The economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak is likely to push Chinese tech companies to find the right balance between domestic growth and global ambitions, says Lenovo Capital managing director Jeffery Wang.
Launched in 2016, Lenovo Capital is the corporate venture capital unit of Chinese multinational technology company Lenovo. It has more than 100 portfolio companies, including food delivery giant Meituan-Dianping, electric vehicle maker NIO, AI chip maker Cambricorn Technologies, image recognition company Megvii, and AI technology and service provider 4Paradigm. It also has over 10 incubator companies under management.
“The good news is that there will be more mergers and acquisitions by large companies who want to build self-sufficient technology stacks,” said Wang in an interview with DealStreetAsia, talking about the after-effects of the coronavirus crisis.
Lenovo Capital has so far had a busy year. “The number [of investments] is roughly over 10, which is almost the same as last year in the first four or five months, with investments in sectors across fintech, robotics, semiconductor and AI,” he said.
Edited excerpts of an interview:-
