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NY 2018
Meet Execs
from China's
Tech Giants:
Donovan Sung, Xiaomi
Adam Lisberg, DJI
Nan Zhou, Baidu
Venture Dealmakers
Panel: US-China
Jim Robinson, RRE
Brian Cohen, NY Angels
Mason Du, HBS Angels
Blockchain Innovation Panel-Asia Spin
Lou Kerner, CryptoOracle
Paul Brodsky,
Panterra Capital
Jalak Jobanputra,
Future Perfect Ventures
Mitchell Dong, Pythagoras Investment
Book Talk
Author Roseann Lake:
Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the Next Superpower
China Brand Chats
Adam Lisberg, DJI
Donovan Sung, Xiaomi
Peter Prodromou,
Racepoint Global
PITCH CONTEST
VC judges pick the 2 winners from NY to compete in global finals in Beijing this August and win up to $200K!
DINNER NETWORKING
RECEPTION
757 Third Ave., 9th floor + terrace
Thanks to Sponsors
Grant Thornton
Sidley Austin
Racepoint Global
OTEC
_________________
NEXT EVENT
Los Angeles
Program, Reception,
Rooftop After-Party!
Film Producer
Janet Yang
+
many more
Innovators, Investors & Content Creators
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On The Circuit
June 22-23
Bangkok
June 16-17
Los Angeles
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Silicon Dragon News
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China's Smartphone Maker Xiaomi Gets Ready To Make A Splash in the U.S.
Donovan Sung of China smartphone innovator
Xiaomi will be speaking at
Xiaomi may not be very well-known in the U.S., but the Chinese smart hardware maker is looking to change that. Donovan Sung,
the company's director of product management, is in New York City and San Francisco to lay the groundwork for a bigger splash with its IoT-connected headphones, camera and powerbanks and likely its smart phone in the U.S. market. Currently, Xiaomi U.S. sales are limited to about 10 products on
Amazon although the Chinese company is a top seller in China and Southeast Asian markets.
I got to see many of the Chinese company's nifty new products on display at a smart home showroom that Xiaomi had assembled.
When asked why Xiaomi was doing a PR blitz now in the U.S., when an IPO is in the works in Hong Kong for the unicorn valued company, Sung replied that Xiaomi wants to let the world know of its progress. And it has been considerable since a launch in Beijing eight years ago.
 If you want a sampling of the founders who will pitch June 18 at Silicon Dragon NY 2018, take a listen to this podcast interview with John Chu, a founder of Jetson.ai, an innovative voice-first commerce platform that helps you search and buy products on its app. Jetson.ai, which based its name on the futuristic cartoon with flying cars, doesn't fly but it does help you buy by app and AI. Jetson.ai has raised $3 million so far and is looking to go the next level. Jetson.ai caught my attention because of the voice commerce angle, which is getting popular in China but hasn't taken hold in the U.S. yet.
Listen to this episode of the Silicon Dragon podcast: Voice First Commerce
Blockchain is popping up everywhere, and still few really understand it. For instance, can blockchain exist on its own apart from cryptocurrencies? What are the regulations guiding its development, and how is China getting around them? These questions and more were explored at a China Institute salon with experts Mitchell Dong, Harumi-Urata Thompson, Stamford Hwang and Emily Parker. While China now blocks crypto, Japan, Korea and Singapore are embracing it, along with blockchain. The U.S. is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. China may be missing out on blockchain innovation but count on China miners and crypto traders to find ways around blocks. Hear more about the future of blockchain and crypto at Silicon Dragon NY 2018, June 18.
After aiming for a June 7th IPO and preparing to raise $83 million, M17 Entertainment (YQ) has delayed going public until possibly this week. While a delay is not out of the ordinary, it does leave investors wondering why this occurred for the large livestreaming platform in Asia. The odd thing is that management was at the NYSE Thursday morning to ring the opening bell in celebration of the IPO, yet there was no IPO.
It's the first Taiwanese listing on NYSE in 15 years.
Another interesting tidbit: Jeff Huang, the chairman for M17 Entertainment is also behind the launch of an ICO, Mithril, funded by Sora Ventures.
So, if Jeff Huang pulls it off, he will be the first to an IPO and an ICO almost simultaneously.
A unit of Taiwanese electronics maker Foxconn got fast-track approval for a Shanghai IPO in March and now its lucky streak continues with a 44 percent surge in its trading debut. But a lot of Chinese tech upstarts that were waiting in the IPO cue are ticked off by this favortism toward Foxconn as it got the greenlight to fillin China's core technologies.
DEALS
Sequoia Capital has reportedly led a $400 million, pre-IPO round in China's bitcoin miner Bittmain, the world's largest producer of bitcoin mining chips with 2017 revenue of $2.5 billion. Bittmain founder Jihan Wu says he could do an IPO in Hong Kong or the U.S. next.
Alibaba's fintech affiliate Ant Financial has made a strategic investment in Xingbianli, a checkout-free convenience store operator that focuses on placing snack bars in offices.
DATA
China's e-commerce giant
Alibaba scored as the top disruptive company by some 800 business leaders surveyed for
KPMG's 2018 Technology Innovation Report. With
Alibaba moving into so many aspects of business, from payments to logistics to finance, this is probably not a surprise -- although it is the first time that a Chinese company has been recognized in such a power position by this report.
The big four of the U.S. Internet were highlighted as well:
Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and
Google or the FANGs, as they're known. It is quite significant to note that there's a big gap between Alibaba and these next in line American companies in the ratings.
Disclosure: I'm a contributing writer to this KPMG tech innovation series, and the findings are always interesting.
Forbes:
Alibaba Bests The FANGs
FEATURED VIDEO
To find out more about the latest results from KPMG's tech survey, check out this video interview with Tim Zanni, KPMG Global & US Technology Sector Leader.
COMMENTARY
Time to begin the real debate about China and technology:
WSJ article summed up by journalist and author Bill Holstein makes it clear that stopping China's technological ambitions is nearly impossible,
Trump or no.
NOTEWORTHY
Walking lane for cell phone addicts
(only?) in Beijing
H/T to Connie Chan of Andreessen Horowitz
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