Mike Ding and William Qu have joined BlueRun Ventures as investment directors, with a focus on the Chinese consumer services, new media and wireless markets.
BlueRun, which is headquartered in Menlo Park, has been around for almost a decade if you include its time as Nokia Venture Partners. The now-independent firm has offices in five foreign cities: Helsinki, Finland; Herzelia, Israel; Mumbai, India; Seoul, South Korea; and Shanghai, China. Its investments in China include 3i Systems and PPLive.
Following is a summary of the two men's background, from the firm's release:
Mike Ding brings to BlueRun more than 10 years of experience in venture investing and starting up new businesses. Prior to BlueRun Ventures, Mike Ding worked for Nokia’s Emerging Business Unit as Director for new business development and strategic investments, and also headed Nokia’s China operations of Widsets, the company’s popular mobile internet service. Previously Mike was a Vice President of iDTech Ventures and Investment Manager of Intel Capital where he began his venture career. Mike received his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Shanghai JiaoTong University in China, and his EMBA from China Europe International Business School. William Qu has over ten years of experience in working with start-ups, business development and investment banking. Prior to BlueRun Ventures, William worked as the Director of Investment at Capinfo, a Hong Kong listed IT services company, responsible for new venture investments and management of investee companies. William co-founded Beijing Jiajing Weiye Technologies Ltd and serves as a Director on its board. William is also one of the co-founders of China TMT association, a non-profit organization providing a communication platform for entrepreneurs and investors. William received his Bachelor of Engineering from Tsinghua University, China and MBA from Auckland University, New Zealand.