Find out what moves China tech with us. We round up what you need to know about the local venture scene every Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. (GMT +8), covering major investment stories, MNC partnerships, noteworthy startups, industries with the most investments for the week, and more.
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MNCs in China
The pharmaceutical MNC, Roche, officially launched its first in-house accelerator in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Science City. Roche also signed a strategic partnership with GL Ventures, Hillhouse Capital’s early-stage VC arm, to combine GL Ventures’ investment experience and local resources with Roche’s R&D and commercialization expertise. The program aims to support and incubate local healthcare startups in various verticals, such as innovative drug development and diagnostics, personalized healthcare services, and AI-driven healthcare.
Going Public: IPOs
On May 20, Zhangmen Education submitted its prospectus to the SEC, and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Since its founding in 2009, the company has attracted investors such as CIC, CICC, and SoftBank Vision Fund. It currently has 60 million registered users. With a retention rate of more than 80%, its one-on-one courses account for 80% of the company’s revenue. Additionally, it is ranked among the top three edtech firms by market share in the small-class segment.
Competition in the online education industry is expected to intensify in the future and government supervision will become more stringent, which means firms like Zhangmen will face heightened difficulty in locating top talent to employ as instructors.
KrASIA News Picks
A secondary IPO in Hong Kong is now the industry standard for Chinese tech giants
Since the US Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act was signed into law last December, a second IPO in Hong Kong has become a safe harbor for mature Chinese tech companies, which have learned the hard way that they must steer away from uncontrollable geopolitical tensions. We’ve seen the likes of Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com, Bilibili, and NetEase make the shifts starting in 2019.