tencent
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Tencent WeStart put a production studio inside the startup office
In Hong Kong, Tencent WeStart brought desks, recording rooms and corporate introductions under one roof. Its bet: digital entrepreneurs need somewhere to make the work, and someone who can help it travel.
Tencent turned a chat window into a business empire
Weixin and WeChat reach 1.439 billion monthly active accounts. Tencent’s bet is that the same network can keep selling games, move money and give AI a paying audience.
Pocket Gems
Pocket Gems is a San Francisco mobile-games studio behind hits like War Dragons and Episode - Choose Your Story. Founded in 2009 by Daniel Terry and Harlan Crystal above a pizza shop while Terry was still at Stanford, the company builds AAA-quality mobile games and a Hollywood-grade interactive storytelling platform, powered by its proprietary mobile-first Mantis Engine and backed by Sequoia Capital and Tencent.
Ben Liu
Ben Liu is the CEO of Pocket Gems, a San Francisco-based mobile entertainment company backed by Tencent and Sequoia Capital. After joining as COO in 2011 and becoming CEO in 2012, he has led the company's flagship titles — the interactive storytelling platform Episode (with 25 million+ registered creators) and the real-time 3D strategy game War Dragons — while overseeing $155 million in total fundraising, mostly from Tencent. A Stanford double-degree and MBA graduate, Liu brings a rare hybrid background spanning investment banking, Disney strategy, EA mobile product management, and social gaming before betting on the mobile-first future of entertainment.
Jonathan Lai
Jonathan Lai is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) where he leads the Speedrun investment program and the Games vertical. A Harvard-trained economist turned product manager turned VC, he built his career arc through Morgan Stanley's investment banking floors, Riot Games' League of Legends product team, Dots (acquired by Take-Two for $192M), and Tencent's North America investments desk before landing at a16z. His investment thesis sits at the intersection of AI and creative technology - believing that the same retention-loop design principles that made League of Legends the world's most-played PC game are now reshaping enterprise software, fintech, and the next generation of AI-native consumer apps.