NexChange talks Blockchain at Web Wednesday (V113)

"To ICO or not to ICO?", that is the question!  But was is the answer? (Watch the video at the end of this post for one possible answer).

There's so much buzz (and froth) around blockchain, crypto-currencies and initial coin offerings that we decided to debunk some of the myths by inviting Juwan Lee, the co-founder and Director of the Blockchain Centre of Hong Kong to the Web Wednesday hot seat.

Mark your diaries for our 113th social mixer at a cool new venue, the Hive Sheung Wan, 33 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. (Find on Google Maps).

After 30 years in the finance world, Juwan's primary enterprise is now NexChange, a  innovation platform that builds ecosystems around fintech, insurtech, blockchain, AI, healthtech and smart cities.

Here's a short video about his network of finance professionals...



In just two years, his organisation has launched influential communities for "Fintech O2O", "Block O2O" and "Healthtech O2O".

Come join us at the Hive, 33 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan on Wednesday 25th July, 2018. Doors open at 6:30pm, with the talk kicking off around 7:15pm. Entrance fee of HK$100 includes one standard drink. Happy hour drinks until 9pm.

Sign up and see who else is coming via our communities on Facebook (4,913 members), MeetUp (850 members) and LinkedIn (1,581 members).

 Pre-book your tickets and the first drink on the event page on Pelago.

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ICO Explained (nothing to do with Juwan Lee or NexChange, just useful).

Goxip at Web Wednesday HK (V112)

We all know that ecommerce has shaken up the world of fashion retail and marketing. Oddly enough, we've returned to an era of celebrity, where each purchase decision is highly influenced by the people whom you follow and adore, dahling!

Our guest this month is Juliette Gimenez, Co-founder and CEO of Goxip, a Hong Kong-based online marketplace that uses image recognition to help buyers find their desired items. The like to describe themselves as "The Shoppable Instagram".

According to her LinkedIn profile, "Goxip is a mobile first application which allows users to snap a photo of any fashion item to find the exact or a range of similar ones with its image recognition technology. All products can be purchased instantly on the platform which Goxip offers over 2.5 million worldwide shipping items with 30,000+ designer brands for users to choose from.

Goxip is also a community for fashionista to create styling posts or follow others for fashion inspiration. Goxip is the shoppable Instagram which not only allows users to interact with each other socially on the platform, but also give them the power to purchase their desire outfits at the same time".

Here is Juliette with her co-founder, YC Lau, who is know for his success launching HK Golden, one of Hong Kong's first and more popular internet fora.

Goxip was previously a breakthrough winner at RISE in 2015 and raised a US$1.6M seed round from Ardent Capital, which at the time was one of the largest seed-round fundings in South East Asia.



In January this year, Goxip raised US$1M from the The Mills Fabrica 南豐作坊 fund, the "techstyle" incubator of the Nan Fung Group.

In February this year, Goxip secured US$5 million from a group of investors including Meitu美圖 and high society stars, Sabrina Ho and Chryseis Tan.

Along with her boundless energy, Juliette has a successful track record in ecommerce, driving multi-million dollars sales for uBuyiBuy (Hong Kong) and LivingSocial (Thailand) and was involved in Cdiscount Thailand’s IPO in November 2014.

As you can imagine, we have plenty to talk about!

Come join us at Levels on Wednesday 30th May, 2018. Doors open at 6:30pm, with the talk kicking off around 7:15pm. Entrance fee of HK$100 includes one standard drink. Happy hour drinks until 9pm.

Sign up and see who else is coming via our communities on Facebook (4,916 members), MeetUp (846 members) and LinkedIn (1,569 members).

Web Wednesday - Hong Kong Facebook Group · 4,917 members Join Group Join Hong Kong's most established networking community for internet startups and digital media executives. We meet once a month (on a Wednesday!) in...

Rebirth of Digital Advertising at Web Wednesday HK

Now that Mark Zuckerberg has testified in front of the US Congress and Sir Martin Sorrell has resigned from the helm of WPP, the world's largest advertising group, we thought it would be the perfect moment to discuss the rebirth of the digital advertising industry at our 111th Web Wednesday Social Mixer on 25th April, 2018.

I've invited two speakers from the cutting edge of online advertising:

- Dominic Powers, CEO of CtrlShift, whose mission is "to fix a broken industry and give control back to brands and publishers"

- Adrian Teh, GM of iPinYou International (品友互动, China’s largest programmatic ad buying DSP provider

We'll be talking about how data is changing the way that people trade our attention and where it is all going in a world of increasing privacy awareness and consumer empowerment.

Come join us at Levels Club, 2/F On Hing Building,  No. 1 On Hing Terrace, Central, Hong Kong. Doors open at 6:30pm, with the talk kicking off around 7:15pm. Entrance fee of HK$100 includes one standard drink.

Spread the good word and see you there!

A meeting of the bays! Silicon Dragon is back in Hong Kong (April 19th, 2018)

Over the past eight years, Rebecca Fannin has been linking up the venture capital investment community across the globe and has built a network of 15,000 startups, emerging companies, venture capitalists, angel investors and startup stakeholders under her publishing and events group, Silicon Dragon Ventures.

