Dec 28, 2020

NewsAroundUs Published Levin joined Heartcore Capital in 2019 from Global Founders Capital, the billion-dollar VC arm of Rocket Internet, where he was responsible for investments in Canva, Heyjobs, Instarem, Anyfin and others. During my five years with Global Founders Capital, Rocket Internet’s $1 billion VC arm, I saw more than a hundred of Rocket’s incubated companies attempt to internationalize. For background, Rocket Internet has helped launch some very successful businesses internationally, including HelloFresh ($12.9 billion market cap), Lazada ($1 billion exit to Alibaba), Jumia ($3.2 billion market cap), Zalando ($21.2 billion market cap) and many others. Rocket often followed the Blitzscaling model popularized by Reid Hoffman — earning them an appearance in his book of the same name. After an initial success helping Groupon scale internationally via a merger with Rocket’s incubation firm CityDeal, Rocket’s team have aggressively scaled businesses from Algeria to Zimbabwe — sometimes in a matter of weeks. No surprise, Rocket also has a graveyard of failed companies that were victims of bad internationalization efforts. Many companies make the costly mistake of launching abroad too soon. My personal observations on Rocket’s successes and failures start with this crucial point: These learnings might not apply to your unique combination business model, market and timing. No matter how well you prepare and plan your internationalization, in the end you need to be agile, alert and smart as you dip your toes into your first foreign market. Fail fast and cheaply Internationalization can be a big driver of growth and consequently enterprise value, which is why investors always push for it. But going abroad can also destroy value just as quickly. As a founder, it’s your job to manage financial and operational risks. Finding the right balance between keeping costs in check and not underinvesting can mean doing things more slowly than your board would like. For example, you might launch new markets sequentially instead of rolling 10 out at the same time. Adopt a “hire slow, fire fast” mentality for your expansion strategy. Don’t be afraid to pull the plug if things don’t work out. Our team at Heartcore Capital use the following framework and learnings to guide internationalization strategies for our portfolio companies. A successful internationalization strategy needs to answer and address the “Four Ws”: When, Where, Which and With whom to internationalize. (Regarding the fifth W from journalism, you should not need to ask the “Why” question if you want to build a large business!) 1. When is the right time to start? Many companies make the costly mistake of launching abroad too soon. They look at internationalization as a detached function, isolated from the rest of the business and then launch their second market prematurely. Follow this simple rule: Wait to internationalize until you hit product/market fit. How do you know exactly when you’ve reached product/market fit? According to Marc Andreessen , “Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.” He adds that experienced entrepreneurs can usually feel if they’ve reached this point. Let’s take the man for his word and move on to the actual argument: Until you have product/market fit, you will not be able to distinguish between what you’ve learned from your business model and what you’ve learned from your in-country experience. Mistakes will compound. Complexities and costs will multiply. I contend that insufficient understanding of their business and operating model is the main reason why companies fail with their expansion strategies. Founders should also consider the underlying costs of internationalizing before they decide to expand (more about this in the “What” section below). Some companies are global by default — think mobile gaming companies — or simply require language localization. Others need to build new warehouses, hire local teams or build entirely new products. The costs and respective risks of expanding prematurely depend heavily on the business model. There are edge cases where companies need to move quickly to internationalize for strategic reasons — despite uncertainty about their market fit. For instance, companies like Groupon or those engaged in food delivery face winner-takes-most markets, where opportunities for product differentiation are limited. “Blitzscaling” makes sense in cases like these. However, you should tread carefully if your only reason to start scaling abroad is a large fundraise or to match a competitor’s internationalization efforts. Scaling prematurely for the wrong reasons might just cost you your entire company. When Rocket Internet announced it would launch the Homejoy model into European markets with Helpling , the American “original” company launched quickly in Germany in an effort to squash their new competitor. In the early days of “on-demand everything,” a managed marketplace for cleaning services sounded like the next unicorn in the making. In 2013, Homejoy had a fresh $24 million Series A from Google Ventures and First Round — considered a huge round at a time when Instacart had just raised an $8 million Series A and Snapchat had done a $13 million Series A round. It must have seemed like a good idea to squash the German competition early. As it turned out, Homejoy’s product was not yet ready to scale internationally. Just 13 months after launching in Germany, Homejoy had to cease operations globally, while Rocket’s Helpling is still alive and kicking. Helpling focused carefully on product, automation and making their unit economics work. A rush to crush an international competitor caused the demise of a would-be unicorn. Homejoy expanded internationally in 2014 in a rush