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Min Wanli had a long-awaited career path for those seeking a career in computer science. A genius, Min was accepted by one of Chinas top research universities at the age of 14. After that, I got a PhD. After earning a degree in Physics and Statistics from the University of Chicago, he spent about 10 years at IBM and Google.

Like many young and ambitious Chinese scientists working in the United States, Min returned to China when the countrys Internet boom began in the early 2010s. He joins Alibabas new cloud division and applies the technology to industrial scenarios, including using visual identification to reduce highway traffic and using computing power to improve factory efficiency. I was at the forefront.

And in July 2019, Min made a leap. He has resigned from Alibaba Cloud, a major growth driver for e-commerce Goliath and then Chinas largest public cloud infrastructure provider (and still does).With no investment experience, he started a new venture capital company called North Summit Capital..

Many companies were quite skeptical ofdigital transformationaround 2016 and 2017.But by 2019 after seeing the best practices [from Alibaba Cloud], They were no longer questioning its viability, Min said in his office overlooking a cluster of urban villages and high-rise offices in Shenzhen. Wearing an ironed light blue shirt, he spoke with a serious childlike smile.

Suddenly everyone wanted digitalization, but how would a team of 400-500 people meet their needs?

Mins solution was not to serve traditional factories and businesses on their own, but to fund and support many companies to do so. Shortly after, he closed the first fund of the North Summit for hundreds of millions of dollars from the undisclosed wealthy in the United Arab Emirates, whom he met on behalf of Alibaba in 2018.

Venture capital is like a magnifying glass that allows me to connect with many tech companies and share lessons from the past, so they can collaborate quickly and effectively with clients in traditional industries. Min said.

For example, discuss with your portfolio company whether you should focus first on selling hardware or software, or give it the same weight.

Min strives to be deeply involved in the companies he supports. The North Summit invested early and check sizes to date range from approximately $ 5 million to $ 25 million.Min also started a technical services company called Quadtalent To provide post-investment support for his portfolio.

Photo: Shenzhen North Summit Capital Office

The traditional industry is so complex and fragmented that the concept of digital transformation is vague and daunting for many investors. However, Min has a list of criteria that can help him narrow down his target.

First, the investable area must be data-intensive. For example, subway tracks can benefit from implementing a large number of sensors that monitor the status of rail systems. Second, local manufacturing or business processes need to be capital intensive, such as production lines that use exorbitant equipment. And finally, the industry needs to rely heavily on repetitive human experience, such as police directing traffic.

Solving industrial problems requires not only the founders computing ingenuity, but more importantly, experience in the traditional sector. Thats why Min goes beyond the computer science wizard Ivory Tower when looking for an entrepreneur.

What we need today is a type of interdisciplinary talent that can perform composite algorithms. That means understanding sensor signals, business rationale, manufacturing, and computer algorithms. Applying a neural network through an algorithms black box without other factors is simply useless.

Min faces enough competition as investors hunt down the next ABB, Schneider, or Siemens in China. The country is moving towards technological independence in all aspects of its economy, and as COVID-19 disrupts the worlds supply chain, its mission takes on new urgency. As a result, startups marketing industrial upgrade solutions have skyrocketed in reputation, Min said.

But factory bosses dont care if the automation solution provider is a vulnerable or a startup unicorn. After all, the CFO of the factory just asks, How much money does this software or equipment spend to save or make money?

Investors are cautious about developing his virgin fund.Two years after the start of operation, the North Summit Closed 4 transactions: TopScore, a 17-year-old shoe maker that employs automation. Lingumi is a London-based English learning app for preschool children in China. Aerodyne, Malaysian drone service provider. Extreme Vision is a market that connects small businesses to affordable AI vision solutions.

This year, the North Summit aims to invest nearly $ 100 million in companies in China and abroad. Optical storage and robotic process automation (RPA) are just two areas that have recently received Mins attention.

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