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].

Video - Grow uP eSports

Ladies & Gents, we present to you the raw, unedited video of our fun fireside chat with Fernando Pereira, President of Grow uP eSports!

Recorded at Eaton House, using Mevo, for our 109th social mixer. (Warning: some rude jokes!). We tried streaming live but the local wifi wouldn't allow us. Enjoy!

Photos - Grow uP eSports

A niche but very inquisitive gang of gaming experts and senior executives from InvestHK, PR companies, investors and curious entrepreneurs attended Grow uP eSports at Web Wednesday HK (V109).

A big "obrigado" to Fernando Pereira for an enjoyable and truly educational conversation and to his partners, Dik Inho Yashmash Jr. and Jens Janssen, and the original Portuguese founder, Telmo Emanuel Ferreira Silva, for being there to support the event.

Our new venue, Eaton House, received an all-round vote of confidence. So "多谢" to you too!

If you're curious as to how we got so many great photos, drop a line my long-term supporter and talented photographer Bronney Hui.

William Bao Bean on Camera

If you missed the interview with William Bao Bean, MD of Chinaccelerator at Web Wednesday Hong Kong V108 in June 2017, here's the raw, unedited video recorded on a Mevo Camera. Enjoy and tell us if you'd like more of this type of content?

Grow uP eSports - Video Game Tournaments in Macau

Yipee! We have a venue confirmed for our next social mixer (Web Wednesday V109) on 5th July - Eaton House, 5/F, Champion Tower, 3 Garden Rd, Central, Hong Kong. (Just behind the Bank of China Tower, find on Google Maps).

We'll be talking about the video game craze - mobile, console, AR, VR, edugames, advergames, healthgames etc. with Fernando Pereira, President of Grow uP eSports, a non-profit Association that is developing and promoting the eSports industry in Macao, creating exciting international tournaments.

See who else is going from our communities on Facebook (4,920 members), MeetUp (834 members) and LinkedIn (1,542 members).

In her recent "Internet Trends 2017 Report" delivered at the Code Conference in California, Mary Meeker stated the growing importance of video games, "crawling into nearly every facet of our lives online and offline". She added that "gaming is more engaging than Facebook and twice as time-consuming as Instagram". Over 161 million people watch eSports every month and, in China, they are building three new a eSports townships!

Internet Trends 2017 Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Meeker estimates that there are 2.6 billion gamers around the world, up from 100 million in 1995. The gaming industry generated US$100 billion in global revenue last year, with nearly half of that, US$47 billion, coming from Asia. Games are central to defining the overall online experience. In her presentation, Meeker speculated that they may be preparing society for the rise of human-computer interaction.

Apart from the huge influence of mobile in gaming, we will also cover topics such as how to reach the increasingly fickle millennial consumer and why female players are a force to be reckoned with!

Doors open at 6:30pm and we will kick off the fireside chat at 7:20pm or so. HK$100 entrance fee buys you one complimentary drink, high quality networking and the chance to win a ticket to their international tournament and video gaming conference on 1st September in Macau.

Vejo todos vocês em breve!

You can follow Grow uP eSports across the social web, where they have a pretty consistent branding. Couldn't find them on Weibo or WeChat, strangely enough.

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube

LinkedIn (yes, they do take themselves seriously!)

Twitch (watch the live tournaments)

TechCrunch Shenzhen - Next Wave of Chinese Tech Entrepreneurs

Meet the next wave of China tech entrepreneurs and investors at TechCrunch Shenzhen on 19-20th June, 2017. Use discount code "tcpd" to enjoy 10% off when you register online.

Speakers from Ofo, Mobike, DIDI, Klook, Meitu美圖, Kik, Dianrong.com（点融网）and many more. See the full agenda below.

The event is brought to you by China's leading industry publisher, TechNode.

Web Wednesday is proud to be a promotional partner and to continue supporting the growth of the digital media and internet entrepreneur industry in the Pearl River Delta!

We're spreading the word across social media!

Chinaccelerator talks cross-border innovation at Web Wednesday Hong Kong

Now that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are best of chums, we thought that it would be fitting to talk about tech innovation and collaboration between the US and China.

So, we've invited William Bao Bean, MD of Chinaccelerator (中国加速), the leading cross-border accelerator backed by SOSV ("The Accelerator VC") who invest US$25M in more than 150 startups per year, second to 500 Startups, to speak at Web Wednesday Hong Kong on 31st May 2017.

As many corporates are now looking to transform their businesses in a digital age, we will also tackle the success and failures of in-house acceleration programmes.

The team at Chinaccelerate have also run innovation matching programmes with over 20 corporates, including McDonalds, Visa, Johnson & Johnson, Bosch, Unilever, MetLife, Leo Burnett, WPP and Dentsu.

As per usual practice, we will be hosting this evening of high-quality networking and scintillating conversation at Orange Peel, 2/F, Ho Lee Commercial Building, 38-44 D'Aguilar St, Lan Kwai Fong. (Google Maps).

Doors open at 6:30pm with the talk at 7:15pm. Entrance fee of HK$100 includes one complimentary drink.

Sign up on Facebook or MeetUp.

New York City Fomer CTO Speaks at Web Wednesday (V107)

Firstly, here's to a great new year! The Chinese Year of the Rooster!

We're kicking off 2017 with a very special guest, Minerva Tantoco, the former Chief Technology Officer of New York City! (The Big Cheese of the Big Apple!) Read all about the Mayor's Office of Tech + Innovation at nyc.gov/forward.

Mark your diaries for Web Wednesday Hong Kong (V107), 18th January at Orange Peel, 2/F, Ho Lee Comm Bldg, 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong.

During her tenure under the Mayor's office, Minerva launched ground-breaking initiatives, including LinkNYC (turning old payphones into free wifi hotspots), CSforAll (computer science education program), Neighborhoods.NYC (online hubs for civic engagement) and the first-ever IoT Guidelines for a US city.

These led to NYC being named, "Best Smart City 2016" at the Global Smart City Awards.

In the past year, she as spoken on CNN, Bloomberg and MSNBC on topics as diverse as AI, IoT, big data, blockchain, the sharing economy, 5G and wi-fi, smart cities, developing tech ecosystems, and the impact of tech on society.

Doors open at 6:30pm and we kick off the fireside chat at around 7:15pm. The entrance fee of HK$100, includes one complimentary drink.

See who else is coming and sign up via our community on Facebook (4,863 members) or MeetUp (806 members).

It's going to be a good one so do bring a friend or two.