The first Global Corporate Venturing (GCV) Asia Congress last month in Hong Kong had a focus on the sectors in which the region is taking a leadership position, such as genomics, robotics and sustainability and mobility, as well as new ideas in corporate venturing to help the industry scale up and become more global.
GCV, as a trade paper for the Global 1000 corporations taking stakes in startups or committing to VC funds, was delighted that our first GCV Asia Congress in Hong Kong reflected the island’s unique heritage as a centre of world finance and a bridge between north and south Asia, as well as dynamic entrepreneurial and venture ecosystem in itself and through its connections with mainland China.
The region’s successes over the past few years has been reflected in the first of the annual GCV Awards to be held outside London, reflecting the winds of change sweeping the broader venture industry as people look east for the latest ideas and the capital to fund them. The soft power influence this brings, as well as capital returns and shaping the future, cannot be underestimated.
The GCV Asia Congress brought together leading corporate venturers from the region, such as Tencent, Xiaomi, JD, Meituan, 58.com, Line, Samsung, Rakuten, Sompo, Hyundai, Yamaha, Westpac, Telstra and PLDT, along with top VCs, such as Gobi and Insignia, and corporate innovation executives, such as Alvin Wang from Vive at HTC, along with their international peers keen to learn more about the region, including Shell and BP in energy and mobility through to Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson in healthcare.
These speakers shared insights and best practices on how to invest and work collaboratively in the region and link with international peers. China overtook the US by value of corporate venturing activity last year and the rise of its entrepreneurial ecosystem has been driven in many ways by competition between corporations to support them as well as work with VCs to create more than 100 unicorns – private companies worth more than $1bn.
All industries are looking to how Asia is developing the innovation processes and best practices to take them into the future. There are numerous examples of dragon and tiger tech – Shenzhen for drones, WeChat as a platform, North Korea – according to US intelligence services – for blockchain and Bitcoin, Lilly Asia for healthcare, Hong Kong as a smart city and HTC for virtual and augmented reality – and much to learn from the financing structures that enable them.
The GCV Asia Congress, therefore, had the roundtables to break down what is happening in each area:
- How data and technology are transforming healthcare.
- What language will machines speak with their artificial intelligence.
- Mobility drives into the future.
- Blockchain links from logistics to finance
- Demonetarisation – fintech future starts in Asia.
- Sustaining the region’s smartest cities – clean energy and smart grids.
- Gaming communications’ future.
- Sports: the digital revolution coming from China.
- Sovereign wealth funds’ collaboration with corporations.
- Manufacturing Asia’s next generation of competitiveness.
GCV has been hosting events in the region and working with governments in Shanghai, Tokyo and Singapore for the past five year,s and we were delighted with the support and help of our sponsors, Tencent, DLA Piper, Proseeder, Denning & Company; local partners, CiEvents, Hong Kong Venture Capital Association, Japan Venture Capital Association and Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association; and all those in the corporate venture ecosystem.
The next issue will look at the growth and successes in Brazil after the third annual Corporate Venture in Brasil conference hosted by Apex-Brasil in partnership with GCV.