Taiwan Tech Arena Invites 8 Influential Silicon Valley Investors to Judge the GEC+ Taipei 2018 Startup Pitch Program

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 3 October 2018 – Taiwan’s
Ministry of Science and Technology held the “GEC+ Taipei 2018 Startup Pitch
Program” at the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), Taipei. The program exposed TTA and
the Taiwan tech-startup teams to the globe.

Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) host interviews with 8 influential investors to discuss the future of Taiwan’s startups from the perspective of Silicon Valley veterans.�(From the left to right: Mr. Alfred Mandel, Mr. Allen May, Ms. Lucy Lu, Ms. Gloria Maceiko, Mr. Suresh Pai)

8 Influential
Silicon Valley Investors to Link Taiwan Startups to the Globe

 

After spending more than 20 years
in the valley, these mentors have achieved exceptional accomplishments in the
fields of life sciences, internet of things (IoT), semiconductors, and green
energy.  In a series of interviews, they
share their insights on how to nurture talent and enable Taiwanese startups to
go global.

 

Allan May has been involved as a
founder or chairman of more than 80 MedTech, biotech, and diagnostic
startups.  His renowned early-stage
investment group, Life Science Angels (LSA), was named the top U.S. angel
investment group with more than 60 million USD invested. In his interview, he
touched upon the importance of future innovation in business models and the
lean startup methodology. When asked about the role of government, he said, “Every
technology converges in healthcare. Data technology, AI, genomics…the global
winners will be made in medical technology, and this is a good place for
government involvement.”

 

Gloria Maceiko, a serial entrepreneur,
has more than 25 years of experience in Silicon Valley’s high-tech companies
and has yielded an impressive track record in recognizing new trends, such as
the predecessors of iPhone and Facebook. As a mentor, she believes that a big
part of creating future opportunities for Taiwanese startups is the
government’s role in supporting an ecosystem. She said that, “Inviting people
from other successful regions to expose [to] the Taiwanese startups and finding
and supporting startups with grants, is always a great start because without money, few things happen. [That’s why]
initial funding from government is
extremely important.”

 

Hatim Chraibi, cofounder, CEO and managing director in North
America of SPIRE Bioventures, is another mentor with over 18 years of
experience in the global medical device industry.  He’s adept at identifying the needs of key
opinion leaders and development teams as evidenced by his major contributions
in building global organizations. During his visit to Taiwan, he hopes to
interact with Taiwanese entrepreneurs and assist talented teams to succeed on the
international stage.

 

Alfred J. Mandel has offered marketing and
management related consulting services to 50 top global corporations. He
founded Tenex Medical Investors which went on to become the largest health and
life sciences angel capital firm in the United States.

 

Silicon
Valley to Inject Capital into Taiwan Startups for New Opportunities

 

With over 30 years of experience
in the biotech industry, Lucy Lu has led
the global company Roche Diagnostics as Vice President of Technology Management
and Head of the U.S. CTO. She now serves as a
board member of Life Science Angels (LSA)in San Francisco. She emphasized the
importance of networking, brainstorming, and the role of incubators to
facilitate this interaction as in LSA where, “when we have a question we don’t
understand, in a couple of phone calls we can find someone to talk to.”

 

Suresh Pai is an entrepreneur and angel investor in
medical devices. He serves as principal at LamaMed Solutions and heads a
Silicon Valley startup incubator by investing aggressively and promoting
external cooperation in product development of medical technologies. In his first visit to Taiwan,
he expressed eagerness to meet startup teams, understand their technology, forge
partnerships, and find resources.

 

The final two SV mentors include
Dr. Kengatharan, currently CEO of Auxesia Orion and managing partner at
Atheneos Ventures. The latter is an evergreen healthcare incubator fund focused
on opportunities in orphan drugs and rare diseases. Mr. Xavier Sansó Mata is a
founding partner at Metrix Partners, a boutique finance advisory; he also acts
as advisor in biotech and drug companies. As SV mentors, they both look forward
to participate in GEC+ Taipei and speak to many of Taiwan’s best startups.

 

Teaming
Up with Elite Silicon Valley Mentors tonvision a Startup Future for Taiwan

 

The Global Startup ecosystem believes that
nurturing early stage startups can significantly influence the startups’
potential growth. Therefore, TTA attempts to act as a platform that brings
together entrepreneurial resources from Taiwan and abroad, and aims to further
engage acceleration resources, talent and funds from all over the world.

 

TTA invited Taiwan’s best
startups to meet 1-on-1 with the eight Silicon Valley investors. As a
technology startup resource and information exchange platform, TTA invited
global partners to not only to participate in the startup pitch program, but
also to have in-depth discussions with Taiwanese startup teams at the Taiwan
Night hosted by TTA.

 

Further information: Visit Taiwan Tech Arena’s (TTA)
official website.