There is a steady stream of big Chinese players looking to improve their intelligence of what is going on in Silicon Valley by recruiting executives and sending their own people overseas
One trend such a scout might have spotted months ago is the steady traffic of big Chinese players keen to improve their intelligence of what is going on in Silicon Valley by recruiting executives and sending their own people overseas.
Recent news that China-based e-commerce company Alibaba is setting up a San Francisco investment office chaired by Liberty Media veteran Michael Zeisser, is just the latest sign such traffic is on the up.
This followed China-based internet company Tencent setting up an investment office in the region last year.
Likewise there has been a steady stream of venture executives with China experience moving to the region. Magazine Forbes also recently noted that Hans Tung, formerly of China’s Qiming Venture Capital, who was an early investor in mobile company Xiaomi, had joined Valley firm GGV Capital, and that Chris Evdemon of Kai-Fu Lee’s Innovation Works has also left Beijing to move to the area. Similarly Alex Hartigan, who set up the China office for media company Disney’s corporate venturing unit Steamboat Ventures in 2005 relocated to the US this year.
Similarly Chinese companies have been tapping the US capital markets. This week Chinese companies Qunar, the travel booking company controlled by search engine Baidu, and Chinese marketplace 58.com staged successful initial public offerings in the US.
Credit must go to academic and long-term Global Corporate Venturing writer Martin Haemmig for spotting that these individual stories might be a sign of a trend.
Given how dynamic China has been in recent years it may be the increased traffic of senior executives between the country and Silicon Valley provides a gateway for US start-ups to do business in the Chinese market. This will doubtless be an interesting trend to watch, as two contrasting cultures begin to overlap.
