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Archive for February, 2010
“Emerging Tech and Venture Investment Trends in Asia”
by fanxing on Feb.27, 2010, under Uncategorized
NUS Entrepreneurship Centre
(a division of NUS Enterprise)
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Abstract
Mobile, Internet, e-commerce, gaming, biotech, cleantech – they’re all booming in the emerging markets of Asia. Some startups with venture funding in these spaces have already scored successes with public listings at high valuations and acquisitions. Others are poised to return profits to their investors as the IPO window begins to open. Startups in Asia scale and get to profitability quickly. The region’s rapid economic growth and switched-on digital communications markets provide the spark for successful entrepreneurship and innovation. Rebecca Fannin, author of Silicon Dragon and a columnist with Forbes, discusses the emerging trends she sees from dozens of recent interviews with entrepreneurs and investors in China, India, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore.
About The Speaker
Rebecca A. Fannin is a journalist and author of Silicon Dragon (McGraw-Hill, 2008), which was favorably reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times and translated into several languages. She is an authority on entrepreneurship, innovation and venture capital in emerging markets.
Rebecca is a contributor to Forbes. During the height of the dotcom boom, Rebecca was international news editor at Red Herring and, in 2003, she joined the Asian Venture Capital Journal as international editor. She publishes e-newsletters on China and India and organizes events in Silicon Valley and Asia’s innovation hubs.
Ms. Fannin’s work has appeared in Inc., Worth, Fast Company, Chief Executive, Wired, The Deal and Huffington Post, as well as Merrill Lynch and NASDAQ publications. Earlier in her career, Ms Fannin was deputy editor at Ad Age International and editor of the Pulitzer-owned International Business.
A public speaker and guest commentator, Rebecca also has written a white paper on outsourcing trends for KPMG’s Thought Leadership Series. She is a member of the Overseas Press Club, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club and the World Affairs Council.
Rebecca is a graduate of the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and a recipient of an Asian studies fellowship from the Freedom Forum. She resides in New York City and San Francisco, and travels frequently to Asia.
More info can be found at www.rebeccafannin.com
About the panelists:
Michel Birnbaum brings to iGlobe over 25 years of operational and advisory experience to technology companies, with his background in Investment Banking, Venture Capital/Private Equity and industry. He has managed close to 30 IPOs, follow-on debt/equity financings as well as M&A and Private Placement transactions. His wealth of experience in the technology sector serves him in good stead as an invaluable advisor to iGlobe’s investments. Until recently, as Managing Director of Investment Banking at Landsbanki Kepler (Paris), Michel was responsible for TMT & Renewable Energy Group. He led the first European buyout of a solar energy company, Azur Space Solar Power.
Between late 2003 to early 2006, he was associated with Keystone Financial Partners / Bryan Garnier (London / Paris) as their Senior Advisor of Investment Banking. Prior to that, he was founder/managing partner of Dakota Partners, a VC/advisory firm focused on applications of next generation materials. In July 2000, he was named CEO/Board Director of e-capital investments plc, an investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and responsible for direct investments in semiconductor, advanced materials and processes. He led the strategic restructuring of the group and its subsequent merger with Avanti Capital in November 2001.
Michel was Executive SVP of the European Capital Markets at Hambrecht & Quist from 1996-1997 and became the Managing Director of Technology Investment Banking and Exchange Relations. He managed 23 technology IPOs as lead or Co-Manager on both the European markets and NASDAQ. Between 1987 to 1996, Michel worked for Fleet/Nash Weiss in the United States initially as a Senior Technology Trader and later as Manager. He began his career in 1979 as a Project Engineer at Massachusetts-based GE Military Engine Group where he was responsible for the Apache/Blackhawk helicopters engine evaluation and qualification programs.
Michel holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the Polytechnic University of New York and an MBA from London Business School (Merit Honours). He also attended General Electric’s Advanced Engineering program.
