China is no longer the country that merely manufactured your iPhone. It is the world’s next technological dynasty: 1.3 billion gadget-hungry individuals crowding into the 21st century.
Venture capital are pouring money into its every hint of innovation, and not just in technology. Of the 72 IPOs to hit the market last year, 24 were Chinese.
Our Asia list, due out later this year, will incorporate those new metrics, include investors outside the Mainland and likely look quite different. It would be shocked, for instance, if Doll Capital Management (DCM)’s Ruby Lu does not debut in the top ten. Lu backed two Chinese companies that went public in the U.S. last year: Bitauto Holdings Ltd. and DangDang Inc. which soared 87% in its debut. She also sourced DCM’s investments in VanceInfo (NYSE: VIT) which went public in 2007 and now has a $1.38 billion market cap. DCM is now gearing up for the debut of China’s Facebook-clone Renren on the NYSE.
As more U.S. tech startups see China as an essential place to do business, increasing numbers of Chinese investors are funding them and helping them expand to the mainland. Chinese venture capital firms backed 28 U.S. companies in 2011, nearly double the number two years earlier, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. China’s growing wealth and the government’s desire to attract tech companies have set the stage for more deals, says Gavin Ni, founder of Zero2IPO Group, which advises venture capitalists in China.
