Is Li Ka-shing a tech investment genius? The Hong Kong billionaire took early bets on Facebook, Siri, Zoom and more – now ‘Superman Li’ is reaping the rewards

Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka Shing, has made billions from shrewd investments in the tech sector. Photo: @lksfoundation/Instagram

Hong Kong business magnate and billionaire Li Ka-shing’s net worth – according to Forbes – currently hovers around the US$34 billion mark. Previously chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings, “Superman Li”, as he is known in Hong Kong, stayed on as senior adviser after retiring in May 2018.

But it’s clear that taking a step back hasn’t meant stepping out of the game. Li’s penchant for tech investments has helped him maintain his title as Hong Kong’s richest man despite his empire straining under recent pandemic pressures.

His venture capital fund, Horizons Ventures, is ramping up its start-up investments in the hopes of replicating previous successes with the likes of Facebook, Waze and Skype. The VC is run by Li’s long-time friend, Solina Chau.

Here are eight of their most noteworthy tech investments:

Zoom Video Communications Inc.

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Eric Yuan, founder of Zoom, and Li Ka-shing. Photo: SCMP

With Li owning 8.5 per cent of the California-based video conference tech company, his stake is now worth US$11 billion, making up a full third of his wealth.

Li invested in the company in 2013 and again in 2015. Since then, Zoom has seen significant growth as a result of Covid-19, thanks to social distancing measures and the closures of schools and offices. With the increased need for virtual meetings and classes, the US-listed company reported exponential sales growth in 2020’s second and third quarters, which led at one point to a US$3.2 billion boost to Li’s wealth in a single day.

MioTech

MioTech is an artificial intelligence platform for fintech start-ups. Horizons Ventures started a second funding round for this Hong Kong-based start-up at the start of 2020. The first round of funding – worth US$7 million – was raised in 2017.

Spotify

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Jonathan Forster, general manager at online music service Spotify – a Li Ka-shing-backed internet venture. Photo: SCMP

Spotify, the Swedish audio streaming and media services provider, has gone through several investment rounds since its founding in 2008. Li and Horizons were among the first to invest. In October 2008, Spotify raised US$21.6 million from Li, his VC and other investors; and another US$50 million in August 2009.

Impossible Foods

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Li Ka-shing tasting an Impossible burger next to molecular biologist Patrick Brown from Stanford University. Photo: handout

These days, plant-based “meat” is all the rage, but Horizons Ventures’ founder Solina Chau saw its potential all the way back in 2014. Impossible Foods has grown its restaurant footprint by 160 per cent since January 2020. The company’s latest series F funding comes to around US$500 million, which brings its total funding to US$1.3 billion since its establishment in 2011.

Facebook

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Facebook is just one of the household tech names in Li Ka-shing’s portfolio. Photo: DPA

Li made two investments in Facebook through his Li Ka Shing Foundation that totalled US$120 million. The move raised the billionaire’s stake in the company to 0.8 per cent.

Waze

Li’s Horizons Ventures invested US$30 million in the Israeli GPS navigation app, Waze, which went on to be bought in 2013 by Google for US$1.1 billion.

Skype

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Skype is another of the early bets on tech that have paid off handsomely for Li Ka-shing. Photo: EPA-EFE

In 2005, Horizons Ventures invested in Skype before eBay acquired the company a year later for US$2.5 billion.

Siri

The virtual assistant software is a spin-off from the SRI International’s Artificial Intelligence Centre, co-founded in 2007 by Dag Kittlaus, Tom Gruber, Adam Cheyer and Norman Winarsky. Li invested US$7.5 million in Siri in 2009. A year later it was acquired by Apple.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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