$100 million investment in Israel says Shengjing Peakview Capital exec
Since 2013, Shengjing Peakview Capital (SPC), the investment
arm of Shengjing Group and one of China's largest global fund of funds, has
invested nearly $100 million in top VC funds and startups in Israel. SPC, based
in Beijing, manages over $20 billion and has invested in around 16 top funds in
China, the U.S. and Israel. Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and Viola Ventures
have both been among the beneficiaries of SPC's spending in Israel. But
according to Sherrie Wang, Managing Partner for Shengjing Peakview Capital’s
overseas investment funds, this is only the beginning.
"Until now we
did investments ourselves, but in the future we want to organize more resources
with Chinese local governments and not just invest ourselves," Wang told
CTech. "I think we can organize more resources to increase the cooperation
between China and Israel in the future."
Since 2017 the Shengjing Group has also served as the mentor
organization for the first “Israel-China Accelerator Program” initiated and
sponsored by Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry. Since February of this
year, Shengjing Group has worked with the Nanjing Jiangning Development Zone
(the largest industrial park in Nanjing) to represent and operate its Israel
innovation liaison office and to further promote communication between Israel
and China in science, innovation and culture. As part of this collaboration,
SPC and Wang helped organize The T20 China-Israel Innovation and Culture
(CIIC) Conference, held on Thursday, as part of one of the
most important technology conferences in China – Nanjing TechWeek.
“We cannot allow Covid-19 to halt the development of trade
and business activity between Israel and China,” said Minister of Economy Amir
Peretz from his office in Jerusalem during the opening ceremony. Among the
conference’s speakers were also the presidents of the Weizmann Institute and
Tel Aviv University, as well as Nobel Prize laureates Dan Shechtman and Arieh
Warshel.
The conference was dedicated to the promotion of scientific
and technological relations between the two countries and was held for a second
straight year, but for the first time as part of the conference hosted by the
Nanjing Municipality and held at the Jiangning Development Zone.
"From 2017 we provided the service to the Ministry of
Economy and Industry to have early-stage Israeli companies come to the Chinese
market and receive training and development. After that we began working with
Chinese local governments like Nanjing," said Wang. "These
governments wanted to have a strong connection with the Israeli innovation
ecosystem and they needed a bridge. They saw SPC as one of the ways to connect
to Israel. That is why we are serving the Nanjing Jiangning Development Zone
and connecting them to Israeli universities, incubators, accelerators and
companies to find potential opportunities to work together."
During the conference, several strategic collaboration
agreements were signed between Israeli and Chinese organizations. The Weizmann
Institute of Science and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology signed an
agreement with the Nanjing Tsingzhan Artificial Intelligence Institute and the
Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Tsinghua University (THUAI), under
which they will promote research and technological development of AI. An
additional collaboration agreement was signed between the EcoMotion community,
comprised of more than 600 Israeli smart mobility startups, the Jiangning
Development Zone, and Shengjing Peakview Capital. The Chinese partners will
assist Israeli companies with investor recruitment and penetration of the
Chinese market. In addition, the Israeli startup companies will be featured in
a central exhibition spot at the Jiangning High-Tech Park, considered as one of
the leading centers of innovation in China. “Many of our member startups plan
to enter the Chinese market and expand there in the coming years. This
collaboration would enable us to overcome the associated challenges and
difficulties and will provide the entrepreneurs an opportunity to collaborate
with strategic partners in China,” said Orly Dahan, CEO of EcoMotion.
Despite the setbacks of the Covid-19 pandemic, Wang is
optimistic regarding the future of the financial ties between Israel and China.
"For example, the Nanjing Jiangning Development Zone will provide free
stay and service to Israeli companies for nine months so they don't need to
worry about the logistics while they go through their Proof-of-Concept stage.
We will connect them with local companies as well and help them form
partnerships. They will get a deep understanding of the Chinese market and make
connections and can even finish the POC stage in China after that,” said Wang.
"China has a big population and there are many opportunities both in its
market and in capital investment. In the past, Chinese funds couldn't go public
before making a profit, but now they can and this creates more capital and
presents additional new opportunities to create cooperation with Israel."
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