At the recent BizSpark Night for December, we had a fireside chat with James Tan, founder and managing partner of QuestVC, China’s leading seed to angel fund for technology. He disclosed how he started 55tuan (a successful Chinese group buy site) and then, QuestVC.
How James started 55tuan and then QuestVC
James went to China on a scholarship, meeting his cofounders of 55tuan from Qinghua University. 55tuan is currently one of the largest group buy websites in China. He further explained that it was not easy for them to sustain 55tuan, as China experienced a myriad of Groupon clones over the past couple years, but the majority of them could not keep up with the fast pace of China’s tech industries and went out of business.
James later with his partner decided to start on another project called QuestVC, which was a venture capitalist firm based in China. This attracted many e-commerce companies to seek help from QuestVC to get funding and mentoring opportunities. However, James’ stand is that he also hopes to help to all companies in other tech industries.
How many startups has QuestVC invested in?
James explained that he funds companies at the seed to angel stage. QuestVC invested in 6 companies over 1.5 years and 2 Singapore tech companies, Carousel and Burple. The companies they invested are independently managed and display high potential in the market. Carousel allows consumers to sell their items on their platform and get cash in return while Burple is a localised food app for photo sharing. With the help of QuestVC for seed funding, they are intending to expand their influence to China and also Singapore’s neighboring countries, Indonesia and Malaysia.
What suggestion do you have for startups that wish to apply for QuestVC? What do they need to do?
James encouraged startups that wish to seek funding from QuestVC to source for strong financial backing first. One of such ways is to seek help from government agencies such as ACE or SPRING Singapore. They provide necessary information, connections and provide financial grants such as series A funding to assist companies to progress. After applying from government agencies, startups can then apply for QuestVC with their working prototype and discuss with James for seed funding and support for expanding overseas. Of course, the team will need to have the ability to articulate the opportunity and how they going to execute their ideas.
What is the start-up scene like in Singapore? Are their any suggested programmes to promote entrepreneurship?
James pointed out that in Singapore, there are many potential graduates that choose not to be startup entrepreneurs because they feel the need to work in big multinational corporation companies. The vast majority of them are not willing to take up risks with a startup that may or may not succeed. To better foster the entrepreneurship dream of starting a tech company, the NUS Overseas College (NOC) programme collaborated with the highly prestigious Tsinghua University for students to study entrepreneurship and internship full time with companies in Beijing. The programme will play a key role in nurturing entrepreneurs who then can engage with China. James is supportive of the programme and he hopes to see more batches of entrepreneurs coming from Singapore in near future.
We hope that BizSpark Night 2013 has provided valuable advice to startup entrepreneurs. We are grateful and want to thank our distinguished speakers for taking time from their busy schedules to contribute to this meaningful event.
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