Thursday, January 29, 2015

Guru Fixer COO Takes US Tech Startup Quixey On Fast-Track Journey to China and India

Not too many Silicon Valley tech companies are going after both the China and India markets even though that’s where the biggest opportunities exist for many tech companies going after fast growth and profitability.
One company that is ahead on this front is mobile app search engine Quixey in Mountain View. China followed by India are top priority markets for Quixey, COO Guru Gowrappan told me during an interview this week.
Already, China accounts for 50 percent of the search app’s volume and some 20 to 30 percent of revenues  — on par with the U.S. market, Gowrappan revealed. India, a market that skipped right over the desktop generation, lags on revenue so far for Quixey, but should speed up within two to three years, he added.
It helps to have a COO with international perspective and experience working with leading businesses in key global markets.
It helps to have a partner such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on this journey.
Continuing read post at Forbes: onforb.es/1vaVema
Quixey and other U.S. tech startups will reveal their lessons, challenges and milestones at Silicon Dragon, February 5, in Palo Alto.  

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Renren CEO Empire Builds Once More With Tech Startup Deals

Renren CEO Joe Chen
(Bloomberg photo)
Chinese social networking site Renren
has been making steady investments in tech startups as it seeks to broaden its revenue stream, become profitable, and boost its stock price.All of these new investments led by CEO Joseph Chen have been far afield from its core business in social networking, and most of these deals are in the U.S. Chen, throughout his entrepreneurial career, has been an empire builder, acquiring and investing in related tech startups and also divesting businesses that are not going anywhere. Renren itself was built mostly from a combination of acquired or invested in sites.
Renren plans to invest some $500 million in financial tech, and has already invested nearly half that amount, although the NYSE-listed company is investing in other tech areas, too.
Chen’s latest investment in San Mateo-based stock trading site Motif is one in a series of those bets on financial tech. In mid-January 2015, Renren led a $40 million financing for the four-year old Motif, which has raised some $120 million from Ignition Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Foundation Capital.
A look at earlier tech startup investments made by Renren include:
Keep reading post at Forbes:
onforb.es/1usohMe