John Hsin and Kuantai Yeh Bring Deep China Investment Expertise; Firm Continues Global Expansion
SHANGHAI, China and LEXINGTON, Mass., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm celebrating its 20th year of helping great people build great companies, today announced that John Hsin and Kuantai Yeh have joined the firm as Managing Directors. The new Shanghai-based team members bring an in-depth understanding of local market dynamics along with extensive experience in investing and growing successful companies in China.
Hsin and Yeh will be joining Chuan Thor in Highland's Shanghai office. Highland has been directly investing in China since 2006. The firm's current portfolio includes such companies as UUSee (Internet TV and interactive broadcasting service operator), Qihoo (search solution provider for Internet and mobile platforms) and NetentSec (Internet security provider).
"China is increasingly leading the way globally," said Dan Nova, General Partner at Highland. "John and Kuantai are terrific additions to our China team as we continue to further grow our presence in the region. They will be instrumental in advancing our efforts to partner with exceptional Chinese entrepreneurs and management teams to build tomorrow's market-leading companies. In addition, John and Kuantai will be valuable resources to our North American and European companies that are expanding to China."
Hsin and Yeh are joining Highland from Intel Capital China, where they specialized in the Internet, media and technology sectors. While at Intel, they drove the firm's investments in 51.com, Adsit Media, BCD, Chipsbrand, DAC, Incesoft, LuckyPai, Montage Technology, Palm Commerce, Winking Entertainment, Verisilicon and Yeepay.
Prior to Intel, Hsin was the Asia-based Partner for Crystal Ventures,
where he co-led the firm's investments in PowerBridge Tech and SMIC. Earlier
in his career, Hsin was one of founding employees of Rebound Int'l (a B2B
exchange for excess inventory in international trades) and also served as an
investment manager at Walden International, where he co-led the firm's
investments in About.com, Looksmart, and SINA. Previously, he was an
investment banker at Morgan Stanley in New York and Hong Kong. Hsin holds a
B.S. in Physics from
"With a deep bench and global footprint, Highland delivers an unrivalled platform for growing ideas and companies into market leaders," stated John Hsin. "I'm very excited to join the team and contribute to Highland's outstanding track-record in building great companies in China."
Before Highland, Yeh was Managing Director and Chief Representative at
Intel China Capital. Prior to Intel, Yeh was an investment banker at Credit
Suisse First Boston based in Hong Kong, where he led the non-Japan Asia
Technology Investment Banking business for local technology companies. Some
of the notable China deals led by Yeh during this period include the Initial
Public Offerings for SMIC and Linktone, securing convertible bonds for Sina
and Netease and a private placement for China Netcom. Earlier in his career,
Yeh worked at Cypress Semiconductors in various engineering roles. He has
earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Material Science, a M.Eng in
Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A., all from
"China is an exciting market, with a large pool of highly talented entrepreneurs offering tremendous opportunities," added Kuantai Yeh. "I am eager to apply Highland's extensive industry expertise and resources to help the very best organizations become successful and sustainable companies."
About Highland Capital Partners
Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies. Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional communications, consumer, digital media, healthcare and information technology companies. With over $3 billion of committed capital and offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, Shanghai and Geneva, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Continental Cable, Helicos BioSciences, lululemon athletica, Lycos, MapQuest, Navic Networks, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, P.A. Semi, Quigo, Starent Networks, Sybase, Telica and VistaPrint. For more information, visit Highland's web site at http://www.hcp.com.
SOURCE Highland Capital Partners
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