning Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Bus Group, China Southern Airlines, and the Shenzhen subsidiary of China Mobile, to explore how flexible displays could be utilized to create new products.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Jie Gong, a partner at Pantheon’s Asia Investment Team, spoke to our host Nina Xiang. Gong discussed new and important trends she sees in China's private equity and venture capital space, and what the fund-of-funds manager looks for when considering backing funds in China. You can listen to our conversation above or read a Q&A below. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: What exciting new trends are you seeing in China's private equity and venture capital space, and also what types of funds are you focused on backing nowadays? A: The Chinese private equity and venture capital landscape has been going through very big changes. We're seeing two very distinct trends. The first trend is that specialization is definitely deepening. We see specialists setting up separate teams to build verticals around sectors that they're interested in, rather than being dependent on reverse inquiries of deal flow. Those that were originally specialized in different industries are certainly building more of their external resources to deepen their expertise, because in today's competitive market you need to have this extra knowledge and foresight as well as resources that you can bring to the company and make yourself indispensable. The second trend is that there was a great proliferation of venture capital managers during 2014 and 2015, which in a way puts the growth capital firms in a bit of a bind, because their operating space previously was wider. We're seeing some of the growth capital firms leaning a bit forward in their investment stages, or moving into more early-stage investments, for example, investing in companies that are pre-breakeven. So, I think for the growth capital firms, they need to recalibrate their strategy and (perhaps) not focus on those really hot themes that the entire market is focusing on. They also need to think about what kind of risks they take or not take as a growth-capital firm. So there's a lot of soul-searching and rethinking of strategy that the growth capital firms are going through right now. Q: We are seeing more buyout firms in China. So, for your own portfolio construction, growth capital versus buyout, which one do you favor? A: We actually construct a widely diversified portfolio of general partners at different stages of the investments life-cycle. But I think, growth capital or classic buyout, both are benefiting from a new wave of entrepreneurs looking at succession options for their businesses, as (family business owners) realize that an IPO isn't the only way to materialize their dreams. Q: The year 2015, as the peak market of the mobile Internet boom in China, created a lot of excess. How do you feel about the return prospects for the funds of this vintage year? A: Well, I think that fund vintage is really a confluence of several things. There was a huge wave of start-ups, entrepreneurial enthusiasm, a lot of capital flowing into the start-up space (that year), as well as many new venture firms (entering the market). So generally speaking, with a lot of capital going into the sector, it can create opportunities that could increase the competitiveness of the deal dynamic. I think 2015 will be remembered as a very busy, very hectic and very buoyant vintage year, with the subsequent return repression coming out from generally elevated and heated valuations. But it doesn't mean that 2015 will not have very good funds, it depends on how disciplined the manager is in their fund size, their investment pace and how they add value to the companies. Q: Can you give us some examples of characteristics that you look for in funds when considering whether to commit to them or not? A: We will choose general partners,

To say that Meng Xing, V.P. and entrepreneur-in-residence at Chinese venture firm Shunwei Capital, has been busy would be a gross understatement. Over the past ten years, the 31-year-old venture capitalist and entrepreneur has founded two artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, selling one, an image recognition AI company, to Amazon and the other to a listed Chinese company. In between, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan Hong Kong and casino giant Caesars Entertainment, on top of getting an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. In March 2016, Meng joined Shunwei, a US$2 billion venture firm co-established by Chinese billionaire entrepreneur and Xiaomi Inc's founder Lei Jun. He has so far screened over 200 Chinese AI start-ups and led efforts to invest in nine AI companies during the past year. While Meng's first success was in image recognition, he believes that a stand-alone image recognition type of business popping up in China will face increasing challenges going forward. In order to survive and thrive, Chinese AI companies must focus on a niche vertical industry and create niche products, he says. Rather than simply creating AI technology, they want a company that is applying artificial intelligence for a specific purpose. The industries most likely to create the next great tech companies are financial technology, healthcare, surveillance, agriculture and autonomous driving, in his view. Meng spoke to China Money Network's Nina Xiang on the sidelines of the Montgomery Summit on March 9 in Santa Monica, California. You can listen to our conversation above or read a Q&A below. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: Can you give a brief introduction of Shunwei Capital? A: Shunwei was founded in 2011 by Lei Jun and Tuck Lye Koh, together we manage around US$2 billion in assets across three U.S. dollar funds and two RMB funds. Since 2011, we have invested in 200 companies across a lot of sectors including Internet of things devices, financial technology, agriculture, new real estates, and coming-of-age technologies. I personally focus on technology-driven companies, more specifically, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, visual reality and 3D structure, for early-stage funding rounds like series A and series B. Q: You had an interesting career before joining Shunwei. Tell us more about that? A: I started my career as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan Hong Kong in 2007 covering the telecom, media and technology (TMT) sector. Then I started a few companies, but the one that really took off was Orbeus in 2012 when I was getting my MBA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was a company based in Boston and we were doing image recognition and object recognition. It was later sold to Amazon in 2015. Then, I joined Caesars Entertainment, an international casino company, and was responsible for their Asian online gaming sector for two years. After Caesars, I founded Cogtu, a start-up that leverages image recognition to build a native advertising network. The company was sold to a listed Chinese Internet company as well. And I joined Shunwei last year. Q: At Shunwei, you invest in AI start-ups. How many companies have you reviewed and what's your overview of these start-ups? A: Probably over 200 companies so far in the broadly defined artificial intelligence field, and we invested in about nine companies last year. When we are screening companies, first we want to know who are the founders. The good ones, or the ones that venture capitalists are chasing, are companies founded by research scientists from top research universities or research department from Google, Facebook and so forth. The problem is that those researchers have a lot of experience publishing ac...

