Page 116 - How China Is Winning the Tech Race

China seductions

China’s riches are largely untapped by venture investors, and Sequoia’s Don
Valentine is far from the only big-timer along Sand Hill Road who has been
swayed by its seductions. John Doerr, the slender, hard-wired partner at
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, blasted into China after his partner Ted
Schlein went on a fact-finding tour of the Middle Kingdom and reported back
to Menlo Park, in the fashion of the thirteenth-century explorer Marco Polo,
about the incredible advances he had seen.
In April 2007, Doerr held a press conference in Beijing and broke the
news: Kleiner was digging for the next big idea in China, its first outpost since
the firm was founded in 1972 by
engineers-by-training Tom Perkins
“On a global scale, the pace of innovation is and Eugene Kleiner. Doerr told
increasing, and China is helping lead the reporters that Kleiner was heading
way.” eastward, bringing its Valley
success formula to emerging tech
John Doerr,
companies in China. Let the search
partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
begin for the next Jeff Bezos,
Sergey Brin, or Bill Joy in China.
Schlein heartily endorsed the plan.
“On a global scale, the pace of innovation is increasing, and China is helping
lead the way,” he said.
Kleiner began raising its first China fund, weighing in at a hefty $360
million, more than half the size of the firm’s latest U.S. fund at $600 million.
Two impressive and well-connected Chinese venture capitalists, Tina Ju from
TDF Capital and Joe Zhou from Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund, were
picked to set up KPCB China in Shanghai and Beijing with a core team of
seven.
Go down the list of the Bay Area’s venture players—New Enterprise
Associates, DCM, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock,
Mayfield Fund, Accel Partners, Granite Global Ventures, Charles River
Ventures—and nearly all of them have a China strategy. For most, this is their
firm’s first overseas location.

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