to squash a new German competitor Helpling. Their websites in 2020 show starkly different outcomes. Image Credits: Homejoy/Helpling 2. Where should you internationalize? When deciding which new international market to tackle, it is vital to do your homework. Analyze the competitive environment, partner availability, infrastructure, culture, regulation and synergies with your home market. In the early days of e-commerce, it was rather easy to analyze if a market was an expansion target. In the absence of professional competition, Rocket chose new countries based solely on GDP and internet penetration. Chinese regulators have ordered Ant Group, the world’s largest financial technology company, to rectify its businesses and comply with regulatory requirements amid increased scrutiny of anti-monopoly practices in the country’s Internet sector. The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, summoned Ant executives on Saturday and ordered them to formulate a rectification plan and an implementation timetable of its business, including its credit, insurance, and wealth management services, the regulators said in a statement Sunday. The statement said that Ant Group lacked a sound governance mechanism, defied regulatory compliance requirements and engaged in regulatory arbitrage. It also said that the company used its market position to exclude rivals and hurt the rights and interests of consumers. The meeting came after Chinese regulators last month halted Ant’s $37 billion (roughly Rs. 2,72,000 crores) stock debut in Shanghai and Hong Kong over regulatory changes, and comes just days after China announced an anti-monopoly investigation of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which owns a 33 percent stake in Ant Group. The orders from regulators could limit Ant Group’s expansion and throw its lucrative finance businesses into disarray. Ant Group, which started out as a payments services for Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao, has since expanded to offer insurance and investment products to its hundreds of millions of users in mainland China. Jack Ma, the founder of both Alibaba and Ant Group, is one of China’s richest and most prominent entrepreneurs. Regulators ordered Ant Group to establish a financial holding company and hold sufficient capital. They also said that Ant Group should return to its payments origins, enhance transparency around transactions and prohibit unfair competition, while improving corporate governance and ensuring that it complies with regulatory requirements for its businesses. Ant Group said in a statement Sunday that it would comply with regulatory requirements and enhance risk management and control, and that a working group would be set up to make the necessary rectifications. “We appreciate financial regulators’ guidance and help,” the statement said. “The rectification is an opportunity for Ant Group to strengthen the foundation for our business to grow with full compliance, and to continue focusing on innovating for social good and serving small businesses.” The scrutiny of Ant Group and Alibaba comes as China closely examines the influence of the country’s internet sector. Last month, China released draft regulations to clamp down on anti-competitive practices in the industry, such as signing exclusive agreements with merchants and the use of subsidies to squeese out competitors. Alibaba and a company spun off by Tencent were fined this month for failing to apply for official approval before proceeding with some acquisitions. Last Tuesday, regulators met with executives of Alibaba and five other major Chinese internet companies and warned them not to abuse their dominance to drive out competitors through use of exclusive contracts, predatory pricing and other tactics, according to a statement by the State Administration of Market Regulation. Is Mi QLED TV 4K the best affordable smart TV for enthusiasts? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , or RSS , download the episode , or just hit the play button below. It’s been a tough year by all accounts. But for Bitcoin, 2020 has been a marvelous time. The cryptocurrency almost quadrupled, surpassing $20,000 (roughly Rs. 14.7 lakhs) for the first time as it notched record after record. The diehards cheered it as an inflation hedge in an era of unprecedented central bank largesse. Wall Street veterans from Paul Tudor Jones to Stanley Druckenmiller blessed it as an alternative asset, adding to the rally. Companies like MicroStrategy and Square moved cash reserves into crypto in search of better returns than near-zero interest rates deliver. While none of those reasons for buying Bitcoin comport with its origins as an alternative to fiat currencies, they do point to a growing acceptance of crypto as an asset class of its own. And that has the zealot-like community taking yet another victory lap in their quest for legitimacy. “What’s happening now, and it’s happening faster than anyone could ever imagine, is that Bitcoin is moving from a fringe esoteric asset to the mainstream,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management. “If it’s going mainstream, there is just so much money on the sidelines that is going to have to come in and establish a position that it leaves me very bullish for 2021.” But with Bitcoin capturing greater attention, it could also garner further scrutiny from regulators, says Guy Hirsch, managing director for the US at online-trading platform eToro. “Despite this meteoric rise, there are some storm clouds on the horizon,” he said, including the fallout from several last-minute actions by the outgoing Trump administration, among others. Devotees say that in some ways, the pandemic-ravaged year proved the perfect environment for the