New Zealand's First Chinese Angel Fund Expands to the US

Zino Ventures kicked off the opening of its US investment arm KungHo Fund with a soft launch event in New York City headlined by leaders in global startup investment

NEW YORK, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KungHo Fund (www.kungho.com), the US branch of Zino Ventures (www.zino.co.nz), New Zealand's first Chinese angel fund, began operations in June 2022. On July 19, KungHo Fund's soft launch event was held at VillageOneArt gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan.

Zino Ventures chairman and KungHo Fund founding partner George Gong described his hope for the venture: "This new Boston-based fund helps E-commerce, edtech, and biotech startups expand their business in the US market, where we believe the most opportunity lies. We're primarily looking to invest in startups in AI, cloud computing, and big-data technology. Angel investment is not just about giving entrepreneurs more opportunities; it is also about helping investors build their networks, including forging strong relationships with future business leaders. Understanding this is important for many first-generation immigrants and expatriate investors like myself."

"We believe it's time to invest into US start-ups. Because the three traditional strengths of American innovation remain strong in the Post-Pandemic era," said Shawn Ke, KungHo Fund COO & Managing Partner. "First, America is still the world's leading source of technological innovation. And American universities still produce the most outstanding talents. Third, America remains the world's largest financial and consumer market."

Ferris Lu, managing partners at Zino Ventures, joined forces with Gong and Ke to guide the new fund.

At the event, Gong delivered a keynote speech and elucidated his vision for the new fund. His speech will be followed by a panel discussion joined by a trio of movers and shakers in global investing. In conversation with Gong, Jerry Wang, CEO of Haitou Capital, a leading platform in global investment service, Amy Liao, founder of genomics R&D lab GENEWIZ (acquired by Azenta), and Michelle Wang, co-founder and partner of Lair East Labs, an accelerator with a focus on helping startups expand internationally, shared their valuable insights with attendees. Hannah-Lee Darboe, New Zealand Trade Enterprise (NZTE) consul general and trade commissioner for New York, also participated in attendance. The event concluded with a networking session and reception.

Some of Zino Ventures and associates' backings include:

• Kami, a leading digital classroom tool with 30 million users
• WuKong Education, an online language education platform for 300,000+ overseas Chinese students
• Kernel Wealth, a leading passive investment portfolio platform in New Zealand
• Parrot Analytics, a media audience demand measurement platform capturing data from 2B+ users
• Minitable, a SaaS empowering thousands of small businesses to serve millions of customers

"In the wake of the pandemic, many challenges remain for investors, such as identifying where the opportunities lie and how to narrow their investment focus areas," said Jerry Wang, CEO of Haitou Global. "Mr. George Gong's success with Beyondsoft in China and then Zino Ventures in New Zealand is an inspiration for expatriate entrepreneurs and investors. With all my experience, I'm confident that Mr. Gong has identified key investment industries and technologies which will form a stable foundation for KungHo Fund's approach to finding the most promising companies."

Derived from the Chinese word 工合 gong he, which means "to work together," "kung ho" means "enthusiastic and energetic." With the name "KungHo Fund," the team at Zino Ventures aims to imbue their partnership with the same positive outlook and zeal for improvement as they invest in technologies for a better future.

In celebration of the new fund’s US launch, the event announced KungHo’s first NFT collection Sunrise/Sunset scheduled to launch on July 25th. Created by Kepler Mission Design, the Sunrise/Sunset collection is a limited edition of 48 artworks inspired by the unique beauty of the everchanging sunlight from the 24 time zones. From the shorelines of New Zealand to the rivers of New England, 48 breathtaking scenes of sunrise and sunset were selected from 24 iconic cities around the world. For more information and drop updates, visit https://kungho.com/sunrise-sunset/

Access link for the press kit including KungHo's logos and event photos.

KungHo Fund is an angel fund launched by Chain Reaction Group, a Zino Ventures company. The fund invests in U.S.-focused technology startups in the fields of AI for edtech, E-commerce, and biotech.

As the first Chinese angel investment fund in New Zealand, Zino Ventures (est. 2016) is on a mission to empower New Zealand technology-based seed-stage companies to succeed in the global markets. "Zino" is a combination of "sino," referring to China, and "Z" representing New Zealand, as well as the company's values: innovation, flexibility, and fortitude combined with a global mindset.

George Gong CEO & Managing Partner, KungHo Fund

Mr. George Gong is a visionary entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and business mentor with over thirty years of international business experience across various tech verticals. With deep roots in Asia, Mr. Gong's goal is to create new value for investors by helping talented entrepreneurs who have global ambitions in the information technology sector. Mr. Gong is co-founder of Beyondsoft, a publicly-traded IT service company with 26,000+ employees around the world. He is a Managing Partner of JCM (Singapore), Chairman of Zino Ventures (New Zealand), and CEO of KungHo Fund (USA).

Media Contact:
Sally Hong
[email protected]
212-775-0888

SOURCE KungHo Fund; Zino Ventures