Xing Liu, Sequoia Capital China, receives VC of the Year Award from Silicon Dragon
Silicon Dragon presented Xing Liu, a partner at Sequoia Capital China, with its Venture Capitalist of the year award at its annual awards program in Hong Kong.
Liu was credited with having two of his Chinese portfolio companies - 51Talk and ZTO Express - go public in New York during 2016. They were two of only five China-based companies to list on New York exchanges this year.
ZTO Express, as a prior Forbes post noted, raised $1.4 billion to rank as the biggest public offering in the U.S. this year -- and second to Alibaba for U.S. IPOs from China companies. The ZTO offering paid off in the billion-dollar range for early investor Sequoia, which in March 2014 had backed ZTO with an investment of less than $100 million.
Liu was also the Sequoia partner behind the firms’ investment in a second Chinese company that went public in New York this year – the NYSE listing in January of China’s 51 Talk, an English language mobile learning app.
Silicon Dragon presented its Founder of the Year award to Eric Gnock Fah, the co-founder of Hong Kong-based Klook Travel, a one-stop shop where travelers can explore and book a curated selection of fun things to do and see. The to-do list is verified and vetted by Klook’s team of travel curators, and can be booked online or on mobile apps, at exclusive rates.
Since its start in 2014, Klook has raked 200,000 user reviews and has expanded to seven locations within Asia with 160 staffers.
Kudos also go to Klook, which is counting $100 million in annual revenues, for raising $6.5 million in capital from Matrix Partners China Growth Capital and Frances Leung-Pak-To in 2015.
Exit of the year went to 51Talk for its IPO on the NYSE in mid-summer 2016, which raised $45.6 million in a brand image boost for the Chinese brand, which is seeking to expand beyond its national border.
The Silicon Dragon awards event wrapped in a pitch contest with 10 founders competing for prizes. Justin Ling, CEO & Co-founder of EquitySim, took the top prize for pitch for his startup that is aiming to disrupt the way financial recruiting is done. EquitySim, which has raised $350,000 from angel investors, has reached $80,000 in recurring revenues and has helped 400 students internationally get hired at such firms as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.
Honors went to Bhavneet Chahal, CEO of GoSkills, which offers short, personalized online courses for career advancement. GoSkills, founded in 2013, is bootstrapped and has reached $1 million in revenues.
The fact that GoSkills and EquitySim are both located in Hong Kong says something about the progress being made by local entrepreneurs here in scaling up.