digital coin. Warnings of rampant money-printing by global central banks, some of which started to reveal their own interests in digital assets, sparked fears of eventual inflation, while interest rates dipped to rock-bottom lows. That’s thrust some investors to chase returns and hedge with cryptocurrencies, pushing its price past $28,000 (roughly Rs. 20.5 lakhs) from around $7,200 (roughly Rs. 5.2 lakhs) at the start of January. Predicting where it will go is a fraught exercise. Many left the coin for dead after its 2017 rally resulted in a crash the following year, a stretch of time sometimes referred to as the “crypto winter.” But it’s surged more than 300 percent in 2020 and many investors say it could continue to gain next year. A Deutsche Bank survey found a majority see it ending 2021 higher, with 41 percent of participants projecting a target between $20,000 (roughly Rs. 14.7 lakhs) -$49,999 (roughly Rs. 36.7 lakhs) and 12 percent seeing it crossing above $100,000 roughly Rs. 74 lakhs), according to Jim Reid, a strategist at the firm. What else is on the radar? To Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at digital-asset manager CoinShares, there are some concerns about what the incoming Joe Biden administration might mean for the crypto space. “Generally, I think we have had challenges with the Dems, they prefer more regulation, more oversight,” Demirors said. “I am a bit worried about the direction things are trending,” especially around antitrust lawsuits and an erosion in internet privacy. Still, the industry has some allies, said Demirors, including North Carolina’s Patrick McHenry and Ohio’s Warren Davidson, who she says have been advocates for the preservation of consumer financial privacy. Going forward, many strategists and investors say, the industry could see more scrutiny and tighter regulation with Biden in the White House. A lot will, of course, depend on who fills key positions within the administration. Janet Yellen, who’s been nominated to serve as Treasury secretary in Biden’s administration, has in recent years cautioned investors over Bitcoin, saying it was a “highly speculative asset” and “not a stable store of value.” A representative didn’t immediately return a request seeking comment. Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported that Gary Gensler could be nominated to replace Jay Clayton at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton’s exit from the regulator is welcome news for crypto fans who saw him take a hard line over the years, suing to halt initial coin offerings, rejecting applications for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and launching a last-minute lawsuit against Ripple Labs. Gensler, who served as a Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman during the Obama administration, is a senior advisor to the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative and teaches about blockchain technology and digital currencies. According to eToro’s Hirsch, there is uncertainty around how the Biden administration will approach cryptocurrencies, but the appointments are notable “because Yellen is famously anti-crypto and Gensler is known for being pro-crypto.” “Without knowing how authorities will seek to more robustly regulate crypto in the coming years, it is hard for the markets to continue growing at the same rate they are now, especially if, as some fear, regulations aimed at curbing innovation rather than fostering it are enacted,” said Hirsch. “Once again, clarity is the name of the game.” -With assistance from Claire Ballentine, Katherine Greifeld, Ben Bain, Saleha Mohsin and Sarah Ponczek. © 2020 Bloomberg L.P Is Mi QLED TV 4K the best affordable smart TV for enthusiasts? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , or RSS , download the episode , or just hit the play button below. The rivalry between China’s top online learning apps has become even more intense this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest company to score a significant funding round is Zuoyebang , which announced toda y (link in Chinese) that it has raised a $1.6 billion Series E+ from investors including Alibaba Group. Other participants included returning investors Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital China and FountainVest Partners. Zuoyebang’s latest announcement comes just six months after it announced a $750 million Series E led by Tiger Global and FountainVest. The latest financing brings Zuoyebang’s total raised so far to $2.93 billion. The company did not disclose its latest worth, but Reuters reported in September that it was raising at a $10 billion valuation. One of Zuoyebang’s main competitors is Yuanfudao, which announced in October that it had reached a $15.5 billion valuation after closing a $2.2 billion round led by Tencent. This pushed Yuanfudao ahead of Byju as the world’s most valuable ed-tech company. Another popular online learning app in China is Yiqizuoye, which is backed by Singapore’s Temasek. Zuoyebang offers online courses, live lessons and homework help for kindergarten to 12th grade students, and claims about 170 million monthly active users, about 50 million of whom use the service each day. In comparison, there were about 200 million K-12 students in 2019 in China, according to the Ministry of Education (link in Chinese). In fall 2020, the total number of students in Zuoyebang’s paid live-stream classes reached more than 10 million, setting an industry record, the company claims. While a lot of the growth was driven by the pandemic, Zuoyebang founder Hou Jianbin said in the company’s funding announcement that it expects online education to continue growing in the longer term, and will invest in K-12 classes and expand its produt categories.