Why this VC is shifting her focus from China to Southeast Asia

This article is from an episode on Asia VC Cast, a podcast hosted by Daniel Song. This is heavily revised from the original show transcript. For the full interview, go here.

Helen Wong was among the top 100 venture capitalists in China in 2018, according to a ranking by Forbes.

As a partner at Qiming Venture Partners, she’s responsible for investments targeting overseas markets.

Prior to Qiming, Wong spent 11 years at GGV Capital and was involved in investments in Tudou and Alibaba, among others.

In this interview, she talks about her experience investing in China, what verticals excite her now in Southeast Asia, and what markets she’s focusing on.

How did you become a partner at Qiming?

I joined the VC industry in 2000. I was part of the founding team at GGV Capital. At that time, we started investing more and more in China, so I moved to China in 2005. This was shortly after we did the deal with Alibaba. Then, I joined Qiming about five years ago.

What are some of your past investments?

One that I personally find to be very fulfilling is Tudou, a video-sharing company that grew like wildfire, went public, and got bought by Alibaba. More recently, I led an investment round for Mobike, which was bought by Meituan.

What excites you about Southeast Asia now that you’re shifting your focus from China?

Obviously, Southeast Asia is interesting; I actually looked at the internet scene during the first dot-com bubble, and I thought it was too early then.

But recently, we’ve been seeing unicorns emerging and internet penetration rising: with a population of 650 million and a growing internet user base, I believe the region has the potential to grow its companies.

Local startups in the US and China have thrived. A lot of people coming out from the likes of Rocket Internet, Lazada, and Uber have benefited from their tranings and are setting up their own companies.