Ex-JP Morgan China president joins local VC firm
Brett Krause, former president of J.P. Morgan Chase China, has joined PurpleSky Capital as managing partner with a view to helping the local early-stage VC firm launch a debut US dollar-denominated fund.
In preparation for the fundraising process, he will help expand the GP's professional team and institutionalize its investment platform. "My role is to take PurpleSky's business and its portfolio companies to the next level of development," Krause told AVCJ.
PurpleSkywas founded in 2011 by Chinese entrepreneur and angel investor Scott Cheng, whom Krause first met more than 20 years ago as a classmate at Columbia Business School. It was previously known as Buttonwood Capital. Rebranding the business was one of Krause's first moves; the firm's Chinese name is "Zi Hui Chuang Tou."
PurpleSky has invested more than $100 million in 50 Chinese start-ups since its inception, typically focusing on seed to Series A rounds across mobile internet, software-as-a-service, e-commerce, internet gaming and other high-tech areas.
Cheng's notable successes include being the sole angel investor in Momo, a Chinese mobile dating app which went public in the US in December 2015. He has also backed video-streaming app Inke, smart phone manufacturer Smartisan Technology and smart keyboard app TouchPal.
Although there is no shortage of domestic funding, there are questions as to its sustainability and investors' long-term perspective, according to Krause. An institutionalized US dollar fund would allow the firm to participate in more follow-on rounds for the portfolio companies.
Krause joined J.P. Morgan in China two years ago, and became president of its locally-incorporated bank division. Prior to that, he served as head of Citibank in Vietnam, having previously spent six and-a-half years with Citibank in China.
"China's entrepreneurial culture, coupled with the transformative technologies that are spreading across the globe, makes angel and early-stage venture capital investing here one of the greatest opportunities of our generation," Krause said in a release.
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