Wanted: Israeli tech to keep money safe, says top China exec

Investments in Israeli start-ups have made money for huge Chinese firms like conglomerate Ping An, and now China is looking to Israel for ways to protect that money, said Daniel Tu, Group Chief Innovation Officer for Ping An Insurance.

“Many of our divisions are moving to mobile to better serve our customers, who want it for the convenience but don’t want to compromise on safety,” he said. “Israel is a natural place to find the technology that provides both.”

Tu is in charge of finding that tech for Ping An, which has operations not only in China and Hong Kong but in some 150 other countries as well. Worth nearly $500 billion, the company has annual revenues of $65 billion, as well as over 800,000 employees.

If Tu was searching for start-ups in the financial technology security sector, he was in the right place – the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where he spoke at the Fintech Forward conference, sponsored by Matrix’s new 8300 Accelerator Program, which specializes in security and fintech start-ups. Prominent on the agenda was a discussion on how to keep digital money safe, with Israeli start-ups presenting their solutions to over 500 investors and business executives from Israel and abroad.

Among those companies, for example, was Scanovate, which offers a popular solution that allows users to perform actions such as using their mobile devices to pay their mail-delivered hard copy bills, replenishing their prepaid plan or verifying their identity by simply pointing their mobile phone camera at the necessary document. The technology immediately extracts all the relevant data and prompts them to easily complete their desired action.

Now Scanovate has come out with a mobile payments version of the app, which will allow users to pay with their credit cards using their smartphones. With the tech, processing companies, as well as e-commerce and mobile sellers, have the ability to scan, identify, authenticate and add new credit cards from within their own app without the need for significant alterations to their existing apps. The system records the credit card information, but without the physical card the buyer can’t complete the purchase – thus making any credit card data purloined from websites useless.

Tu is no stranger to Israeli financial technology. Last year, Ping An invested in e-Toro (which also presented at the event). With its system, which the company bills as the world’s first social investing network, users can see how others that they follow trade stocks, foreign currency, bonds, and other investment vehicles. Much like on Twitter and Facebook, users can see what the people they follow are up to, allowing them to easily learn successful investing strategies they can apply to their own accounts. “E-Toro has been a good investment for us,” said Tu.

Several months ago, Ping-An also invested in a new fund sponsored by Carmel Ventures. The Carmel Fund IV concentrates on early-stage tech firms in high growth sectors that include enterprise software, data center infrastructure, big data, cyber security, financial technology, digital media and consumer applications. Carmel began investing out of the new fund in January 2014 and has made investments in PlayBuzz, LuckyFish and three other promising early stage technology companies, the firm said, and for Tu, Carmel’s successful record is a good entry point into Israeli tech for his firm. “Carmel offers us reliable access to Israeli innovation and we’re happy to be partnering with them,” he said.

Hooking up with an Israeli venture capital fund gives Ping-An another advantage, said Tu, in that it allows his firm to get past the cultural “clutter” that can be an issue for any large corporation seeking to work with start-ups – much less a large corporation from China, where the rules can be radically different.

“The Chinese VCs are the new kids on the block, and many have a hard time with the Israeli entrepreneurial culture,” said Tu. “To make successful investments in Israel, you have to understand the Israeli mentality. Fortunately for me, I know the mentality and speak the language of entrepreneurship, and always look forward to visiting Israel and getting to know more start-ups.”