Page Turner: The Hunt for Unicorns

January 21, 2021

Page Turner Event "The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy" by Winston Ma and Paul Downs

Moderated by Shubh Saumya , Partner (Capital Markets practice), Boston Consulting Group .

The emergence of unicorns, startups with valuations in excess of $1 billion, has attracted billions of dollars of investment from sovereign wealth funds and government employee pension funds. The capital from these trillion dollar investors has not only fostered the explosive growth of the digital economy worldwide but has triggered a regulatory backlash with reverberations worldwide.
Winston Ma, a digital economy expert and former executive of China’s sovereign fund, and Paul Downs, a leading sovereign fund lawyer and International House Trustee, share insight from their new book, The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy. China and the US are home to more than 80% of the private startups with valuations exceeding $1 billion each (the “unicorns” of the title). The two nations’ rivalry for dominance in the digital economy occupies center stage in this account the role sovereign investors play in creating the tech champions of the future. Winston Ma and Paul Downs will also discuss and provide insight into the transformation of these vast funds into sophisticated investors of the digital champions of tomorrow and the regulations that now ensnare them in this hunt!

Speakers’ bios
Paul Downs has practiced international law for more than four decades, most recently as a partner at Hogan Lovells in New York, where he co-founded the Sovereign Investor Practice and initiated its annual Sovereign Investor Conference. Paul has represented sovereign investors transacting in assets globally, has spoken and published on the topic and guest lectured at Columbia and New York University law schools. He served as President of the American Foreign Law Association, is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the International Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is a current or past director of international companies and not-for-profit organizations, including International House, New York, The Council for the United States and Italy, and the China US Business Alliance. Paul is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
Winston Ma is an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global digital economy. Most recently, for 10 years, he was Managing Director and Head of the North America Office for China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund. Prior to that position, Ma served as the deputy head of equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, a vice president at J.P. Morgan investment banking, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. He is the author of best-selling books including: Investing in China (2006) and China’s Mobile Economy (2016). Ma was selected a 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, and in 2014, he received the New York University Distinguished Alumni Award.
In his current role, Shubh Saumya focuses on Capital Markets, Risk Management, and Financial Regulation. He leads key relationships with capital markets institutions, wealth managers, and financial regulators; and is responsible for the development of firm intellectual capital in topics like client centricity, digital markets, and organizational complexity. Mr. Saumya is a member of the New York Office’s consultant development committee. He is a former VP in the Financial Services Practice at Booz Allen Hamilton and Managing VP President: Risk and Securities Industry Practices at First Manhattan Consulting Group, among other roles. He has authored and co-authored several capital markets and risk related perspectives. Mr. Saumya received his MBA in Finance and International Business from Columbia Business School and a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. *Shubh is also an International House Trustee and Alumnus.*