James Zhou, founder of China's biggest robot maker Ubtech Robotics, was fascinated by the Transformers show as a young boy in Shanghai during the 1980s. A few decades later, he's turned his childhood passion into Ubtech, a US$5 billion technology powerhouse based in Shenzhen. His vision for the future is even bigger. By Zhou's estimation, Ubtech will become the global leader of the consumer robotics market, as the sector expands rapidly to make robots part of average households, just like cars did a hundred years ago. The pursuit of his passion in robots hasn't been easy. After seeing some Japanese humanoid robots during a business trip to Japan in 2008, Zhou was so captivated that he immediately began researching for ways to make something similar in China. Having worked as a senior executive at German machinery company Weinig Bietet MeHr for several years, Zhou hired a group of engineers and plowed all his savings into the project, but soon found out that the technical challenges were much greater than he expected. "I thought it's just some small parts, chips, and should be simple. But it took much, much longer," Zhou told China Money Network during an interview at Ubtech's Shenzhen headquarters. "I had to sell my properties, my house and cars, and borrow money from friends to cover development costs." After five years of hard work and burning through RMB50 million (US$7 million) of self-funded capital, Zhou finally produced the company's first product, a 40-centimeter-tall family fun robot named Alpha 1S. With 16 digital servo joints, a key component that proved the most daunting technical challenge for researchers, the humanoid can move with high precision, dance and perform various tasks. The company then launched the Alpha 1 Pro and Alpha 2 robots, which have enhanced artificial intelligence capabilities such as language processing and machine vision. It also partnered with Apple Stores around the world to sell its Jimu Robot, a do-it-yourself Lego-like robot for education and entertainment. Investor interests picked up as well. After raising around US$22 million from Qiming Venture Partners and Chinese voice recognition software maker iFlytek Co. in 2015, Ubtech completed a US$100 million financing round led by Chinese investment firm CDH Investments in July 2016. The company is now working to close a new financing round at a US$5 billion valuation, making it the most valuable robotics company in China. These top-tier investors helped the company strike numerous partnerships with global tech giants. Aside from the Apple Store partnership, Ubtech is launching a humanoid robot named Lynx powered by Amazon's Alexa voice assistant system. The company also plans to launch humanoid products in partnership with renowned intellectual property owners such as The Walt Disney Company. Rick Xiong, Ubtech's chief technology officer, attributes the company's success to its focus on mass market commercialization. Unlike other humanoid projects in Japan and Europe that largely stay inside research labs, Ubtech has sold its small size robots to consumers at a reasonable scale. The nascent consumer robot sector is only worth RMB1 billion (US$140 million) now, with only four or five dedicated commercial players worldwide, Zhou reckons. Ubtech is expecting to reach RMB 1 billion (US$140 million) to RMB1.5 billion (US$217 million) in revenue for 2017, which will put it on track for an initial public offering in China at the end of 2018 or in 2019. Low cost is another hallmark of Ubtech. The cost of its digital servos is around 20% of those made in Japan, says Zhou. This advantage will be hard for other competitors to beat, at least for some time. Just as Ford Motor Co. did for cars and China's DJI did for the drones market, Zhou sees Ubtech as a trailblazer bringing family robots to average households in ten years. The company eventually plans to make a 1.5 meter-tall real life size family robot,

Hamilton Tang, managing partner of Chinese private equity firm SMC Capital China, is betting on horses; or more importantly, the growing number of wealthy Chinese who want to own one. Back in 2012, SMC invested RMB22 million (US$3 million) in Rider Horse Co., Ltd, a Chinese firm engaged in the age-old art of horse trading. With SMC's support and driven by growing demand from aspirational consumers eager to mimic the lifestyles of U.K. or European elite, the company has since expanded into horse breeding, managing horse clubs and equestrian events. Revenue has increased more than six fold. Despite a national ban on horse race betting in 2000, Rider Horse is among the most successful horse racing event organizers in China, Tang said during an interview on the sidelines of the HKVCA Asia Private Equity Forum 2017 in Hong Kong. The company imports roughly two hundred horses each year, including New Zealand thoroughbreds to meet demand from aspiring Chinese consumers engaged in recreational riding, playing polo and racing. But this ride is almost over for SMC, which hopes to gain a handsome return on investment when Rider Horse completes an initial public offering later this year. After SMC's initial investment, Rider Horse went on to raise a RMB45 million series B round led by CDF-Capital in 2013, and a RMB120 million series C round from Jiangsu Delta Capital Investment Management Co., Ltd, DT Capital Partners, Jiangxi Gaoqi Investment and Jimei Investment in 2014. It raised another RMB120 million series D round in 2015 from undisclosed investors in 2015, according to the company's website. The thorny question if whether Rider Horse's IPO can cross the finish line under current market conditions. A listing on China's A-shares market now requires years of waiting time. An IPO on the country's over-the-counter market, the so-called New Third Board, can be completed more quickly, but faces the critical problem of low liquidity. Nevertheless, Tang said the company is aiming to file for an IPO during the first quarter 2017, five years after its initial investment in the horse trade. You can listen to our conversation above or read a Q&A below. