As late as 2007, we seldom see an Israeli startup invested in Chinese Internet firm. It seems that Koolanoo Group was the first that saw the huge Web 2.0 opportunities in China. Koolanoo Group, with its Headquarter set up in Beijing, China, was a startup jointly funded by its founder O.D. Kobo and Giza Venture Capital. Today I read a news (in Mandarin) from China that reported Koolanoo has invested $3 million in a Chinese social networking site that called 360Quan. Furthermore, they also planned to increase the staff base from 40 to 100 people by January next year. An interesting fact is this the founder of Koolanoo, Mr. O.D. Kobo was born in China, maybe because of this, he undertook this initiative to penetrate the China market.

In matter of fact, this strategic partnership was first reported through the official blog entry of Giza Venture Capital. Apparently, Koolanoo want to have a chunk of market share in China’s Internet industry and even believed the sky is the limit for that market. Nevertheless, I hope this is not the only one example of the Israeli venture capitalist or the startup forming link with strategic partner in Asian countries.