We have recently conductaed a number of surveys and interviews with Asian Venture Capital Firms and have found many interesting trends and also identified their interests in various sectors. They are really different from North American and European VC firms - which is hardly a surprise - and it also varies from market to market. Here are some of our key findings:

1. Australia - For many Australians - they will argue they are part of Asia, but from the Australian Government’s perspective - they are certainly trying to promote Australia is a key economy in Australia.

Australian VCs have similar investment principals and philosophies as in North American and European counterparts - but their demand are rather different.

Hot Sectors: Mining, Environmental, Biotechnology - biotechnology was a major sector, but somehow, many of opportunities have been “lost” to overseas VC funds. Australia is particularly strong in medical device, and this has attracted investments from Australian biotech VCs. Infrastructure used to be a major sector for Private Equity investments,  but due to a relatively small economy of Australia - many Australian PEs are now investing in international infrastructure projects - with UK as their primary focus, but moving to Asia these days.

Singapore - Singapore is a hub of a large number of Pan-Asian VCs, many are led or set up by Singaporean Government. A very good example in investment ws the investment in Equinix Inc, also acquired Pihana Pacific and merged the entity into one of the world’s largest Internet Data Centre provider - this was mainly funded by Singapore Inc’s investment arms.

Temasek, which was also owned by Singaporean Government has been very busy buying assets worldwide including a large number of real estate portfolios.

Hot Sectors: Real Estate, both commercial and even residential, Semiconductors led by Singaporean semiconductor firms, CleanTech - very big industry for Singapore especially waste and water management, Telecommunications & E-Commerce and surprisingly, Defence & Aviation - which is another sector being pushed by the Government.

China: Many think China is a big VC market, but the actual concept of venture capital remains quite a new concept there. Much of the “VC Type” investments in China were led and made by individuals - getting a commercial finance from banks in China is a much harder process than in the West, which is why “Private Funding” is much more popular there.

There is no shortage of money in China - although, most of Chinese investors tend to invest in local businesses rather than international businesses. However, the Government has been encouraging even funding Chinese enterprises to invest in global assets - with good examples as Lenovo and Haier.

Hot Sectors: Mining - especially coal, energy, uranium and iron ore. Environmental, China is a major supplier of solar power technologies - and they have been investing in solar technology companies worldwide, Waste Management is another sector so is the water management.

Agriculture is another “Hot Sector” in demand as China needs to secure more supplies to its growing middle income population, and they have been buying both the land and supply chains in Africa and Asia, even Australia.

We are also starting to see investments in technology and e-commerce applications - some of the interesting areas we have found are e-learning applications, knowledge management and financial software. Industry specific software such as automation software for textile industry or manufacturing industries are also of interest to investors.

More to follow..

Real Estate is always a big thing for Chinese - and they are now moving into international market because of the restrictions in the local real estate market. city of rott movie download

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