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q:Could you give us a short introduction to SMC Capital China? A: We have been a China private equity specialist for the past 14 years. We started our business way back in 2003, and in the past few years, we have been focused on the consumer sector in China, in particular consumer upgrades, consumer tech and cross-border deals. We focus on growth stage and typically are series A lead investors (in our deals). At the moment, we manage three private equity funds in addition to some co-investments pockets and deals that use our own balance sheet, with around US$700 million to US$800 million under management. Our most recent private equity fund, which is a vintage 2011 vehicle, secured US$100 million. Q: Back in 2012, SMC Capital launched a joint venture with Chinese equestrian company Rider Horse Co., Ltd. Could you tell us a little bit about how that company has grown over the past few years? A: Yes, we invested RMB22 million (US$3 million) in the company. Since our investment, the company has increased revenues by more than six times. Besides that, what I think is even more important is the composition of its revenues. When we met Lang Lin, the founder of the company, in 2011 or 2012, the business was entirely a horse trading business. But with our help, particularly helping with cross-border engagement, the company today is much more diversified. The company still has the horses buying and selling business, it also has a strong breeding program. It is also the largest importer of thoroughbred horses from New Zealand. In addition,

Venture capitalists around the world are having second thoughts about the value of some of their earlier investments. Over the last year, 102 companies were obliged to raise financing at a lower valuations than during earlier funding rounds, according to CB Insights. While only a few Chinese companies are on the list of so-called down rounds, that will not last long as more Chinese tech firms will be forced to raise money at lower valuations, says Tommy Yip, managing partner at US$210 million-under-management Unicorn Capital Partners. Mr. Yip, founder of the Hong Kong-based fund-of-funds, predicts companies that raised massive series B and C rounds at extremely high valuations, especially O2O (online-to-offline) and P2P (peer-to-peer) start-ups,  may be forced to raise money at reduced prices in order to survive. "I think for companies like Didi Chuxing, they have pressure from existing investors to go public sooner. But if you look at the capital market, it’s not a great time for companies like Didi to go public because an IPO today means a down round from a valuation stand point," Yip said during an interview with China Money Network on the sidelines of the HKVCA Asia Private Equity Forum 2017 in Hong Kong. Chinese on-demand local services provider Meituan-Dianping and Chinese smartphone and smart device maker Xiaomi Inc are in similar situations. The peer review and Groupon copycat Meituan-Dianping raised over US$3.3 billion at a post-money valuation of US$18 billion last January, while Xiaomi's gross worth was set at US$45 billion when it last raised US$1.1 billion in 2014. Investors of both companies have been reportedly seeking to sell shares in private markets at significant discounts. That could hurt other Chinese companies looking to raise money, especially overseas. Qudian, an installment online shopping platform previously known as Qufenqi, last raised money in October at a valuation of RMB7.5 billion (US$1.09 billion), down from a pre-IPO round two month earlier valuing the company at a RMB10 billion (US$1.46 billion). Qudian is now rumored to seek US$500 million to US$800 million through a New York IPO during the first half of this year, at a valuation of US$5 billion. Will U.S. investors buy shares at that price? We will soon find out. You can listen to our conversation above or read a Q&A below. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: Why did you leave Emerald Hill Capital Partners to establish Unicorn Capital Partners? A: We believed it was a really good timing. I left Emerald Hill back in the end of 2014 and founded Unicorn Capital Partners with my partners in the beginning of 2015. Over the past few years in China, we actually went through a very interesting period, what we call venture capital 3.0 period, where we see a wave of younger venture capital professionals coming out of top firms to start their own venture funds. At that time I believe China was going through an inflection point in technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector, where the economy is starting to shift from the old economy to the new. I think in the next five to ten years, the new economy, mainly TMT and healthcare, will be driving a lot of the growth. We are currently managing two funds, both U.S. dollar funds. Our first fund, I know this is a bit confusing, is actually called Fund Zero, and our second fund is called Fund I. Together, we manage approximately US$210 million. Q: How’s did your fundraising process go? What was your fundraising target? A: We started the fundraising directly after we established the company back in January 2015, and luckily, it was quite smooth. It was a little bit more than our target of US$200 million. Q: China's venture capital sector has experienced a boom and is perhaps adjusting to...

