Chinese hi-tech companies enjoy more opportunities by going global

SAN FRANCISCO - Chinese hi-tech companies should be more proactive in going global to seek more opportunities overseas, the CEO of a Chinese hi-tech toy company, which will be listed on US stock market, said Sunday.

"While the Chinese domestic market becomes more competitive for businesses, visionary Chinese companies should turn their eyes to overseas markets and tap the potential to win foreign customers," said Sean Chen, CEO of China's Fujian Blue Hat Interactive Entertainment Technology Ltd (Blue Hat). The company is on a roadshow in the Bay Area this week before its forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock market.

"My company is the first Chinese toy manufacturer that exited from China's Third-Board Over-the-Counter (OTC) Market to seek IPO on Nasdaq," he told Xinhua.

Blue Hat, which makes augmented-reality (AR)-powered interactive mobile games and accompanying toys, made a roadshow debut Saturday in Millbrae City, about 25 km South of San Francisco, California.

The Chinese firm, which offers four primary AR game lines including AR Racer, AR Need a Spanking, AR 3D Magic Box and AR Picture Book, is going to be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol BHAT in the next few weeks.

"Although we had once considered being listed on Hong Kong after we withdrew from the Chinese OTC market, we finally decided to go public on Nasdaq," Chen said.

"The US market is the largest global market while Nasdaq is the most active and most-traded stock market in the world. That is why we came here," he explained.

Chen said Blue Hat is not a traditional toy manufacturer; rather it is a company that applies AR technology to gaming and toys, and combines the hi-tech with educational products, which can facilitate kids with their learning that is boosted by technology.

"We have always stood for the joy of learning for pre-school kids, who can learn something meaningful via lively activities including games, and that is our value of delivering social responsibilities," Chen said.

"We attached great importance to creating positive content, which is key to the right games for kids so that they can benefit from learning without getting addicted to hi-tech-savvy games," said the Blue Hat CEO.

Sophie Harrison, executive chairman of China-USA CEO Association (CUCA), one of the sponsors of Saturday's roadshow, said she is pleased to see Chinese hi-tech companies like Blue Hat to go public on Nasdaq.

"The hi-tech AR products created by Blue Hat including games and toys are most welcome on the market, and I hope Blue Hat will offer more opportunities for Silicon Valley investors," she said.

"The CUCA has been committed to helping more Chinese businesses come to the United States for fund-raising so that they can do business all over the world," Harrison said.

Alan Nagy, mayor of Newark city in Alameda County, California, said Chinese companies going public on Nasdaq is wonderful for all because it creates more jobs.

"The IPO brings more revenues and more people working, just a lot of pluses about it," he said.

He spoke highly of the company's idea of combining games with education. "The gaming is one thing, but if you introduce the educational aspect to it, I think that'll be a real winner because you know we need new tools to be able to teach our children."

"We've got to change the paradigm of our educational system now. It's more than books alone, and I think they're finding that the children learn so much in different ways," he said.

This offers them one more opportunity to learn in a way that's more comfortable for some children, he noted. "We need products like this in the educational field."