More than just Financial Advice

As an adviser, we offer more than just financial advice – we play an essential role in enabling investors to reach their investment needs and goals.

At SAC Venture Capital, we would like to offer our support to you with the following investment insights and investor education materials. Our investments Insights brings you an exploration of themes and trends which lie at the heart of your investment challenges.

Read the latest investment thinking from SAC Venture Capital. Let’s refer to page 83 and 84 of a report on VC investment in Asia on this website: assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2018/10/kpmg-venture-pulse-q3-2018.pdf.

While Singapore accounted for the largest deal in Asia this quarter with a $2 billion raise by Grab14, China continued to be a key driver for VC investment and market activity in the region. Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturing company Bitmaindrew a significant amount of attention this quarter —first with its $1 billion series B round, then by filing for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock exchange late in September. Chinese companies appeared more willing to consider IPOs on foreign exchanges during Q3’18. In addition to Bitmain’sfiling, Chinese unicorn electric car manufacturer Nioheld an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange this quarter.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) is on track to close out 2018 at the top of the global leaderboard in terms of new listings. A renewed interest in IPOs in addition to changes to listing rules in order to support the listing of new technology and biotech companies likely helped spur HKSE’s strong activity. During Q3’18, internet platform company MeituanDianpongraised over $4.2 billion in a successful IPO —the world’s largest internet-focused IPO in over 4years15. While Hong Kong attracted a number of IPOs this quarter, the NYSE also saw several IPOs by China-based companies, such as electric car company Nio.

China’s mega-giant companies Baidu, Alibaba, DidiChuxingand Tencentcontinued to invest significantly in autonomous vehicles during Q3’18, with most forging partnerships with OEMs in order to move initiatives forward. In September, the Beijing Municipal Government issued license plates to seven companies for autonomous vehicle testing —highlighting the speed at which autonomous driving technologies are evolving in the region. These companies included subsidiaries of Tencent, Baidu and DidiChuxing, in addition to several Chinese and global automotive manufacturers.

Heading into Q4’18, AI is likely to remain a very strong area of VC investment in Asia given its widespread applicability across sectors. Many investors are particularly interested in AI for financial services, such as solutions aimed at helping identify and avoid fraud and money laundering. Autonomous driving will likely also remain a big priority in Asia moving forward. In Hong Kong, the IPO market is expected to remain strong, as evidenced by Bitmain’srecent filing18. There will also likely be an increase in Chinese companies looking at IPO exits on foreign exchanges.