Here's 10 ways the coronavirus is impacting business in China, and globally.
1. Working remotely has become standard operating procedure in China and elsewhere.
2. Conferences and events are shifting to online meetings, video conferences and webinars. Sequoia Capital China moved a recent matchmaking session between startups and investors to online, via Zoom.
3. Use of robotics and automation will increase for logistics, retailing and factories. Chinese e-commerce company
JD (pix above) is using a fleet of self-driving robotic vehicles to deliver goods in Wuhan.
4.
Supply chain operations will diversify geographically to avoid disruptions in production and shipping.
5. On-demand delivery to designated spots rather than specific homes or offices will get a boost.
6. Further investment in biotech advances to prevent the spread of such viruses will no doubt escalate and continue.
Read rest of list
here
. No more handshakes!
DEALS
Two UK anchored venture firms, Felix Capital and 83North have co-led a $20 million fund raising for HungryPanda, a London-based food delivery app for Chinese communities in the U.K. and New York. The three-year-old online ordering startup plans to expand to several cities in the U.S. Wonder when we'll see an Indian food version of this app.
Cyberport incubatee MAD Gaze recently expanded its resources with a new Series A round of $18 million led by DNS Capital and Black30 Venture. The funds will help MAD Gaze to bolster product development and tech R&D in core augmented reality technology, and go after market expansion fueled by 5G development.
MAD Gaze, which makes AR glasses, raised pre-series A funding of $12 million last year and got its funding start on crowdfunding site Indiegogo.
Co-founders of Vietnamese digital media firm
Yeah1
have sold a 19.3% stake to an unnamed strategic investor for approximately $12.9 million. The popular, youth-focused entertainment site that is listed on the Ho Chih Minh Stock Exchange, was originally backed by
DFJ VinaCapital
, a partnership fund between Vietnam-based asset management firm
VinaCapital
and
Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
The Vietnamese company has been in constant motion since a contract ended with
YouTube
about a year ago and Yeah1 subsequently sold its U.S. subsidiary, the multi-channel network
ScaleLab
that it had acquired just two months before at the start of 2019.
INDIA ACTION
As President Trump arrives in India, he shouldn't miss the country's vibrant startup scene. India is way outpacing China for deals right now, and has been on the upswing for the past few years while China action has slowed.
Facebook and private equity firm General Atlantic have co-led a $110 million funding of Bengaluru-based edtech startup Unacademy. Existing investors Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital and Blume Ventures participated in the round as did the founder of India's successful e-commerce company Flipkart, now owned by WalMart.
Sequoia Capital India has led a $32 million funding of Whatfix, a SaaS company helping companies accelerate adoption of digital technologies. Prior investors Cisco Investments, and F-Prime Capital in Boston and its sister fund Eight Roads Ventures. participated in the financing of the fast-growth startup, which also counts Helion Ventures as an early backer.
Sequoia's Surge accelerator has invested $2.5 million in video production and editing platform InVideo.
