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5 Chinese tech billionaires you might not have heard of

Pinduoduo’s Colin Huang, DJI’s Frank Wang, Meituan’s Wang Xing, and more

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Wang hitting the Chinese gong at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. (Picture: Reuters)
Karen Chiu
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

When people talk about tech billionaires in China, chances are the same few names pop up: Well-known leaders like Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Tencent’s Pony Ma, or JD.com’s Richard Liu, just to name a few.

(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.)

But they aren’t the only entrepreneurs who’ve made it into the three comma club, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. From the founder of the world’s biggest seller of personal drones, to the man who created China’s “Amazon for services”, let’s take a look at some of the names that might not be as familiar.

COLIN HUANG (PINDUODUO)

Pinduoduo literally translates as “together more more”. (Picture: CNS via Reuters)
Pinduoduo literally translates as “together more more”. (Picture: CNS via Reuters)

The son of factory workers, Colin Huang’s net worth skyrocketed to nearly US$10 billion overnight when his online shopping company debuted on the Nasdaq in July.

While Pinduoduo is hardly a household name in the US, it’s quickly becoming one in China. The premise of the app is simple: Buy an apple for yourself at $2. Ask a friend to buy another one together, and each of you only pay 50 cents.

Pinduoduo: China’s hottest online shopping startup

Huang says the idea is to combine budget shopping with entertainment, sort of like merging Costco with Disneyland. But others have accused the former Googler of letting counterfeits thrive on Pinduoduo. Huang said the platform removed 10 million questionable products in a year.

GONG HONGJIA (HIKVISION)

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