C-Bridge Capital, a Shanghai-based private equity firm focused on China's healthcare sector, hopes to profit handsomely by bringing better drug know-how from developed markets to the underdeveloped Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Headed by finance veteran Fu Wei, the US$700 million-under-management firm led a follow-on US$100 million round in Chinese pharmaceutical start-up Ascletis earlier this month. Ascletis has licensed and conducted clinical trail on a hepatitis C treatment drug developed by an American company, and is launching the drug in China during the first half of this year. The sheer scale of the Chinese market makes the investment attractive, says Fu, a University of Chicago Booth School of Business graduate. With 40 million hepatitis C patients in China, compared to just four million in the U.S.,  he is confident that the drug will hit it big and bring a lucrative return on his investment. C-Bridge Capital is also looking at other areas such as hepatitis B, which is an even bigger market, and also lung cancer, which has seen a dramatic increase in China due to an aging population of smokers and the effects of high pollution levels in Chinese cities. Fu also sees the need for widespread consolidation in the Chinese pharma and healthcare sectors, which he described as lagging other sectors of the economy by 10 years. He sees Ascletis as a vehicle for acquiring other, smaller players in the pharma sector. Likewise, he described a recent investment in Anrei Medical as a typical consolidation play where the company will be a platform to acquire consumable businesses, especially in the minimally invasive surgery category. You can listen to our conversation or read a Q&A below. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: Could you give us a brief introduction of C-Bridge Capital? A: C-Bridge Capital is a China-focused healthcare fund. Our name, "C" stands for commercialization, consolidation and China. It's because we invest in growth-stage healthcare companies, and the industry in China is being increasingly commercialized and waiting to be consolidated at the same time. Currently, we manage US$700 million in total including our Fund I with US$200 million, plus US$100 million in co-investments. We also manage a venture fund called I Bridge, it’s a US$100 million vehicle led by Jimmy Wei, who was a partner at Kleiner Perkins. Q: You've worked at all kinds of financial institutions before setting up C-Bridge, including Far East Horizon, Themes Investment Management, Goldman Sachs. How did these experiences lead to the establishment of your current fund? A: Working in all sorts of funds offered me the experience of different investment strategies, as well as cross-sector investment experience. In general, I think the healthcare sector is ten years behind (other sectors in China). Unlike the boom of TMT (technology, media and telecommunications), the boom of financial institutions and the boom of consumer goods, which all started in around 2004 and 2005, the healthcare sector is ten yeas behind. Consumers of healthcare products and services are mainly 55 years old or older, so it’s the old people’s demand. China is just rapidly aging. From the supply side, if you want to be in healthcare, you need to be a PhD with ten years working experience in a big pharmacy company. So China is entering the time for healthcare to repeat what other industries did ten years ago, such as 20% annual growth and industry consolidation. Q: You recently made a follow-on investment in Chinese pharmaceutical start-up Ascletis. How did that investment came about? A: This is a typical example of a commercialization story in China. Gilead Science is a US$100 billion U.S. company with huge success in hepatitis C.

