“Midas touch” investor joins judges for the annual Web In Travel conference’s Start-Up Pitch

26 Aug 2013 – SINGAPORE – Jixun Foo, the Singapore-born-and-educated managing partner of GGV Capital, based in Shanghai, will join a panel of judges for the WIT Start-Up Pitch 2013, powered by Abacus Ventures, at the 9th edition of the Web In Travel conference held at Suntec from 21-23 October 2013. 

Foo is known for his “Midas Touch” – he was ranked 11th on “The Midas List 2007” by Forbes and has been annually awarded one of “Best Venture Capitalists” by Forbes China since 2006. In 2012, he was recognized as one of the Top 10 Venture Capitalists by Zero2IPO and also named to the 2012 Venture Capital 100 by Always-On. He was one of the first to invest in Baidu when he was a director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures. He joined GGV in 2006 and the company has US$1.6 billion capital across four funds.

Today, he serves on the board of directors for Qunar, Youku-Tudou (NYSE: YOKU), Tujia, MediaV, and Douguo. He is also very actively involved with Meilishuo.com, UCWeb, AAC Technologies, Chaoli and Meihua (600873.SS).

As a venture capitalist focusing on the Internet and mobile sectors, Jixun Foo is interested in anything that disrupts and as such, he is keeping an eagle eye on mobile. He is particularly interested in travel due to the size and complexity of the industry which lends itself well to disruption. “Travel is a very interesting space. It’s huge. Everyone loves to travel. It’s fragmented. It needs sorting out,” he said.

He added “mobile first” models were particularly interesting, because consumer behaviour was changing so fast with mobile devices. “Each of us has several devices now,” Foo says, as he points to his array of gadgets. “A traveller, when he lands at a destination, needs help with knowing where to stay, what to do and what to see. Mobile devices lend themselves nicely to this need”.

As part of Foo's personal mission to nurture entrepreneurship and innovation in Singapore, he’s part of a team of angel investors that looks to help start-ups find their feet. For instance, he is on the board of Flocations, the marketplace for tour packages. 

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Notes to editors:

• To enter, startups can submit their entries at webintravel.com. The deadline for submissions is August 31.
• Interviews with the speakers mentioned may be arranged. Please contact our press relations officer at the contact details below.
  

New members of the panel of judges include Rei Kawano, Analyst with Gree Ventures, who focuses on consumer internet in South East Asia. She is currently working closely with three companies: BerryBenka – Indonesian fashion eCommerce, Luxola - Singapore-based beauty eCommerce and UrbanIndo - Indonesian real estate online market place. 

And Anurag Srivastava, Managing Partner of Jungle Ventures, an early investor in Travelmob, for which he has since exited with the acquisition by HomeAway, will also join the panel this year. 

Returning to the panel are Fritz Demopoulous, CEO of Queen’s Road Capital, and Kei Shibata, CEO of Venture Republic, Japan. Demopoulous has set up his own fund following his successful exit from Qunar which sold to Baidu and has been making investments in travel start-ups in emerging markets. Shibata, whose company recently sold its shopping comparison site, coneco.net, to Yahoo! Japan, has also set up a subsidiary in Singapore to scour for travel start-up opportunities in emerging markets.

The Competition

The judges pick from a shortlist of candidates who pitch live to conference delegates and the judging panel at the Grand Finals at the WIT Conference, October 22-23. Travel startup companies 0-3 years, are encouraged to register. They first workshop their ideas with mentors, then pitch against each other at the WIT Bootcamp on October 21, preceding the main conference. 

This year’s WIT Start-Up Pitch is powered by Abacus Ventures, which is making strategic investments in travel. Abacus Ventures director Rani Francois Marie-Saad will also a member of the judging panel.

“More names are being added to the panel. What we want is to put together a panel that represents the most astute minds in investment, entrepreneurship and e-commerce, and people who are passionate about travel. These judges also believe in coaching and mentoring start-ups,” said Yeoh Siew Hoon, editor and founder of WIT.

Success

The WIT Bootcamp in 2013 will feature a panel of the Start-Up Pitch winners of previous years. Last year’s winner, Trippiece, a social travel planning site in Japan, recently received US$2 million funding and will be expanding in Southeast Asia.