China News: Baidu's initial investor continues VC foray
Baidu.com Inc's excellent stock performance on Nasdaq in New York fueled the development of the Chinese Internet industry last year, and now the Internet search firm's initial investor has come to Shanghai to continue his venture capital foray into other startup firms.
Jixun Foo, 37, is one of five managing directors of Granite Global Ventures, which manages US$400 million at present.
"Personally speaking, the No. 1 thing for me this year is to move my life (from Singapore) to Shanghai," Foo said at his office on Huaihai Road.
Since Foo was appointed to his current title in November, he has invested in Blogcn, a popular Chinese Website which provides an online diary service.
The rise in the Internet population in China, more mobile phone users and surging energy costs have made high-tech companies in the country hungry for capital to fund their next-step development. That has attracted a flood of venture capital firms to China to seek the "next Baidu."
In 2005, VC firms in China raised US$4 billion and top global players, including Sequoia Capital (Google's investor), entered China for the first time.
Compared with South Korea, China is a bigger market with more opportunities available, said Foo in fluent Mandarin. Granite's Chinese team, led by Foo, looks at more than 100 potential startups every month.
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