Henry Wong
From venture capitalist to serial entrepreneur.
Profile
Henry Wong has been working and residing in China, Canada and Silicon Valley for the past 30 years. From venture capitalist to a serial entrepreneur , Wong is in a unique position where he can fully utilize his operational experience, investment talent and his heritage to invest in and build companies with a global vision.
Current work
Diamond TechVentures LLC was originally started as an investment vehicle for the Wong family trust fund. Wong enjoyed successful investment exits from the sales of Packet Island to Broadsoft, STEP Communications to Dolby Lab, and NextG to a PE Group, and then from IPO to New Oriental Education & Technology Group, and the merger of LGC Wireless with ADC Telecom.
Concurrently while operating his own family trust, Wong is a Venture Partner for Garage Technology Ventures, where he uses his cross-Pacific operating experience to help the portfolio companies to be successful. Garage reviews 10,000 deals a year, the place where Wong obtains some of his deal flows.
Founded by the famed Apple Evangelist Guy Kawasaki, Garage Technology Ventures assigns Wong to sit on the board of multiple portfolio companies, both as a board member, observer and advisor, including Packet Island, STEP Communications, dLight Design Systems, ThermoCeramics, QuMu Media Publisher, RAZZ and any activities that have to interface with engineering and manufacturing outsource in China and Asia Pacific.
Heavily involved with the Cross-Pacific high tech trade, in 1999 Wong set up the SS8 China Headquarters in Beijing, even before WTO was established. In Crystal Ventures, he invested in SMIC in Shanghai, the second largest silicon foundry in the world. Now he is helping companies from both shores to advance in their sales revenue : and company infrastructure setup; ultimately, an exit plan of IPO or M&A.
Wong is a volunteer advisor to six Asian non-profit organisations, and is active in the local Asian American community.
Previous experience
Director: In his prior cross-Pacific venture capital career, Henry Wong was Managing Director of Crystal Ventures Fund III, and active with portfolio companies including LGC Wireless, an intelligent wireless repeater company, Infinera, a digital optical networking company and Exavio, a video-on-demand company. He initiated the investment of US$5M into Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the biggest China Shanghai Pudong Silicon Foundry, which went IPO in 2004.
Fund Raising: Henry gained his Limited Partner investors’ experience from fundraising for Crystal Ventures, Diamond TechVentures and Garage Technology Ventures LLC. During his fund raising effort, Wong also interfaced with Cambridge Associates, Hamilton Lane & CalPERS. Preparing the private placement memorandum (PPM) and due diligence effort were a positive experience for Wong.
Start Ups: Wong has the passion in helping startups to be successful by either serving on the board or acting as an advisor. Wong is also a Limited Partner Investor in several VC Funds, including Garage, Gabriel Venture Partners & ONSET Ventures.
Investment: Wong has been extremely successful in investing in his own ideas, then taking companies from start-up status to maturity. The profits speak for themselves. A seasoned angel investor and entrepreneur, Wong has succeeded as the founder, Chairman and CEO of SS8 Networks Inc., a world class startup with major R&D operations in Beijing and Ottawa which in 2002 merged with the Enhanced Service Division of ADC Telecom. He was the co-founder of IP Communications, a VoIP Gateway startup which was acquired by RampNet, now a division of Nokia (NASDAQ NOK), the co-founder, Chairman, President and CEO of XaQti Corporation, which merged with Vitesse Semiconductor (a S&P 500, Nasdaq VTSS), and was the co-founder of CNet Technology Inc., now a multi-million dollar public network hardware company in Taiwan. In 1988 he founded Combinet (ISDN Systems), which was sold to Cisco Systems (NASDAQ CSCO) in a pooling of interest stock swap valued at $165 million. His success, experience and leadership are invaluable in his role as an angel investor and serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.
Awards: In 2002, Henry Wong was nominated, interviewed and was a finalist in the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, sponsored by Ernst & Young, CNN, CNN-fn, Nasdaq, USA Today, Kauffman Center and AMEX.
Education: He received a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration (Major in Finance and Minor in Marketing) from University of Utah 1980, and a MBA in Telecom Management from Golden Gate University in 1983. He is also a Mentor in the Stanford Graduate School of Business GSB S-356 MBA Program, and a Team Mentor in the Technology Venture Formation course MS&E 273 at Stanford’s School of Engineering.
