The Family in China

European Straits #45

Dear all,

I’m about to spend a week in Shanghai, China. The trip is part of my work as an affiliated professor at Sciences Po's School of Public Affairs , which has a partnership with Fudan University's School of International Relations & Public Affairs.

Most of my time in Shanghai will be dedicated to meetings and discussions with Fudan’s representatives and students, so as to strengthen the partnership and prepare work on issues of shared interest. But since it’s my first trip to Mainland China (I know Hong Kong, but not the rest of the country), I’ll also use the opportunity to try and learn more about the Chinese digital economy.

A question I and my partners have is what interests does The Family have in China? We’re a pan-European firm, so almost all of our portfolio is European startups (although we’ve made a few opportunistic investments in US companies, including Stripe).

But I can’t really fathom the idea that there’s nothing to draw from a country that is, after all, bound to do…