From Boston to Shanghai: Clark Soucy, MBA ’18, Interns at Panda Capital
Over the summer of 2017, Clark Soucy (MBA ’18) interned in Shanghai at a Chinese Venture Capital Fund, Panda Capital. Before enrolling at Boston University, he worked in Shanghai for three years at a Chinese Airline so he was excited to return to China for the summer. This internship gave him the opportunity to engage with the rapidly growing Chinese startup ecosystem and learn about the latest trends in Chinese business.
Shanghai, Beijing and many other Chinese cities are home to a rising number of startups with numerous local and overseas investment funds providing capital. The venture capital industry in China has a very similar model to that of the United States: VCs raise funds from investors which they then use to purchase equity stakes in new companies. The VC will then sell the equity holdings later to another investor or sell them during an initial public offering. Normally VC funds have a life span of 8-10 years as the funds sometimes need additional time to liquidate their holdings because some of the companies in their investment portfolio do not have an initial public offering.
Panda Capital was founded in 2015 and the fund’s investment portfolio currently spans online consumer finance, peer-to-peer car rental, bike sharing, and other sectors. Clark’s responsibility as an intern was to assist the fund founders evaluate potential investment projects. In practice, this meant conducting due diligence and market research on many of the prospective businesses the fund was looking to invest in as well as creating financial models to project a range for the expected return on investment.
While interning at the fund, Clark met many portfolio CEOs as well as entrepreneurs seeking funding for their new ventures. He personally tested many of the products and services offered by these companies, giving him insights into new commercial strategies and a new mindset for analyzing investment opportunities.
He also used his time interning at the fund to improve his ability to use Chinese to conduct business. The fund only invests in domestic companies so all of the meetings and presentations he attended were entirely in Chinese; He also used Chinese to communicate with his colleagues and conduct research. Clark plans to return to China to work after graduation so interning for Panda Capital was excellent preparation for his post-MBA career.