Edith Yeung. Photo credit: 500 Startups.
500 Startups, one of the world’s most active investors in very young tech companies, today announced the appointment of Edith Yeung as the new boss of its China unit.
Edith replaces Rui Ma, who ran the show across mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan since 500 Startups first entered the region in 2013. Like her predecessor, Edith has a mix of corporate, startup, and investing experience.
The appointment means Edith will have to split her time between China and San Francisco, where she was running 500 Startups’ Mobile Collective fund.
“I’ll be back in China in March,” Edith says. She’ll visit Hong Kong – where she was born – and then ponder where to set up base for this new role.
Squad goals
It won’t be an easy job in a nation with well over a million startups and where new firms and tech giants alike are scattered across the map.
“I think, probably, 60 to 70 percent of my time will be actively working with our existing portfolio companies,” Edith tells Tech in Asia, to help them grow, form partnerships, make money, and raise follow-on funding. That means both Chinese startups as well as overseas ones that have potential to do well in the Chinese market.
Edith Yeung with 500 Startups co-founder Dave McClure (left) and Vishal Harnal, partner of 500 Durians Fund (right).
500 Startups, started back in 2010 in Silicon Valley, has 1,700 tech firms in its portfolio, of which three have metamorphosed into “unicorns” worth over a billion bucks, and 40 are now valued at just over US$100 million.
“The 40 companies are the ones we will focus on. Most of them have already raised series A, B. They’re doing substantial revenue in non-China markets. Those ones are in the sweet spot. We want to work with them […] and bring them to China, have conversations with local partners,” explains Edith.
She also has a blacklist of what to avoid.
In China’s tough and bewildering tech industry, a Chinese partner is a common option for overseas firms. In Edith’s view, that partner might be a local tech giant – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, et al. – who could also invest as part of the cooperation. And 500 Startups would consider joining in on this follow-up funding.
See: China’s startups hit by dramatic funding slowdown
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