Kelvin Wu

Kelvin Wu King Shiu
Alma mater	Ying Wa College Chinese University of Hong Kong Osaka University
Occupation	Co-founder and Chairman of AID Partners Capital Holding Ltd

Kelvin Wu King Shiu (Traditional Chinese:胡 景邵) is a Hong Kong financier and entrepreneur. He is the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of AID Partners Technology Holding Ltd.,^[1] an asset management and strategic investment company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Prior to founding AID Partners, Wu was the President of Investec Asia, a subsidiary of Investec Bank (UK) in Asia and Managing Director of China Everbright Capital Ltd.

Wu is currently the director of board of China 3D Digital Entertainment Ltd (8078.hk), HMV Asia, Shunwei Capital Partners (venture capital firm founded by Leijun, Chairman of Xiaomi Technology), Brave Entertainment Co in South Korea, and Kabushiki Kaisha Hyakusen Renma in Japan.

Personally, Wu served on the board of governors of ChuHai College, and funded i-Future Teens (an education charity for low-income family children in Hong Kong) and is a donor to the startup incubation center in CUHK.

Education and early career

Wu received his bachelor degree in business administration from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a post graduate diploma from Osaka University, Japan.

After Osaka University, Wu joined Hong Kong Trade Development Council in 1994. Then, he started his investment banking career at BNP Prime Peregrine Capital in 1996, where he structured, sponsored and underwrote a series of IPOs for Chinese provincial and ministerial government’s off-shore holding companies and internet & technology companies, such as Tom.com, Sega.com, and e-newmedia etc. He later on joined Sega.com as its Chief Operating Officer and Director of Core Pacific-Yamaichi Capital Ltd.

In 2003, Wu became the Managing Director of China Everbright Capital Ltd and built its Investment Banking and Private Equity divisions. In 2005, Wu was appointed by Investec Bank as the President of Investec Asia, where he ran the company's direct investment business.

Pan-entertainment platform

In late 2007, Wu founded his private equity fund AID Partners I with the investment from a group of prominent financial institutions, including C.V. Starr & Co. run by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg (former Chairman of AIG) and Investec Bank.

In 2008, AID Partners I, together with Orange Sky Entertainment, acquired the legendary film production company Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment,^[2] which introduced Bruce Lee & Jackie Chan to the Western audiences in 70s and 80s. Wu was subsequently appointed as CEO and spearheaded the turnaround of the company, including opening over 50 cinemas in China.

In 2011, AID Partners I led the investment in Legendary Pictures,^[3] which produced The Hangover, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception and 300 franchises. He also co-founded a joint venture Legendary East and became its first CEO.

In 2013, AID Partners I invested and formed a China joint-venture with Prime Focus-Double Negative,^[4] the leading 3D conversion & VFX company who has received multiple awards for films such as Harry Porter series, Iron Man, Insterstellar, and X-men series and Godzilla.

In the same year, Wu acquired all the HMV outlets in Hong Kong & Singapore as well as the right to operate in China from the bankrupt music retail chain HMV.^[5] Under Wu's leadership, HMV was re-positioned as a contemporary lifestyle house, tapping into Korean artist management, F&B, live events, vinyl trading, online music streaming, as well as brand incubation. In 2014, HMV opened a 2-floors new store in Central, Hong Kong with O2O concepts. In 2015, HMV opened a 40,000 square feet Flagship Store in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong with Brooklyn-like design.^[6] In 2016, Wu introduced WiL fund, one of the biggest Japanese venture capital firms, to invest HKD $70 million in HMV Asia. Later on, AID Partners sold HMV to China 3D Digital (8078.hk),^[7] a pioneering media and entertainment company listed in Hong Kong, and became its single largest shareholder. The strategic transaction allows Wu to own one of the very few pan-entertainment platforms in Asia, with businesses across film productions (with iQiyi, the largest online video site in PRC), local film distribution, cinema operations in PRC, artists management and lifestyle retail.

Technology investment and roll-out

Since the investment in Prime Focus World-Double Negative, the pioneering 3D conversion & VFX company, Wu has been actively investing and operating Internet and technology companies. In 2014, AID Partners acquired Star Girl,^[8] world's first female-oriented RPG mobile game with over 50 million downloads globally. In 2015, AID Partners expands its portfolio in mobile game by acquiring Vsoyou, a RPC based game distribution platform with over 80 million downloads. With the resources from AID, the company grew from a 20 people startup into a leading game distributors with over 150 employees in a year.

In May 2016, Wu announced a name change of his listed investment firm from AID Partners Capital to AID Partners Technology, to focus investing in world-class Robotics, Virtual Reality (VR) / Mixed Reality (MR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Healthcare technology and becoming a partner of the commercial roll out in Asia for his investees. In the same month, Wu announced an investment of USD 30 million in ZOOX,^[9] a Bay Area based robotic companies who develops Level 4 autonomous driving fleet for Uber-like service, along with a group of top-tier VCs and investors.

Currently, AID Partners has 13 offices and venture partners across the world, including Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Singapore.

Notes

1. "Company Overview of AID Partners Capital Limited", Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved on 28 October 2014.
2. "Golden Harvest". www.osgh.com.hk. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
3. "Legendary East Raises $220.5 Million Through Investment From Paul Y. Engineering Group". Retrieved 2016-07-13.
4. Badrinath, Raghuvir. "AID Partners Capital picks up stake in Prime Focus World". Retrieved 2016-07-13.
5. Robinson, Duncan (2013-02-28). "Sports Direct buys Republic". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
6. "HMV reinvented: live music, bar, restaurant and more at new Causeway Bay store". Retrieved 2016-07-13.
7. "China 3D Digital Forms Strategic Alliance with AID Partners and Acquires 81.63% of HMV at a Consideration of HK$408 Million - China Money Network - Daily News on China's Private Equity, Hedge Funds, and Venture Capital Industry". China Money Network. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
8. "滙友資本 AID PARTNERS - Free Real Time Stock Quote- Economics News- ET Net". www.etnet.com.hk. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
9. Ramsey, Mike (2016-05-27). "Silicon Valley Driverless-Car Startup Raises Fresh Capital". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-07-13.