Since an early age, Wang Jun has been fascinated with the fundamental philosophical question: What is life? The ex-CEO of Chinese genome sequencing giant BGI and founder of China's highest-valued precision health start-up iCarbonX now aims to help people answer that question for themselves. Wang entered Peking University, China's top university, at the age of 16 after achieving the highest college entrance exam score in his hometown of Dongtai county, in Jiangsu province. During the early 1990s, he pursued his interest in the fundamentals of intelligent life by studying artificial intelligence. In one experiment, he discovered that computers could actually figure out how a lady beetle maneuvers to catch food, exactly like it does in real life. Watch A Video As iCarbonX's Wang Jun Chats With China Money Network: But working at the dawn of the personalized computer era, it became clear to Wang that computers could not think like a human – at least not yet – with the kind of computer powers and digital data available back then. So Wang, born in 1976, turned his attention to another potential golden key to unlocking the secrets of life: Genomes. In 1999, after having studied artificial intelligence, computer science and biophysics, he participated in founding BGI, which represented China’s contribution to the US$3 billion Human Genome Project. While at BGI, Wang managed three rounds of fundraising of about US$1 billion and led the company's acquisition of a U.S. public company, Complete Genomics. He continued scientific research by participating in the effort to sequence and analyze the rice genome and the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus. He left BGI in 2015 (though he remains a board member and shareholder) to start iCarbonX because he believes genes alone can't decode life. "If I eat more, I become fat. If I run marathons, the body reacts differently. But my genome remains the same," he said. iCarbonX’s goal is to help people understand and manage their lives better by combining genomics with every other health factor, including metabolites, bacteria and lifestyle choices, to create a digitalized form of life, an avatar or sorts, for everyone willing to pay at least US$30 for a basic product or much more for advanced solutions. "I can use this digitalized form of me to see how my body will react to a cup of coffee (or a drug or daily exercises), for example," he explained. To date, iCarbonX has invested US$400 million in seven companies to form a Digital Life Alliance, an information ecosystem designed to fulfill Wang's vision. Fives U.S. companies, SomaLogic, HealthTell, PatientsLikeMe, AOBiome, GALT, one Israeli company Imagu Vision and Chinese firm Tianjin Robustnique Corporation Ltd. each bring core technologies such as protein biomarker discovery, bacterial therapy and immunosignaturing to the alliance. iCarbonX is also launching its first product, a digital health management platform named Meum. It will provide different levels of life data and dozens of applications to users for better control of their well-being. With Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdongs Ltd. being iCarbonX's major investor, the company is also developing a product that will be available to over 800 million active users of Tencent's immensely popular Wechat app, Wang said. Wang's belief in the life-technology interface go beyond commercial concerns. He's convinced that a digitalized form of individuals could ultimately be able to live on in silicon form even after their carbon-based human bodies perish. He has declared such ambitions many times, openly and privately. It is too early to speculate on that, but there is at least one problem Wang faces trying to fulfill iCarbonX's commercial promise. The start-up achieved a US$1 billion valuation in a short six-months after being established, making it the fastest technology unicorn in the world.

The closing months of 2016 have been kind to Qiming Venture Partners. The US$2.7 billion-under-management Chinese venture capital firm saw three of its portfolio companies list in public markets during the past month: in Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Meitu Inc., a phone retouch app and smartphone maker backed by Qiming, IDG Capital and others, was valued at HK$35.9 billion (US$4.6 billion) following its Hong Kong IPO. It was the biggest IPO by a technology company in Hong Kong since Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. went public in 2004. The IPO marks the latest high point of a "harvest season" Qiming has entered to cash out of investments made over the past decade, says JP Gan, Qiming's managing partner. The firm just celebrated its tenth anniversary with a lavish party in Shanghai's Ritz Carlton featuring U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps and Chinese national volleyball coach Lang Ping. Now into the second decade, Qiming must identify the industries from which the next great Chinese tech companies will emerge. Not surprisingly, the sectors cited by JP Gan included artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, Internet-of-Things (IoT), all of which are the buzzword in today's venture world. For artificial intelligence, Gan likes mission-specific products that can be commercialized quickly, such as voice recognition, image recognition and driver-less cars. In terms of VR and AR, he believes the hardware platform will evolve away from head-mounted goggles to something more user friendly. As for big data, he thinks Chinese start-ups in that field face greater challenges than their U.S. peers as the country's technology giants typically like to do things in-house. To learn more, read on to a Q&A of our conversation. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: Qiming celebrated its tenth anniversary last month in Shanghai. You have backed some of the most notable companies in China's mobile Internet sector. What's your thinking on how to capture the next emerging trend for the ten years ahead? A: That's definitely something we worry about a lot. The question is: which trend do we bet our house on? Mobile Internet has been an important investment theme for us and for our fellow venture capitalists in China. Meitu, which just went public in Hong Kong today, is a perfect example of that. In the next few years, we will continue to look at mobile Internet. We will also be looking at artificial intelligence, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), big data, and other disruptive technologies. Q: Since you mentioned Meitu, the company is still loss making. How does the company become profitable? A: The majority of its revenue comes from its smart phone sales. The company has sold hundreds of thousands of picture-optimized smartphones. It's one of the most popular phones among female users in China. The ladies love it as their second phone or designated selfie phone. We hope to get our production up to sell more smartphones. With around 446 million monthly active users, advertising is another revenue source. The company hasn't monetized on ads before. Gaming is another potential. Meitu can use its popularity to attract users to play its games as well. Given its huge user base, we feel like Meitu is in the position where Tencent was ten years ago. Q: Baidu's chief Robin Li recently said that there won't be any unicorns (start-ups valued at US$1 billion or more) emerging in the mobile Internet sector any more. Can you still find massive opportunities in this industry now? A: Of course, user growth rate in mobile has stagnated. But in terms of application, there are still lots of potential. Many apps are still growing its user base. New features and functions are still being explored.

