Beyond Shein and Temu: How to invest in China without China risk?

A view from an economist-turned-venture capitalist

The conversation around whether China is still investable has been a hot topic in recent years. At Baiguan, we always argue that China still is. But we know there are many skeptics out there. This raises the question: is there a way to enjoy China's future growth, without the China risk?

To shed light on this subject, we recently hosted a podcast featuring Bob Chen, a seasoned investor at Mangrove Capital 沣源资本, a China-based venture capital fund specializing in software and globalization-themed investments. Bob, with his expertise in investing in "Go Global出海" enterprises, discusses the challenges and opportunities in the Chinese investment landscape. He highlights the oversupply problem in China, the changing dynamics of distribution channels, and the need for entrepreneurs to connect China's capacity with global demand.

The full-length podcast audio can be accessed here:

Podcast Highlights

1. Global capital is skeptical of China now. But China's growth story has not ended. There is actually a way to invest in China without investing in China.

2. The world ex-China is experiencing inflation, while China is going through deflation. This setup gives unique opportunities.

3. Chinese entrepreneurs are expanding globally and they would like to know their customers directly and jump over the traders and also the buyers, so that the whole supply chain is more efficient.

4. Shein and Temu are good examples of this big trend, but there are more opportunities.

5. Despite the fact that we are living in the age of decoupling, ironically, Chinese entrepreneurs are fundamentally reshaping infrastructure in the US, in Europe and in emerging markets. And there will be ample investment opportunities there as well.

6. Many "Chinese teams" now start as global players, with development and operations teams in China, while product and marketing teams based abroad, from the very start. It's called a "Glocal" model.

Full script