The third installment of the “VC Sees the World” live broadcast column explores how Southeast Asian entrepreneurs can imitate China’s business model, the role of technology giants in Southeast Asia’s venture capital ecosystem, and the impact of new crown pneumonia.
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Before founding Zhongwei Capital, Zhang Yonghan was a serial entrepreneur.
The rich entrepreneurial experience of starting from scratch has contributed to the achievements of the public capital today. Currently, Zhongwei Capital manages more than 1 billion US dollars of funds and has more than 60 portfolios in China and Southeast Asia. At the same time, Zhongwei Capital is also interested in strengthening the relationship between the two places.
Connecting China and Southeast Asia
“Zhongwei Capital is very interested in strengthening cross-border opportunities and cooperation between China and Southeast Asia.” Zhang Yonghan said, “However, I know that there are many local VCs in Southeast Asia, so we need to create competitive advantages through differentiated strategies. So that excellent entrepreneurs are willing to cooperate with us.”
The entrepreneurial experience of Zhang Yonghan and his partners is undoubtedly one of their advantages. For example, Jiang Nanchun, one of the limited partners (LP) of Zhongwei Capital, is the founder of Focus Media.
“Based on my own entrepreneurial background, I don’t want investors in our funds to become “pure investors”, but can be based on past entrepreneurial experience, giving Startups provide more value.” said Zhang Yonghan.
“In terms of market liquidity, there are a lot of high-quality capital in the market for outstanding entrepreneurs and startup companies. And the most important added value we can provide is from China’s experience and knowledge, potential multinational companies The three aspects of cooperation, human resources and talent exchange connect China and Southeast Asia.”
Zhang Yonghan said: “Over the past decade, many new business models have emerged in the Chinese market. Some are copied from the United States, but some really interesting models have grown and evolved from the Chinese market. Several very successful technology companies were born.”
Localization is important
However, it is not easy to learn from the Chinese experience.
“China has experienced several generations of Internet iterations, which provides a good reference for other emerging markets.” Zhang Yonghan said, “but I also always emphasize that entrepreneurs who want to establish business in Southeast Asia should not blindly imitate the Chinese model. , China is just a reference for Southeast Asia.”
For Southeast Asian entrepreneurs, the story of Pinduoduo is also very popular. “Many local entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia may be eager to learn from China, such as becoming Pinduoduo in Southeast Asia. But in fact the first step is to know the reasons for Pinduoduo’s success in China. Many investors only look at Pinduoduo’s external success without going See why it can succeed even when Alibaba is so powerful.”
In addition, he also believes that potential entrepreneurs need to know the characteristics of Pinduoduo founders and their teams in order to truly localize their business model and organizational structure.
Tech giants empower investment ecosystems
Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent in China, and Amazon, Google, and Facebook in the United States. These tech giants are well-known around the world. In Southeast Asia, Grab and Gojek also began to show good strength.
“Some people may not have a good impression of giants because they control the market. From China’s experience, as long as giants have open systems, they can provide an ecosystem for entrepreneurs to a certain extent. For example In the past ten years, Tencent has provided support for the development of many companies.”
Zhang Yonghan mentioned that behind the three hundred billion dollar companies of Pinduoduo, JD.com and Meituan, Tencent helped. “We hope to see the same in Southeast Asia.”
In addition to investment, technology giants can also make acquisitions, which stimulates the entrepreneurial ecosystem. For example, Xiaopeng Auto, one of the public capital porfolio, was founded by He Xiaopeng after the previous startup project UCWeb was acquired by Alibaba.
“Silicon Valley has a similar ecosystem. Competition among giants will increase and educate users. For example, without WeChat, Pinduoduo will not succeed. The ecosystem and payment structure established by WeChat can help social e-commerce succeed “Said Zhang Yonghan.
“From an investor’s perspective, I encourage giants to become more open.” He said.
The epidemic is a time machine
Internet development has entered a new stage, and corporate services are a key value driver.
“In China, in the past four years, we have very good experience in AI and enterprise services. The growth of the first half of the Internet in ChinaIt’s about consuming the Internet, and the second half is technically able to provide corporate services to different industries. “
In Zhang Yonghan’s view, the epidemic is a new normal and a time machine. “Objectively, this is not a good thing. But now everyone needs to work online, shop and receive education. It feels like we are directly transmitted to the future after 10 years. Even after the epidemic, everything returns to its original state, shareholders, Investors and partners can also take this opportunity to get a glimpse into the future.”
“During the epidemic, cash flow is the key. It is necessary to raise as much capital as possible. At the same time, we must hire the best talents during this period. In addition, it is important to carefully consider how to produce the best products and provide The best service.” Zhang Yonghan suggested to early startups and entrepreneurs.