Grant Horsfield, founder of Shanghai-based resort and co-working space operator naked Group, always sees things differently. When others saw dilapidated farm houses in China's countryside, he envisioned seclusive luxury resorts. Now, a year after entering China's co-working space, the South African entrepreneur is convinced that the future of his multi-pronged hospitality and property business lies in fast execution. The tomorrow of the co-working business model is moving HSBC or Coca-Cola from their "ugly offices" to much cooler and lively spaces, such as his own shared office unit naked Hub, Horsfield said at the annual MIPIM Asia Summit in Hong Kong last week, not hiding his disdain for "cubicles" and "grey boxes" commonly seen at rigid corporate headquarters. Co-working should not just be offering cheap work environments for start-ups, a concept all Chinese co-working space providers hold dear, Horsfield argued. After all, start-ups take up only a small share of the overall office market. The founder of popular eco-friendly resort naked Stables seems to have struck a chord with some big corporations already. Chinese logistics firm Debang has taken up some space at naked Hub in Shanghai. And at a panel discussion at the MIPIM Summit, a gentleman from a big insurance company asked how to better utilize a 1,500-cubicle office that sits empty half of the day. New York-headquartered co-working pioneer WeWork Cos., which raised nearly half a billion led by China's Hony Capital and Legend Holdings in March, is perhaps one step ahead. It has secured many multinationals including Microsoft, HSBC, Sprint, Bank of America, Salesforce, Dell and General Motors in its locations worldwide. But when it comes to the Chinese market, Horsfield plans to outpace WeWork by adding more locations much faster. His naked Hub will have 36 locations by the end of 2017, while WeWork's current blueprint calls for adding three more in China next year, in addition to its current two locations. Even though Horsfield disagrees with his Chinese competitors on co-working's future direction, he is very much on the same page in terms of expansion, because he understands "China speed" is essential in defining success and failure in the country. UrWork, China's biggest co-working start-up, is planning to add 50 locations next year, in addition to 36 it would have by the end of this month. Kr Space wants to add 60 next year to its current portfolio of 28. Others including Fountown, 5Lmeet and Nash Work are opening hundreds more throughout China. With six new resorts planned in Moganshan, Suzhou, Shaoxing, Chengdu and Chongqing, in addition to rapid growth in the naked Hub business - which just raised US$33 million led by Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital - naked Group has now transformed itself into a powerful boutique player moving at breakneck speed. This behind-the-scenes frenetic pace contrasts with the idyllic feel its resorts convey to guests. An anonymous industry insider said that he is concerned that the company might be growing too quickly, a mistake suffered by many companies. Horsfield brushed off such concerns, saying "We just enjoy what we do." And Horsfield not only pours soul and energy into his projects, he literally puts his heart into his work. During the early days of the company, he suffered a mild heart attack amid a cash squeeze after the global financial crisis. To learn more, read on to a Q&A of our conversation. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: Congratulations on securing funding from Gaw Capital. What's next for naked Hubs? A: We have a plan to grow across Asia and give our members more access to more locations. We also want to innovate in our business to make it about more than just a co-working space by inco...

In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Jixun Foo, managing partner at GGV Capital, spoke with our host Nina Xiang, on GGV's new funds, China's travel and education sector, and why Chinese companies have a better record of avoiding "down rounds." Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast's Youtube channel or Youku channel. Foo spoke to China Money Network on the sidelines of the 29th Annual AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum in Hong Kong. Q: In April, GGV raised a massive US$1.2 billion across a number of funds, with a first time discovery fund geared for early-stage investments. What are the considerations behind these new funds? A: Yes, the new US$250 million discovery fund is a first, and will allow us to invest in seed and series A rounds, mostly in China but also in the U.S. Our main fund generally invests in late series A, or series B and C rounds, which are our sweet spot. During our 15-year history, we have built a good network of entrepreneurs who we have strong connections with. That is leading us to some early-stage companies. Also, after having backed a lot of successful entrepreneurs, we are getting good deal flows but also seeing serial entrepreneurs who want to start up something new again. These are the factors driving us to raise a discovery fund. Q: U.S.-China is a key element in GGV's investment strategy. If you can divide between U.S. vs. China investments, what are the ratio between the two? A: I guess when we started the firm, we were more U.S. centric. But we have a bottom-up methodology. We are driven by companies and opportunities in the market, not by certain asset allocation guidelines. Q: It seems like GGV has slowed the pace of investment this year, supposedly to around ten deals in 2016, compared to 30 to 40 investments annually during the past two years. Why? A: It really depends on what number you look at. In 2014 and 2015, there were a lot of new start-ups driven by the whole mobile revolution. But we've seen a slowdown in the market and industry consolidation during the past 12 months. But we are still actively investing. It should be more than ten deals this year. In terms of our investment pace, we have gone earlier stage, which means the check size has become smaller. On the other hand, we have also done more follow-on investments. The number you mentioned probably doesn't include our follow-on deals. Q: The increased number of follow-on deals is because the valuations are more attractive? A: It's the companies