Alibaba Poised To Write $5 Billion Checks For U.S. Tech Startups

Alibaba’s IPO is set to have a big impact be on U.S. tech M&A deals and future listings from venture-backed China startups on Wall Street.  See Silicon Dragon Talk, Sizing Up Alibaba.
Referred to as the WalMart of China for its heft, the public listing of Alibaba will give it a huge treasure chest to acquire more U.S. tech startups and possibly write $5 billion to $10 billion checks, says venture capitalist Nazar Yasin of Rise Capital. Since 2013, Alibaba has invested in nine U.S. tech startups in deals valued at $968 million, according to investment banker David Williams.
VC Jay Eum of Translink Capital, which has seen three of its portfolio companies (Peel, Tango and Quixey) get acquired by the Chinese e-commerce giant, says he has been “super-impressed” by Alibaba as a strategic investor. He pointed to fairly generous deal teams and alignment with management to mutual benefit as two advantages.
The IPO of Alibaba, predicted to be the biggest in the tech sector, could lead to many more venture-backed Chinese startups to go public on Wall Street. This year, China IPOs have rebounded to 10 after a two-year slump.
See Silicon Dragon Talk, Sizing Up Alibaba.

Sizing Up Alibaba IPO Prospects Against Other Winners

As Alibaba gets ready to go public in the U.S. this September, it’s worth a look at how Internet players from emerging countries have fared in the public markets.
The answer is exceedingly well.  Research from San Francisco-based venture capital firm Rise Capital, which invests in emerging markets, shows that $300 billion in market value has been created in the last five years by e-commerce and media companies from developing nations.
Little surprise, most of those companies are from China. Russia, India and Brazil do factor in though, accounting for nine of the 35 in the top ranks.
Tencent is number one on the list with a market cap of $143 billion, figures dating from June 2014 show. Baidu ranks second at $66 billion. Alibaba rival JD.com is third, with a market cap of $35 billion.
If Alibaba hits the estimates of a $200 billion market capitalization, we’ll have to get out the measuring sticks again. Alibaba, which drawfs Amazon and eBay for merchandise sold through its multiple business and consumer sites, could rank up there among the top 10 U.S. tech firms by market valuation — and also surpass Tencent. Bets are on too, that Alibaba will bypass Facebook as the biggest tech IPO ever in the U.S.

Keep reading: Alibaba prospects
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2014/08/14/sizing-up-alibaba-prospects/

Silicon Dragon Talk Launches from the Valley

Guests at Silicon Dragon Talk:
Hans Tung, Eric Feng, Geoff Yang

We recently launched Silicon Dragon Talk, our new monthly program featuring trends in venture capital and tech innovation globally.

The first program featured three experts discussing Alibaba's IPO, Flipboard's Chinese strategy, and trends in China tech entrepreneurship.

Here is a clip from the first Silicon Dragon Talk show, with guests Hans Tung of GGV Capital, Eric Feng of Flipboard, and Geoff Yang of Redpoint Ventures.

Eric is sporting a special T shirt -- GoLong. It's a reference to VCs strategies of keeping a portfolio investment until it ripens.

Our shows are being recorded at the DingDing.TV studios in Santa Clara, CA. Stay tuned for the next program!

-- Rebecca