Gobi Partners' Tang on Investment

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00:00It seems like you guys have been pretty busy. Seven exits this year. What's the outlook for

00:042026 look like for you? Look, I mean, like we hope that the market continues to stay good and,

00:10you know, the IPO markets and the secondaries continue to perform. Obviously, you know,

00:16there's a lot of talk of bubbles and things like this. You know, I think we just continue to invest

00:21in fundamentals and long term. So, you know, as early stage investors, I mean, I think we're

00:26focusing a lot on frontier technologies, deep technology areas coming out of universities

00:31and the like. And so, you know, I think hopefully we'll be a little bit more immune to cycles. And,

00:37you know, if the bubble does break, then, you know, at least we'll well set for the future.

00:42Do I think the point you just made, you're very connected to really what's happening on the ground

00:47and all these frontier technologies. What are the attitudes of these founders right now? How do

00:52they feel about the current environment? Because when you look at the public markets,

00:57there seems to be a bubble. But I don't know how it, how does it feel on the ground at that level?

01:00Well, to be honest, I mean, at the early stage, most founders are still focused on their own

01:04product and building their own companies, right? And so, you know, they believe in a long-term vision

01:08of, you know, where their product will be in five years and 10 years. I mean, I don't think anyone

01:12is really thinking about, you know, an IPO pathway or looking at the list in the near term.

01:17I mean, I think what they're dealing with now is just trying to find product market fits,

01:21trying to think about what is the future of this technology, right? And these days,

01:26I think a lot of founders, especially coming out of China, most people are thinking about global

01:30markets, right? And so they're thinking about how to set up abroad, thinking about where to expand

01:35and how to do that successfully. So, you know, I think these days, I mean, I think it's really the

01:39public market investors, institutional investors that are more worried.

01:44Given the whole AI story, I'm just wondering, there's so, we talk about the amounts of money that's

01:48been sloshed around, how people are, you know, tens of billions of dollars that are really being

01:52thrown into it. Do you feel like there's just too much money chasing too little deals right now?

01:57I think that obviously there has been a narrative that's been spun in the U.S. And, you know, I think

02:02the U.S. has capital markets that are very deep. And so there is a lot of money that is going after

02:08some of these, you know, more talented or, you know, the entrepreneurs with the strong backgrounds and,

02:13you know, the track records and all this. I think obviously here in Asia, the capital markets are not as deep.

02:18So, you know, there's less money, but, you know, they're still chasing these strong founders and

02:23people with the backgrounds. You know, I would say that, you know, because there is less money out

02:29here, the founders and the startups are trying alternate ways to bring these products to market,

02:35right? And so it's not necessarily bigger is better out here. I think everyone's trying to find the best

02:40use cases, the best industries in alternate pathways, right? And so I think that's something that

02:45that we're seeing. And, you know, with this creativity, I think there will be new breakthroughs.

02:51I'm not sure if you were in the, there was one of the discussion in the panels, I think it was yesterday

02:56or the day before our first day, Mark Rowan of Apollo had a very interesting comment. I want to get your

03:01thoughts on that. He said, you know, the private markets have changed substantially over years in that,

03:07to Yvonne's point, there's been a lot of money, a lot of interest going into that. And, you know,

03:11as a private company, you now have the option of staying private for longer, because you're able

03:18to raise, frankly, the same amount of money in the private market that you would have as an idea. How does

03:22that, have you observed any of those trends in your world? And how does that change things for a player

03:26like you?

03:26Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, I think, obviously, for companies that have been able to grow to a certain

03:32scale and have been able to prove out their business model, you know, I think that they don't have that

03:38much pressure, especially if they have a very strong cash position, either the revenue generating

03:43or they're turning either not profitable. And, you know, I think then they have a lot of interest

03:48on the secondary markets. And so even with earlier stage investors that want to exit, they actually

03:53can generate enough interest on the secondary so that, you know, they can help facilitate those

03:58transactions. So they actually don't need to list. And so I think, you know, with more uncertain market

04:04kind of prospects, I think these companies will choose to stay private for longer. Although,

04:10you know, I was speaking to some entrepreneurs the other day, and they're just like, you know,

04:14there are other benefits to listing, right? I mean, like, in terms of added credibility, in terms of,

04:18you know, access to more different sources of capital. So, you know, I think every company will

04:23have its own situation.

04:24Sure.

04:25Tell us a little more about this partnership that you have with the Hong Kong Investment

04:29Corps, the Sovereign Wealth Fund, also with the universities, when it comes to kind of this

04:34technological transfer and the like, why focus on universities and these deals?

04:38Yeah, no, so we've been very lucky, obviously. I mean, like, we've been, I've been based and

04:42operating in Hong Kong for about 10 years now, one of the earliest investors in the space.

04:47You know, I think as a key proponent of that ecosystem, we've been very lucky now to

04:50partner with the HKIC. And, you know, this year, just, we actually announced a new fund

04:56focused on the Hong Kong university ecosystem. And, you know, that's an area where we feel like

05:01there's a lot of opportunity going into the next decade. You know, this day and age, I mean,

05:05deep tech is the future, right? And so a lot of that deep tech will be driven from IP and the R&D

05:11efforts of these universities over the last few decades. There haven't been that many success

05:16cases in terms of commercialization in here in Asia versus, you know, what you see at MIT

05:21or Stanford. And so I think that there is a huge opportunity here where, you know, Hong Kong is

05:25now home to five of the top 100 universities in the world, right? And, you know, those five are all

05:31in the top 10 in Asia. So, you know, Hong Kong universities rank number one in Asia. And, you know,

05:36I think that there is a lot of opportunity here. Going forward, we only see these universities

05:41continue to get better because, you know, there's a lot of talent coming back, right? And so whether that's from

05:45the U.S. or, you know, from other parts of the world, I think everybody is seeing the opportunity

05:49and the, you know, the government support and the institutional support out here. And so that draws

05:54a lot of talent back. And I think that will be a very interesting opportunity set going forward.

05:59Was that the thing that changed, that the talent that's coming back? Because we were trying to pinpoint

06:05what the pivot point was. And suddenly, you know, Hong Kong was known as a traditional finance hub,

06:09not so much as a tech startup hub.

06:12Yeah. Yeah. And now, of course, people like you are looking at this.

06:14Yeah, no, I think it's like a confluence of a few different factors. Obviously, the talent

06:18coming back is one important one. But I think, you know, the government in Hong Kong has also just

06:24been very good in putting together all these ancillary programs and subsidy programs and grants

06:30and, you know, just being able to be active in funding this commercialization wave. The universities

06:38themselves are putting together their own funding programs, investing in their own ecosystem.

06:43And, you know, from the private market side, yeah, there's been a lot more interest in investors

06:47from not only Hong Kong, but, you know, from China and even the rest of the world to come in and look

06:52at these opportunities. So, you know, these days, I mean, like we're investing in very early stage

06:56startups, but very quickly, they're able to attract other investor interest. They're doing two,

07:00three rounds in a year. And so we're very lucky, right? I mean, in our fund, we've already deployed

07:05in four or five deals and, you know, all of them have actually had a lot of rounds already. So

07:09it's been a good time.

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