we know well, like Wish (a San Francisco-based e-commerce mobile app) just announced they raised US$500 million led by Temasek. Q: Has GGV participated in a follow-on investment where company's valuations dropped, in a down round? A: There are a few situations in our portfolio. So far, these are U.S. companies, not Chinese ones. Q: It seems Chinese companies are more capable of avoiding a down round, why do you think that is? A: Chinese companies are more efficient in capital, so they will survive without needing to raise financing. Usually, down rounds are not easy to execute and insiders will resist. In the U.S., it is very much a norm. Chinese companies can control their "burn rate" very quickly, so they will either survive, disappear, or get bought out. A down round is usually a sign of weakness. Are investors prepared to back a company whose valuation is going down? You really need to understand the risks. It's easy to ride the momentum, where everyone is fighting to get in, that's an easy sale to an investment committee. But if you go to your investors and say "I'm going to invest in this company in a down round, and it's a great deal," that's much harder. Q: Let's move on to some of your key portfolio companies. Iwjw, a Chinese online real estate agency,

In this episode of China Money Podcast, returning guest Dr. Marc Faber, renowned investor and publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, speaks with our host Nina Xiang. Dr. Faber played a game of Long & Short, where he spelled out his view on central banks, currencies and commodities, among other items. Then, he gave probabilities on a number of possible world events and explained his reasoning. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast’s Youtube channel or Youku channel. Here are Marc Faber's long and short bets, in the time frame of the next one to two years. The Federal Reserve: Short The European Central bank: Short The People's bank of China: Short USD: Short Euro: Short RMB: Short Japanese Yuan: Short Thai Baht: Long Gold: Long Oil: Long Steel: Short Natural Gas: Long Soybeans: Long Windmills: Short Solar power: Short New York Property: Short Silicon Valley Property: Short London Property: Short Beijing Property: Short Hong Kong Property: Long Shopping malls in China: Long Facebook: Short Apple: Short Tesla: Short Uber: Short Amazon: Short Tencent: Long Alibaba: Long S&P500 Index: Short The Hang Seng Index: Long The Shanghai Composite Index: Long Hedge funds: Depends Planet Earth's Environment: Short Containing climate change: Short World peace: Short Terrorist attacks: Long Social unrest: Long Donald Trump: Long Hillary Clinton: Short US-China relations: Depends In a game of probability, Dr. Faber made guesses about how likely a number of world events would occur. The U.S. will go into a recession by 2020 A: 100% probability. We are in a lengthy expansion already, far above the average expansion in the 20th century. We have a lot of imbalances, in my view a recession is inevitable. But unlike central banks, I do not regard a recession as negative. It's like the human body, an economy also needs a resting period occasionally to adjust. A recession is not something that has to be avoided at all costs. The European Union will break up by 2020 A: 80%. Economically, the EU would probably will break up. But it's also a political issue as there may be lot of political obstacles to complete a split from the EU. Some countries like Austria or France would like to split from the EU, but if they could do it in practice is not entirely clear to me. Gold price will hit 5000 per ounce by 2020 A: 60%. But I hate to put in a price, as my projection is that gold price will go up against the loss of the purchasing power of paper money. The RMB will depreciate 10% from current level against U.S. dollar before 2017 A: 20%. Unlike other people, I'm not that bullish about the U.S. dollar. I don't see anything much great about the U.S. economy. On the contrary, China is still a competitive country even if wages have gone up substantially. I don't see the necessity for China to devalue. World War III before 2025 A: Under Hillary Clinton, 80%. Under Donald Trump, 20%. The neocons led by the Bush family are pro-Hillary, because they made a deal with her, in which she does her social agenda in the U.S. while the neocons take over foreign policy. As such, the people in Asia are more likely to become harsher towards China. In Ukraine, for example, if Hillary's administration starts a conflict there, the Chinese will react because China now has the power. Nowadays, an aircraft carrier is a sitting duck ready to be shot down. A Mars colony before 2050 A: Even if people can live on Mars, I don't think there will be an economy any time soon. About Marc Faber: Marc Faber is the editor and publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, he studied Economics at the University of Zurich and obtained a PhD in economics magna cum laude at the age of 24.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Herry Han, partner at Lightspeed China Partners, spoke with our host Nina Xiang, on making early-stage investments in China's media and mobile healthcare sector. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast’s Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: In China's media and advertising sector, where do you see future opportunities? A: For advertising, I think there is much more room for growth in the mobile and globalization space. Not so much mobile traffic has been well monetized, or mobile advertising accurately delivered to consumers. There is a great opportunity to create a smart platform to deliver advertising to mobile sites, or to augmented reality (AR) platforms if you think ahead. Also, we see a lot of Chinese companies going global, and they want to market their products to international markets. Companies like Avazu are targeting to help Chinese companies to go global. For media, we are expecting to see the emergence of new media platforms focused on different verticals such as real estate and auto. The new generation doesn't like the old platforms. They are looking for new niche products mostly in mobile formats. Every ten years, there are great opportunities for new media platforms. Q: How are the old and new platforms different, aside from one