VC: Too Soon For B2B In China

Hurst Lin, a prominent venture capitalist and co-founder of popular Web portal Sina.com, spoke with The Wall Street Journal on his thoughts on various VC investment issues in China when he touched on B2B.

“Mr. Lin likes the business-to-business space, providing services such as payrolls to companies, though he maintains it is too early in China. ‘China is still stuck where the U.S. was in the 1960s. SOEs [state-owned enterprises] do everything themselves.'”

Lin said that there’s still hope for the nearterm future. “He suggests that, at some point, China will be ready for (B2B) investments. In the meantime he also sees a period of less-robust returns on investment as investment funds continue to pour in and chase deals. ‘Money is still coming in and chasing fewer opportunities,’ he said. ‘We will go through a period of lean returns.'”