Roy Wylie and Richard Heygate who are two well-known people in the venture capital industry of the UK are at the forefront of a unique project to open-up opportunities for Chinese investments.
Their plan places its reliance on the strength of trust, or as called by the Chinese guanxi. It forms a connection of opportunities for investment by increasing the quantity of Chinese students having education in the UK.
At the core of the initiative is the truth that a lot of Chinese students presently in the UK desire to stay back and get employed once they graduate but cannot do so because of the harsh immigration laws of the United Kingdom.
Those with investment funds would be able to stay back in the country using a UK’s entrepreneur visa which stipulates making an investment of at least $318,000 (or about 200,000 pounds).
The plan would pair these graduates of Chinese descent with existing companies that are growing and assist the students put their investment money into the firms, where they can continue their careers after they have been employed.
The new company on matchmaking is known as 88 Initiative and was setup three months earlier. About five opportunities for potential investment have already been discovered with the expectation of the investments to be soon made.
Wylie is chairman and co-founder of WHEB an investment firm, and Heygate, who is a McKinsey former partner and the online ATM inventor, possess great connections within the venture capital world of the UK and have a feeling that they can make a selection of numerous choices of investment for these Chinese graduates.
Heygate stated that the larger picture is to utilize the presence of these Chinese graduates as an attraction for investment into growth firms in the UK due to the fact that a large number of the graduates who desire to take this route possess parents who are rich and have incredible connections within the investment community in China.
Both of them stated that if this larger investment channel of the Chinese opened up, it could turn into a game changer for United Kingdom firms that require accessibility into the Chinese market and for the venture capital industry of the United Kingdom which is capital-starved.
Wylie stated that VC investments possess a great deal of risks, most of which occur at the earlier stages. Research studies may not result into the expected outcomes, costs and expenses could increase rapidly and uncontrollably, the products may not get the approvals that are regulatory required, or the products may suffer from unpopularity in the market.
88 Initiative has devised a strategy to mitigate these risks by making a selection of companies whose growth stage has relatively stabilized, possess technologies or products that are at least accepted in the local markets, and that have the readiness for international promotion.
Heygate said that many companies in the UK have stopped seeking for Chinese investment because they could not find anyone with whom to deal with.
He said that the initial step is to possess some staff who are Chinese, who can engage in long term relationships with Chinese investors, instead of depending on advisers from outside. Secondly, the Chinese investor has a degree of security because of their presence.
In Heygates view, investors can be made to trust their investments and have an understanding that there would be long-term revenue which would be stable if the Chinese graduates played their role very well. Graduates can further tell investors that what China requires for its growth are these products or technologies.
The belief by Heygate’s team is that the process of matchmaking must aim at firms in distinct sectors that are already focused by the Chinese government. These important sectors are new materials; the telecom, media and technology industry; advanced manufacturing; healthcare; and clean technology.
Heygate said that it was wonderful meeting these talented young people of China, and there were plenty of similar networks established by youthful Chinese people in the UK. But the business community of the British could not access this community.
A director at the 88 Initiative Lu Yingni said that a platform for the growth of Chinese graduates to advance their careers within the United Kingdom was provided by the program.
Lu stated that they had made a selection of companies with potentials that are huge in China in addition to management teams that are experienced. Graduates were going to receive an experience that is well-rounded by leading the expansion into China and participating in these teams, instead of beginning their careers in large corporations at entry-levels.