being viewed on the computer and the other on a phone? A: For example, Soufang.com was an "old" real estate information platform. Autohome.com was an "old" auto platform. These portals are transforming themselves by providing online and offline services, transactional services and other new offerings. Despite their efforts, there are still a lot of new mobile apps emerging, offering new experiences to the young consumers. There will definitely be some new firms that will win the heart of new consumers in this process. Q: Does Lightspeed have other investments in the media sector? A: We have invested in a video producer called iEver Makeup Room. They are building video content in new and innovative ways, and have attracted a lot of eyeballs in a short period of time. We believe video, especially live online streaming and short video, will continue to experience explosive growth going forward. Q: How does this type of company make money? A: As long as there is traffic, we can monetize it by ways including advertising, gaming and lead generation. Q: Lighstspeed also invested in BTCChina, now named BTCC. Can you share with us the rational behind this Bitcoin investment? A: BTCC is sort of a "wild" bet on the future digital currency. We invested in the company in a series A round and in an experienced entrepreneur. This is not a typical investment for us, as nobody can say if digital currency will be the direction of the future or not. We made our bet thinking that if this trend realizes itself, we are invested in the top player in the sector. Digital currency is something so big that we feel like we cannot miss. Q: Which type of mobile healthcare firms will have a better chance to succeed? A: We invested in a company called Trusted Doctors in 2012 as a seed investment. Our observation is that the entry point to mobile healthcare in China is still the doctors. If a company can acquire the top doctors in China, it will win the whole healthcare sector. Trusted Doctors have over 400,000 top doctors on its platform. In China, patients will not pay for services digitally unless they know the identities of the doctors. So as these doctors invite their patients onto the Trusted Doctors platform, it will allow the company to monetize. Other type of mobile health companies we like are those that focus on big data. Q: Are there similar start-ups in the U.S. that do the same thing as Trusted Doctors? A: I think so. There are some U.S.

In this episode of China Money Podcast, guest Roger Wu, a partner at consumer-oriented private equity firm Maison Capital, spoke to our host Nina Xiang on China's O2O (online-to-offline) bubble and the firm's investment in a Chinese healthcare device maker. Don't forget to subscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to China Money Network weekly newsletters. You can also subscribe to China Money Podcast’s Youtube channel or Youku channel. Q: Give us some background of Maison Capital? A: We are a boutique private equity fund founded in 2004 based in Shenzhen, with a focus on the broader consumer sectors in China, including consumer technology, consumer services and lifestyle, as well as the healthcare sector from a consumer angle. Q: Are your funds all RMB denominated? A: We manage three RMB funds, and are raising a U.S. dollar fund now. By the end of this year, we are expecting our assets-under-management to reach over US$500 million. Q: As Chinese consumers become more sophisticated, how do you invest to capture new demands? Take the healthcare sector as an example, why did you back BMC Medical? A: We target consumer sub-segment leaders, those medical device makers producing products specific to one sub-segment. BMC Medical is the largest home-grown brand in respiratory devices in China, focusing on the OTC market selling to individual patients. When we invested in 2010, the market was dominated by foreign brands with very few local producers. MBC Medical was able to produce substitute products targeted to consumers at more attractive prices, and has been growing steadily over the years. Q: How do BMC Medical compete with foreign brands, which Chinese consumers trust and love? A: First, we have to believe that their product quality gets improved consistently. They can also provide customer services better as they are local. Their prices are sometimes half or a third of the foreign branded products. We see the trend of domestic substitution across the board in medical devices. As some of these domestic producers get better, they also start to export their products. Q: How did you get to know DJI, the Shenzhen-based drone maker? A: We met them early on in a trade show back in 2012. We were actually the first institutional investor in the company. Even though it's a technology company, we believed that it would succeed in the consumer market. We try to spot companies early on in an emerging sector trend. For example, we recently invested in an insurance brokerage firm, China Jiang Tai Insurance Brokers Ltd., as the first institutional investor backing the company. Q: You also invested in Helijia, a consumer service O2O (online-to-offline) start-up. The valuation of this company was pretty high when it raised US$49.5 million series C round last April? A: We have looked at some two hundred O2O companies, and we invested in one. Helijia is an O2O channel providing beauty services (manicure, pedicure, hair, makeup) that we believe will only be adopted by more consumers in the future. What we liked is that the beauty space is quite consolidated. The second player in this market is not even one tenth the size of Helijia. Q: Some people don't believe that beauty services O2O firms can achieve steady growth, as users like to have a fixed person to do their nails or their hair? A: But the platform provides a support system. The manicurist depends on the platform to protect herself. The commentary and rating systems are also key in maintaining service quality. Q: What's your outlook of the O2O sector in China? A: We don't think O2O works for every sector, such as nanny or home chef services. We don't see scalability in these types of services. There is probably a bubble in the space currently. Many of these O2O companies will eventually fade away. Only select sectors will see the emergence of successful companies. Q: Lastly,