Neo Kok Beng has experiences in building up entrepreneurial ventures from concept to commercialization. He specialised in new products and new business; and has setup companies in the areas of information security, telematics, portable digital/computing devices and biomedical systems & services. Kok Beng worked for Singapore Technologies in the corporate HQ (investment & entrepreneurship programme), aerospace, information technology and electronics sectors. He graduated with MBA(NTU) and B.Eng (Hons)(NUS); and was awarded an IES Fellowship at JFK School of Government, Harvard University. He is currently an adjunct associate professor at the National University of Singapore and has also a Fellow/Council Member & Hon Treasurer of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore.
Dr. Jeffrey Chi is a Managing Director of the General Partner and a member of the investment Committee. Based in Shanghai, he oversees investments in China, sits on the boards of Cambridge Real Estate (REIT IPO, July 2006), Mobinex and California University of Technology. He is also responsible for the supervision of Saybot, iPartment and United Eagle Airlines. The performance of Vickers Meta Fund, which includes some of the above investments, is looking promising after the estimated 14x return on the investment in Cambridge Real Estate.
Dr. Chi’s experience covers a variety of industries including information technology, healthcare and media. Formerly a corporate finance specialist with and Executive Director at Pegasus Capital, Dr. Chi has managed engagements for large and small clients in both the public and private sectors. Prior to Pegasus Capital, Dr. Chi was a senior consultant with the Monitor Group, a top tier strategy consulting firm co-founded by business guru Michael Porter. While with Monitor, Dr. Chi delivered strategic solutions to a diverse client base, including government agencies and large multi-national companies. As an experienced practitioner in system dynamics modeling, Dr. Chi was also responsible for pioneering Monitor’s system dynamics practice in Asia.
Dr. Chi’s operational background includes seven years on the management team of an engineering and construction group. As its Managing Director, he led the group into the Enterprise 50 in 1997, a ranking of the top 50 privately held enterprises in Singapore. Dr. Chi oversaw operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia, established the group’s construction business and successfully combined it with the original engineering business enabling the firm to become a provider of integrated solutions to its clients. From 1994-1995, he managed the firm’s joint venture with a major Chinese construction group. After being appointed Group Managing Director in 1996, he successfully tripled the firm’s revenues within a short time span of three years.
Dr. Chi is also active in promoting entrepreneurship. He frequently speaks at public events including ones hosted by INSEAD, Fudan University and Zhejiang University. He is a co-founder of the MIT Enterprise Forum, Shanghai Chapter, a not-for-profit alumni organization promoting technology entrepreneurship.
Dr. Chi is a CFA Charter holder and graduated from Cambridge University with 1st class Honours in Engineering. He earned his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in organizational knowledge and information technology.
Prof. Wong Poh Kam is currently a Professor at National University of Singapore (NUS)’s Business School and concurrently serves as Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at NUS. He also holds joint professorship appointment (by courtesy) at the LKY School of Public Policy and the Engineering School’s Division of Engineering & Technology Management (DETM). He obtained two BSc.’s., an MSc. and a Ph.D. from MIT. Prior to joining NUS in 1988, he co-founded two IT companies and a consulting firm in Malaysia. He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley, a visiting scholar at Stanford University and the Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm (KTH), and a visiting professor at Korea University Business School.
As Director of NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, he spearheads the university’s entrepreneurship education and outreach programs and various university technology spin-off support programs including incubator facilities, seed funding and mentoring. He also directs the centre’s research program on technology entrepreneurship and innovation strategy.
An active business angel investor, his current portfolio of investee companies include iWow Technology (a past Singapore Enterprise 50 winner), GlobalRoam (first company quoted on Singapore OTC market), Mozat and TenCube (past Red Herring Asia 100 finalists) in Singapore, Teralene in China, Invantest in Silicon Valley, USA, and iXigo in India. He is the founding chairman of Business Angel Network (Southeast Asia) and BAF Spectrum Pte Ltd, an angel investment fund co-invested in by the Singapore government. He is a board member of NUS Technology Holdings and a member of the evaluation panel of The Enterprise Challenge (TEC) fund under the Prime Minister’s Department and the Technology Enterprise Commercialization Scheme (TECS) of SPRING Singapore.
