寒冬將至:中國創業公司面臨市場衰退
????9月4日,一群中國天使投資人在雨夜中聚集在北京科技寺眾創空間。在那里,一些初創公司正對投資者進行“電梯游說”,他們來自北京和上海,是正在快速增長的創業大軍中的一部分,現場來聽講的有100多人。但這個夜晚最后快要結束時,壓軸登場的換成了投資者來給創業者提出一些忠告。 ????最不容忽視的一條就是:竭盡所能地籌集一切你能拿到的資金,因為市場正在轉變風向。 ????求索創投管理合伙人James Tan在成都和北京兩地都在進行天使投資,他把自己的演講題目定為“冬天來了”。他說,就在過去一年半時間里,25%的中國初創公司進行了融資。在A股暴跌以及人們對中國經濟形勢普遍擔憂的情況下,投資增長不光難以為繼,局面還可能發生反轉。他表示:“我們告訴自己投資的公司要盡快去找下一筆融資。” ????的確,來自投資中國網和《21世紀經濟報道》的數據顯示,今年第二季度,互聯網行業VC/PE融資規模環比下降了一半,跌至37億美元。 ????目前風險最大的,是數千家一直在不計成本爭取用戶且遲遲不愿考慮盈利問題的公司。其中許多都來自政府和BAT三巨頭大力支持的O2O領域,分屬食品快遞、教育等十幾個行業。 ????“冬天來了”的氛圍意味著這些燒錢的公司無望開展新一輪融資。舉例來說,據《21世紀經濟報道》稱,8月底,一家銷售蔬菜水果等農產品的的中國初創公司裁員1500人,它已無法再度融資。 ????從全球來看,大大小小的初創公司都難逃風險。硅谷資深投資人Bill Gurley剛剛警告說,增長周期比盈利更重要的風氣將終結。上周早些時候,《財富》雜志曾報道,美國西海岸風投界越來越擔心那些“垂死的獨角獸”。 ????在中國,創業公司也感覺到了類似的信號。(財富中文網) ????譯者:Charlie ????校對:詹妮 |
????On a rainy night last Friday in Beijing, a group of China’s angel investors was huddled inside a shared work space for startups named Tech Temple. They were part of a crowd of 100 that came to hear elevator pitches from some of the rapidly growing number of startups in Beijing and Shanghai, but the end of the night was devoted for investors to give advice. ????The biggest one: raise all the money you can now. Because the market is turning. ????James Tan, managing partner of Quest VC, an angel in Chengdu and Beijing, titled his talk ‘Winter is coming.’ He said 25% of Chinese startups were funded in just the past year and a half, growth that not only couldn’t continue but that would reverse amid China’s stock market sell-off and general uneasiness about China’s economy. “We tell our companies to go and raise [funding] as fast as you can,” he said. ????Indeed, venture capital financing for Internet companies is down 50% in second quarter this year, to $3.7 billion, according to Chinaventure.cn and the 21st Century Business Herald. ????The most exposed companies are the thousands who have added users at any expense and put off thinking about profits. Many are part of the online to offline (O2O) industry in China, which has been promoted by the central government and China’s big three tech companies—Tencent Holdings Ltd TCEHY -1.01% , Alibaba Group Holdings BABA -0.33% , and Baidu Inc. BIDU -2.24% They are in food delivery, education, and dozens of other industries. (Click here to read Fortune’s coverage of Tencent’s evolution into a VC targeting O2O startups this summer.) ????The ‘winter is coming’ atmosphere means that fundraising rounds are drying up for the companies burning through capital. In late August, for instance, a Chinese startup selling vegetables and fruits from the countryside laid off 1,500 employees, the Business Herald reported, when it couldn’t raise more money. ????If anything, the world’s startups look like they’ll be exposed together. Silicon Valley veteran Bill Gurley was just warning that the cycle of growth being more important than profits might be ending. Fortune reported earlier this week that VC companies on the West Coast are increasingly concerned about ‘dying unicorns’. ????China’s companies are hearing the same drumbeat. |