WUZHEN, China — The head of Sequoia Capital's China affiliate said Thursday there are still big opportunities for growth in the country's digital economy, contrary to many concerns about a slowdown.
"As an investment firm enthusiastically participating in China's information industry, we still think the Chinese Internet sector has good prospects," Neil Shen, founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, said at a press event at the World Internet Conference, according to a CNBC translation. "Every year, our investment size and pace has been increasing."
Shen also said he believes the consumer-oriented internet still has a very big opportunity for future development, and that the industrial-oriented internet will develop quickly, especially with the support of artificial intelligence.
Sequoia is an investor in China's largest technology companies, including e-commerce giant Alibaba, ride-hailing company Didi and Meituan Dianping, which went public in Hong Kong this year. Shen is also a co-founder of Chinese tourism booking site Ctrip.com.
Many worry China's burgeoning technology industry will be hit by a national economic slowdown. Some recent data reports have been soft, adding to concerns that increasing trade tensions with the U.S. will cause growth to slow even further. Beijing, for its part, has announced a slew of policy measures in the last few months to support the economy.
Shen, however, pushed back Thursday against concerns about trade tensions and a cold spell for the Chinese tech sector.
"My sense is the digital economy is something unique to China," he said. "I don't think it will be affected that much by a U.S.-China trade war."