This year, I'm thrilled to be interviewing Soul Htite, the Founder and Executive Chairman of Dianrong, China's leading peer-to-peer lending platform (recently valued at US$1 billion) along with his early investor, Figo Zhang, Partner at Northern Light Venture Capital.

The tickets are not expensive (under US150) but you can save 25% using discount code "SDHK2018WebWed" when you register for the event. See you there!

Some recent tweets from Dianrong:

It's five years since Dianrong first began bringing Chinese borrowers and lenders together. More than 48 billion RMB in loans have been originated and there are currently 4.3 million retail lenders. Thank you to all of our loyal borrowers, lenders and employees. pic.twitter.com/Jl1dM0jgxi

— Dianrong (@DianrongChina) March 23, 2018

Huawei Mobile at Web Wednesday (V110)

After a short break, the godfather of all tech and digital media networking events in Hong Kong, Web Wednesday is back in action! (Woohoo! Yeehaa! Ole!)

Mark your diaries for 6:30pm-9pm on 21st March 2018 at Levels Nightclub, 2nd Floor, On Hing Building, On Hing Terrace, Central, Hong Kong. (find on Google Maps)

Our guest speaker is Tan Rahman, the former Global Head of Digital Media for Huawei Consumer Business Group, the 3rd largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

We'll be tackling the question of Chinese brands expanding overseas and the lead in technology that companies like Huawei, Lenovo, Alibaba, Tencent and Meitu are now taking on the global stage.

Doors open at 6:30pm with the talk kicking off at 7:15pm. We wrap up around 9ish.  HK$100 entry fee gives you a complimentary drinks and high quality networking.  Bring a friend as this is going to be a good one!

See who else is coming and, if you haven't already, join our groups on Facebook, MeetUp and LinkedIn.

Retail's Cutting Edge - Discount Tickets (31st Jan. @ HKCEC)

Firstly, let me wish you a Happy and Digi-venturous 2018!

At the end of last year, the Web Wednesday Tesla slowed down slightly but we are back up to speed, preparing our next set of networking events and incisive interviews with leading digital media and technology entrepreneurs.

We are also planning to launch a new podcast, beyond the usual interview recordings that you can find on SoundCloud.



And here is an early Chinese New Year gift. As part of InvestHK's StartmeUp Festival, we brokered a special deal with Inside Retail for their "Retail's Cutting Edge Forum" on Wednesday 31st January at HK Convention and Exhibition Centre :  20% off (save HK$300). Use code "WW20" for discount tickets (available until 6pm on 30th Jan) on live.insideretail.hk



Speakers from HKTV, Lazada, Strawberrynet, Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, Jardine Restaurants, Tofugear, J.Crew, Geox, Bluebell and ActiMirror.



Plus six pitch fest finalists: Boutir,  Cloudbreakr, ConnectAR, 3DNA, HK Pharmacorp, MobiJuce and Snap Pop.

Hong Kong Tech Unicorns at Silicon Dragon Awards 2017

For the fourth year in a row, I've been invited to grill a promising tech startup at the Silicon Dragon Awards.

My unwitting prey will be Reeve Kwan, co-founder of GoGoVan, which has become Hong Kong's first  "unicorn" - worth US$1 billion -  having recently merged with China-based 58 Suyun (58速运). Both firms are backed by Alibaba funds. [See TechCrunch's unicorn leader board].

Now they have ambitious plans "to become the number one intra-city logistics platform in the world".

Hosted at KPMG's plush offices in Hysan Place, Causeway Bay 5-9pm on 16th November 2017, the event promises to draw a good crowd of promising tech startups, deal-hungry investors, sharp consultants and curious media folk.

Use code "SDAwards17Napoleon" to enjoy a US$10 discount off standard tickets (US$55) when you register here.

The run down is: 3 tech chats, startup pitches, tips from top VCs, awards for the Top Founder, the Top VC and the Best Pitch, followed by a cocktail reception.

Tech Chats

• Dr. Li Xu, CEO, SenseTime Group with Francis Pak To Leung, Chairman, Luminary Capital / Chairman, HK Listed Companies

• Claude Ducharme, Co-founder / CTO, Gobee Bike with investor Chibo Tang, Managing Director, Gobi Partners

• Reeve Kwan, Co-founder, GoGoVan with investor Herman Lam, CEO of Hong Kong Cyberport

Venture Dealmakers: Panelists and Judges

• Stella Ji Xin, Founding Partner, Keytone Ventures
• Jeffrey Chi, Managing Director, Vickers Venture Partners
• Furuzonfar Zehni, Senior Associate, Fresco Capital
• Bonnie Cheung, Venture Partner, 500 Startups
• Christopher Fisher, Managing Partner, Click Ventures
• Geoffrey Handley, Managing Partner, Haitao Capital
• Chibo Tang, Managing Director, Gobi Partners
• Murray Indick, Partner, Morrison & Foerster
• Andrew Chung, Founder - Managing Partner, 1955 Capital

Moderators and Presenters

• Darren Bowdern, Partner, Head-Alternative Investments, KPMG China
• Napoleon Biggs, Founder, Web Wednesday Ventures (myself!)
• Irene Chu, Partner, KPMG China
• MC: Rebecca Fannin, Founder/Editor, Silicon Dragon [Rebecca was a guest speaker at Web Wednesday back in April 2013].