Top China VC Threatens to Scale Back Investment in U.S.
LONDON (Bloomberg) - Kai-Fu Lee, a prominent Chinese venture capitalist and former president of Google China, said his investment firm may scale back in the U.S. if relations between the two countries deteriorate further.
Lee, the chairman and chief executive officer of Sinovation Ventures, said his firm would likely try to lure talent from the U.S. to China instead of investing in American businesses. Lee said his next steps will hinge on a planned meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 nations summit in Buenos Aires. Lee didn’t specify what would need to happen to forestall his retreat.
"Our U.S. strategy is pending on the Argentina meeting, to see if there is a U.S. strategy,” Lee said in an interview with Bloomberg at the CEC Capital Summit, an annual event in California hosted by a Beijing investment bank. "We don’t have to invest in the U.S.”
Founded in 2009, Sinovation Ventures was one of the first Chinese VC firms with a presence in the U.S. Other global firms, including Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital, have propelled their brands using a similar strategy that promises entrepreneurs a bridge between the world’s two largest economies.
*********Kai-Fu Lee
Lee, the chairman and chief executive officer of Sinovation Ventures, said his firm would likely try to lure talent from the U.S. to China instead of investing in American businesses. Lee said his next steps will hinge on a planned meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 nations summit in Buenos Aires. Lee didn’t specify what would need to happen to forestall his retreat.
"Our U.S. strategy is pending on the Argentina meeting, to see if there is a U.S. strategy,” Lee said in an interview with Bloomberg at the CEC Capital Summit, an annual event in California hosted by a Beijing investment bank. "We don’t have to invest in the U.S.”
Founded in 2009, Sinovation Ventures was one of the first Chinese VC firms with a presence in the U.S. Other global firms, including Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital, have propelled their brands using a similar strategy that promises entrepreneurs a bridge between the world’s two largest economies.
*********Kai-Fu Lee