Aug.09 – Rebecca Fannin, founder of Silicon Dragon Ventures and author of “Tech Titans of China,” talks about the prospects for Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, the video-sharing app that the Trump administration has declared a national-security threat, and the rivalry between U.S. and Chinese technology companies. Twitter Inc. has held early talks about a potential combination with TikTok, Dow Jones reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Fannin speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.”
IPOs
Chinese AI unicorn Sensetime, backed by Softbank and Alibaba, is heading to a dual listing in Hong Kong & China + $1.5 billion of pre-IPO financing. See photo of founder Xu Li, early investor Frances Leung & me doing a Tech Chat at Silicon Dragon in Hong Kong, November 2017. Early trend-spotting!
Jack Ma lets Chinese startups in on one of his well-timed tips, and sure enough, they’re racing ahead now with IPOs before the coronavirus pandemic or trade war further damages the global economy. Bloomberg
DEALS
Ban on China-made apps in India gives TikTok rivals a boost such as Bangalore-based Trell, which just raised $11.4 million in Series A financing led by Sequoia Capital India with South Korea’s KTB Network on board.
GGV Capital leads a $22 million, Series B investment in Keya Medical, a Shenzhen-based developer of AI-enabled products for medical analysis.
Creative design platform Tezign in China announces it’s closed a Series C investment by Sequoia Capital China.
In a flurry of deals, Sequoia Capital India leads Series A funding in Singapore startup IncomLend, a trade finance and global invoicing platform, and puts $5 million in education loan startup Eduvanz.
DATA
Private equity takes a mid-year bounce off the bottom – Covid19’s impact. Bain
NOTEWORTHY
More than a dozen US corporate execs voice concerns to the White House that a WeChat ban could hurt business. WSJ
Commerce Department further restricts Huawei access to U.S. Technology and adds another 38 affiliates to the entity list.
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Editor: Rebecca Fannin
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Did you know a WOMAN struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig!!