海银资本：在中国制造业和美国科技创业公司之间搭桥铺路

    周末，美国最有前景的十几家高科技企业来北京展开了为期一周的商务考察。这次中国之旅可能代表着中美科技合作的未来。

    组织这次活动的是中国风投公司海银资本。该公司刚刚完成了规模5000万美元的第三只基金配置，投资对象大多是美国初创型科技公司，比如设在旧金山湾区的清洁能源存储公司光帆能源、波士顿近郊的光伏企业1366 technologies、位于加州莫哈维沙漠的私营宇航公司XCOR Aerospace，以及在多地设有办事处的众筹企业AngelList。

    参加本次活动的创业者大多得到过海银资本的融资支持。光帆能源的联合创始人兼首席科学家丹妮尔•方已经启程前往北京，该公司的另一位创始人兼首席执行官史蒂夫•克兰晚些出发。1366 technologies的首席执行官弗兰克•范•米尔洛也已动身。

    他们将从北京出发，走访杭州和广州的制造业基地，并与当地商界和政界人士会面。同时，银海资本将安排他们参加针对创业者的活动，部分创业者还将向银海资本的业务伙伴介绍情况。比如说，本周XCOR Aerospace将在北京测试它的航天技术。

    如果不是为了炫耀自己投资了哪些公司，海银资本安排这一切又是为了什么？本次活动凸显了该公司的投资宗旨，那就是从美国引进一些较先进的高科技知识产权，并帮助创业者跟中国方面密切合作，以便进入生产和市场部署环节。

    如果这些美国公司能借中方合作伙伴的力量部署自己的技术并达到商业化规模，那就可能意味着这些初创企业的估值将上升，而且有望让它们成为中国企业的重要客户和生意伙伴。许多中国制造企业都在进行创新并尝试新的生产方式。这些新方式具有更明显的模块化特征，规模更小（但依然效率十足，成本较低）。中国地方政府对建立制造业基地也有很大的兴趣，而且希望能通过这样的基地孕育出更灵活的创新。

    海银资本的创始管理合伙人王煜全以独特的方式把中美两国科技界联系在了一起。在职业生涯之初，王煜全曾和弗若斯特沙利文咨询公司合作，以顾问身份帮助在业内几乎默默无闻的中国移动，使其成长为如今的移动互联网市场巨无霸。他投资中美初创科技公司已有大约10年。

    王煜全在接受《财富》杂志采访时表示，美国有许多前途光明的新生代初创企业，他们能制造非常精密的高科技产品，但难以批量生产。小型初创企业只停留在研发阶段时估值较低，无法筹集到迈上新台阶所需的大笔资金。但它们往往需要一大笔投资，以便实现大规模生产并进入广阔的国际市场，这最终将大幅提升它们的价值。王煜全说：“这就像先有鸡还是先有蛋的问题。”

    海银资本希望能拉近双方的距离。王煜全将中国制造企业和美国科技公司联手称为“搭积木创新”。这种创新更像是搭乐高积木，不像在实验室发明创造。王煜全的说法是：“搭在一起，它们就能发挥作用。”

    光帆能源CEO克兰指出，由于该公司仍处在研发阶段，到目前为止都几乎没有和中国企业接触，本次考察对他们来说基本上是初步了解情况，也可以熟悉中国的电力存储市场。现在，光帆能源不打算局限于研发阶段，已经开始在中国寻找制造伙伴、客户和投资者。克兰说：“如果中国成为我们最大的市场，我一点也不会感到意外。”

    Dozens of some of the most promising high tech entrepreneurs in the U.S. are headed to Beijing over the next day or two for a weeklong trip that could represent the future of U.S.-China technology cooperation.

    The trip is organized by Chinese venture capital firmHaiyin Capital, which just finished dispersing its third fund of $50 million into mostly U.S. tech startups like energy storage startup LightSail Energy, based in the Bay Area, solar tech startup 1366 technologies, located just outside of Boston, private space flight company XCOR Aerospace, in Mojave, Calif., and crowdfunding company AngelList(distributed offices).

    The attendees on the trip are mostly entrepreneurs that Haiyin Capital has funded. LightSail Energy‘s co-founder and chief scientist Danielle Fong is already on her way there; LightSailco-founder and CEO Steve Crane leaves today. Frank van Mierlo, the CEO of 1366, is also en route.

    The group will start in Beijing, and tour through the manufacturing regions of Hangzhou and Guangzhou, meeting with local businessmen and government officials along the way. They’ll also attend entrepreneur-focused events that Haiyin has organized, some of them giving talks to Haiyin’s network like one next week in Beijing by a test pilot of XCOR’s private space tech.

    What’s the purpose of all this, other than to show off Haiyin’s portfolio? The trip underlies the venture firm’s investing thesis: Take some of the more daring high tech intellectual property in the U.S. and help the entrepreneurs work closely with China to develop their manufacturing and deployment chops.

    If the companies can deploy and scale their technologies commercially through Chinese partners it could mean higher valuations for the startups, and could turn the companies into important customers and partners for local Chinese business executives. Many of these Chinese manufacturers are innovating and trying new types of production that are more modular and at smaller scale (but still efficient and low cost). Chinese local governments are also highly interested in establishing Chinese manufacturing regions as a place where more nimble innovation can happen.

    Haiyin Capital founding managing partner Yuquan Wang (pronounced “Yee-chwan”) uniquely straddles the U.S. and Chinese tech worlds; he teamed up with consulting firm Frost & Sullivan early on in his career and as a consultant helped China Mobile grow from almost nothing to the mobile juggernaut it is today. He started investing in both Chinese and U.S. tech startups about a decade ago.

    Wang told Fortune in an interview that there are many promising young startups in the U.S. that can make really complicated high tech products, but have a problem reaching mass production. When startups are small and only at the R&D stage, their valuation is small and the big capital they need to get to the next level can’t be raised, he says. But they often need a big investment to reach that large manufacturing scale and to reach a big global market, which will eventually lead to a much bigger valuation. “It’s like a chicken-and-egg problem,” says Wang.

    Haiyin is hoping to help ease the gap between those book ends. He calls connecting Chinese manufacturing entrepreneurs with U.S. tech entrepreneurs “building block innovation.” It’s innovation more like a Lego than a lab: “Plug it in and it works,” says Wang.

   LightSail Energy’s Crane says because the company has been in the R&D stage, it has had very little contact with China to date, so the trip for them is largely introductory and a way for them to learn about the market for energy storage in China. But now that LightSail is looking to move past the R&D phase, they’re looking for manufacturing partners, customers, and investors in China. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if China turns out to be our biggest market,” says Crane.