When it comes to making money, Chinese e-commerce is more creative and successful, than any of their US counterparts, says VC William Bao Bean to the Washington Post. However, Chinese start-ups need to show they can generate enough revenue to make the model work in the middle term.
The Washington Post:
“You go on Facebook and you can’t even buy anything, but on WeChat and Weibo you can buy anything you see,” said William Bao Bean, a Shanghai-based partner at SOS Ventures and the managing director of Chinaccelerator, a start-up accelerator…
While U.S. firms focus on ad revenue, Chinese companies have become pacesetters in e-commerce. A more recent trend: live-streaming sites where people pay real money to reward performers with virtual gifts. (You sang beautifully, here’s a digital Lamborghini, dear.)
Bean called the amount of money flowing through these apps “significant.” Like their peers in Palo Alto, Calif., however, Chinese start-ups need to show they can generate enough revenue to make the model work in the middle term.
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