August 2021 Tech Buzz China Newsletter
Hey everyone, it’s time for our monthly update! It’s summertime and we hope you are staying safe and healthy. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
Yes, we know, it’s been a while since we updated our podcast, but that’s because we’ve been churning out livecasts. Livecasts are usually recorded live in front of our Tech Buzz China Insider audience, and later edited and made available to the public. They are conversations with investors and operators in China tech, and think of them as our effort to open-source our network so you can be a part of the conversations that we would typically have when we do our research! Don’t miss these! Please subscribe below!
Livecast #3: Growing 2 Unicorns at China Speed with Jack Yang (Mobike & MissFresh)
Q&A with Jack Yujie Yang who led the growth of Mobike (acq. $2.8Bn) as VP of Growth & Product and Chief Growth Officer of MissFresh, (just IPO’ed). He is now working on his own e-commerce startup. We talk about:
Specific growth tactics used at Mobike & MissFresh, such as red packets, WeChat mini programs, WeChat group chats, etc.
Not all of these tactics can work in the US, why?
Weaknesses, difference in work culture, equity incentives of China market
Livecast #4: Deep Dive into Agora $API with Kevin Xu of Interconnected.blog
Kevin, now at Github, is the founder of interconnected.blog, a bilingual newsletter on the intersections of tech, business, money, geopolitics, and US-Asia relations. He was previously at PingCAP, a Chinese database unicorn.
What is Agora?
The origin story of Tony Zhao the CEO who was previously at WebEx & then CTO at YY.
Agora's technology & business model, which is developer facing and self service and usage based.
Is the future Chinese companies building battle-tested infrastructure technologies?
Livecast #5: Boyu Hu: Early Kuaishou Investor; Then vs. Now in China Consumer Tech Then vs. Now in China Consumer Tech
Early on in VC, Boyu Hu was at DCM China and worked on the Kuaishou deal. Now he has his own fund XVC, managing $600mm, focusing on consumer internet. I asked what's changed in the last ten years and:
Why's he continuing to invest in consumer internet?
Is rural China where it's at?
Are the big platforms more important?
Are the big funds more important?
How's he adjusting his strategy?
Livecast #6: Ron Cao of Sky9 Capital, A 20 Year China VC on Semis, SPACs and Blockchain
Ron Cao has spent 20 years as a venture capitalist in China. He first went there during the 90s when semiconductor investing was a thing, but then found himself investing in consumer internet startups such as ByteDance and Pinduoduo because that sector yielded the greatest return, and is now finding himself investing in semiconductors again. We talk about the impact of the pandemic, if deeptech investing is really taking off, investing in returnees, blockchain, antitrust, & SPACs!
You should know that we have been actively working on a new paid, premium community for serious China tech nerds called Tech Buzz China Insider. Designed for investors and operators, we go in depth on China tech analyses that don’t typically make it into English language coverage. If you want to join us, click here to take our Insider Quiz or get referred by a current Insider! Insider has at least 4 posts per week, and we’ll be sharing with you two random selections every month. If you like this content, you know what to do, join us!
I have some thoughts on China's new 3-child rule which even made it into my Alexa Home routine as the first news item. Immediately fertility stocks rose and talk of "which 7 or 9 seater car models will become best sellers" dominated the internet. Secondarily, people began discussing how everything from supermarkets (wholesale clubs like Sam's Club and Costco may become more popular!) to hotels (they will need family suites or at least baby beds!) to travel products (most packages are designed for 3 people) will have to be reimagined and the business opportunities waiting to be exploited therein. But really, I'd like to focus on how the government's crackdown on edtech is related to its population policies.
I don't know about you, but I'm a little tired these days of reading all the funding announcements of yet another restaurant chain from Chinese VCs. So I thought I'd do a brief post on why they are so obsessed with funding such businesses. Turns out, there are some good reasons. Of course, the sector remains boring as heck, but the results of the forthcoming sector-wide upgrade will definitely have some spillover benefits for the software companies that service them, and probably have some positive implications for large players like Meituan.
Besides these posts, we also wrote about all the IPOs (Didi, MissFresh, Dingdong, Zhangmen, Manycore) and plenty of late stage companies of interest as well, such as China’s Atlassian. Find such topics fascinating? Join us!
As you know, we are regularly featured in media. Here is a selection of our appearances in the last month! Take a read or listen and let us know what you think!
FT, June 25, 2021. Social media influencers help Chinese brands outfox foreign rivals.
Protocol, June 22, 2021. How a Chinese app could succeed where Quibi failed.
SCMP, June 19, 2021. China antitrust: Didi’s ride hailing dominance prompts scrutiny before it sets forth for its Uber-beating New York IPO.
Tech Monitor, June 18, 2021. China’s cloud providers eye emerging markets for next phase of growth.
Straits Times, June 17, 2021. Beijing imposes stricter regulation on tech giants but e-commerce spared, for now.
Kr-Asia, June 3, 2021. Operations over aspirations: The tech CEO’s evolving role in China.
That’s all everyone! Thanks for reading this August issue of our newsletter. Let us know if you have any questions or comments, and we’ll see you in a few weeks!