Start-up ambassador appointed to capture investment by China's technology angels

ASIA BRIEFING:DURING TAOISEACH Enda Kenny's visit, Enterprise Ireland announced the appointment of Liam Casey as start-up ambassador for the greater China region, trying to get the Corkman to use his considerable influence to get Chinese entrepreneurs to choose Ireland as the location for their next high-tech start-up businesses.

“Our ambition must not only be to attract the next Google or Microsoft to Ireland, but we must also seek to grow the next Google or Microsoft in Ireland,” said Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton.

The founder and chief executive of PCH International, a supply chain solutions company that makes, develops and delivers technology products for some of the world’s biggest brands, Casey has been in the region for 17 years and he will work with Enterprise Ireland to highlight Ireland and what it has to offer for technology start-ups.

Last year, Enterprise Ireland launched a dedicated €10 million International Start-Up Fund to target investor-ready overseas entrepreneurs to start their business in Ireland.

This fund is open to company promoters anywhere in the world, although it is particularly targeted at the Irish diaspora, international expatriates, people from overseas who have previously worked or studied in Ireland, as well as serial and mobile entrepreneurs.

The Government has also introduced a new Start-up Entrepreneur programme visa initiative to make it easier to get into Ireland if you have an idea you want to make real.

The move gives O’Casey a role similar to that of Dylan Collins in Britain and Paul Kenny for the Middle Eastern market.

Innovation is a constant headache for mainland China, especially in the tech business, but angel investors are increasingly finding a role here.

They include Xu Xiaoping, whose Zhenfund hooked up with Sequoia Capital China late last year to create a €22.5 million joint-venture seed fund. He believes that China won’t be innovative for at least 20 years because creativity is simply not a mainstream phenomenon right now, the technode site reports.

One of the most prominent figures is Kai-fu Lee, chairman and CEO of the tech incubator Innovation Works, which invests in mobile internet, consumer internet, e-commerce and cloud-computing ventures.

In contrast to Xu Xiaoping, Lee believes China will become a tech giant, based on mobile internet growth.

By the end of last year, China had 513 million netizens, including 356 million mobile internet users, and about 35 per cent of urban Chinese use smartphones.

Lee said mobile internet start-up costs in China are very low. In China an angel investor can buy a 20 per cent stake in an early-stage company for €225,000, whereas a similar stake in the US would cost about €1.5 million.