‘Tip of the spear:’ Venture capitalist says Chinese tech companies are just starting to go global

‘Tip of the spear:’ Venture capitalist says Chinese tech companies are just starting to go global

GUANGZHOU, China — Chinese technology companies are considering expanding overseas much earlier in their lifecycles, a venture capitalist told CNBC — marking a shift in attitude among firms in the world's second-largest economy. That shift has been prompted in part by China's tighter regulatory scrutiny on technology as well competitive pressure in certain sectors, according to Ben Harburg, managing partner at venture capital firm MSA Capital. "It's also forcing Chinese companies much earlier in their lifecycle to think about going global," Harburg said at CNBC's annual East Tech West conference in Nansha, south China. Harburg said that a few years ago, his venture capital firm was working with social media or cross-border e-commerce companies that were more mature. But today, early-stage companies in sectors from artificial intelligence to health care are going global or "thinking about plotting their globalization strategy," he said. Such Chinese firms could find that their business models work in emerging markets, in particular, Harburg said. "Our view was that Chinese business models are global best practices, especially for emerging markets, because the way that Chinese consumers have evolved with technology is much more reminiscent of the way the next wave of consumers in India and Pakistan