It's perhaps no surprise that Asia is gaining on the U.S. as the largest source of venture capital, more than doubling to $70.8 billion in 2017 compared with the U.S. at a 17% gain to $71.9 billion.
Globally, investment surged 50% to $164 billion, to a post-2000 record, driven largely by Asia's gains, according to the latest PwC /CBI Insights report.
China accounted for four of the six largest global deals of 2017: ride sharing service Didi Chuxing at $4 billion, China Internet Plus (or the merged groups deals sites Meituan-Dianping) at $4 billion, bike-sharing startup Ofo at $1 billion, and electric car startup Nio at $1 billion.
A separate year-end VC survey by KPMG breaks out China figures and notes that China venture capital investment rose 15% last year to more than $40 billion.
What's hot in China tech is artificial intelligence, autotech and enterprise services. Investment in Israeli startups, meanwhile ( Tel Aviv Jan. 29: Silicon Dragon Israel 2018), continues to grow as well, up 9% to $5.24 billion, according to IVC Research Center.
For comparison, note that Europe saw a 40 percent rise in financing to $17.6 billion. Chalk two up for the Startup Nation and Silicon Dragon venture and tech ecosystems.