It’s worth briefly revisiting the rather legendary story behind UTStarcom and SoftBank China Venture Capital. Hong Lu, born on November 3, 1954, is a Chinese American entrepreneur. His family traces its roots to Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province，China.. He was born in Taiwan, Province of China and moved to Japan at the age of six. After graduating from Tokyo Metropolitan Jonan High School, Lu went on to study civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was two years senior to Masa Son @masason After graduating, Hong Lu joined Masa Son’s startup, Mspeech System Inc, whose core business was selling portable voice translation devices.  In March 1982, Son returned to Japan to recover from an illness. Before leaving, he sold his U.S. company Unison World to Lu. For a time, Unison maintained a close partnership with Kyocera, the company founded by Inamori Kazuo. In 1986, the two companies formed a joint venture called Kyocera Unison and attempted to take it public. The plan ultimately fell through, and Lu exited the venture. In 1990, Lu made his first exploratory trip to mainland China. A year later, in 1991, Lu teamed up with his Berkeley classmate and Masa Son’s former Chinese tutor, Charles Xue @xuemanzi8848， along with Son himself. Together they acquired Zhejiang Yutong, a company originally founded by Peter Wang(Zuguang) , reorganizing it and renaming it Unitech Telecom (UT). That same year, Wu Ying , then working at AT&T Bell Labs, partnered with Chauncey Shey to launch Starcom in New Jersey. The company initially operated as a technology consulting firm, essentially providing engineering talent as outsourced services. Among the temporary engineers they hired was Bill Huang(Xiaoqing ), who at the time was doing R&D at Racal Telecom in the UK. In 1994, Bill Huang(Xiaoqing ) joined Unitech Telecom. On October 6, 1995, Unitech Telecom and Starcom merged in a 50–50 deal to form UTStarcom. Just two weeks later, on October 19, the company secured $30 million in funding from SoftBank. On March 5, 1996, UTStarcom China was established. By 1999, after several rounds of major investment totaling roughly $160 million, Masa Son became chairman of UTStarcom, increasing his stake to 51%. On March 3, 2000, UTStarcom successfully went public on the NASDAQ. In 2001, Charles Xue exited the company, cashing out roughly $150 million. Later that same year following the IPO, Masa Son committed $90 million, while Hong  Lu，Chauncey Shey, and others contributed $10 million, forming the first fund for SoftBank China Venture Capital (SBCVC). Brilliance of Berkeley，and with that , the wheels of fate have begun to turn.

In August 2021, IVC (Infinity Ventures Crypto) @ivcryptofund was officially established. Shortly thereafter, Daniel Wang, co-founder of Aethir, joined IVC. In November 2021, IVC partnered with YGG to launch YGG SEA, which is now known as W3GG (@w3ggofficial). Around the same time, the two parties also co-founded YGG Japan (@YGGJapan). In February 2022, IVC closed a $70 million Web3 fund, backed by investors including @Circle, @DCGco , @AnimocaBrands, Hive Ventures, and Cherubic Ventures. IVC later deployed the first investment from this fund by co-investing in @YGG alongside @a16z. IVC’s partners include: 1. Akio Tanaka @tanakaakio  Founder of @HeadlineVC Headline Asia and co-founder of IVC. 
 Tanaka, who is Japanese, is widely regarded as an OG within Japan’s traditional venture capital circle, having built Headline Asia into one of the region’s established VC platforms. 2. Brian Lu  @LuBall13 Former co-founder and GP of IVC. 
 Brian Lu also comes from a notable entrepreneurial family. His father, Hong Liang Lu, is the founder of UTStarcom and a founding figure behind SoftBank China Venture Capital (SBCVC). 3. JT Law  @JorLaw8  Co-founder of VerifyInvestor. 4. Gabby Dizon @gabusch Co-founder of YGG (Yield Guild Games). 5. Alex Yeh @alex_yehya Co-founder of AuraBlock Ventures, and also a co-founder of $GAIB @gaib_ai Richie Chaval Jiaravanon @RichieLychee Former CEO of Snapask Thailand.
 He also holds another role as a board member at Velo Labs @veloprotocol Behind the Jiaravanon family stands the Charoen Pokphand Group, Thailand’s largest private conglomerate, widely known as the CP Group.  Returning to Daniel Wang, who was seconded by IVC to Aethir as a representative and co-founder of the project. According to publicly available information, between August 2021 and August 2023, Daniel Wang held roles across IVC, W3GG, and Aethir simultaneously. We’ve also just received information from sources familiar with the matter claiming that, during his time at IVC, Daniel Wang allegedly accepted various kickbacks tied to deals, which reportedly caused dissatisfaction among several of IVC’s core partners. A quick side note here: IVC is widely regarded as the most active investor among Japan-based crypto funds in terms of the number of crypto projects backed. @FSA_Japan @cyberpolice_jp @JVCEA_Official @jcba_official @CoinDesk @coin_post @circle  @DCGco @animocabrands  @TheSpartanGroup   @Morningstar_VC @shimacapital   @BigBrainVC  @Sfermion_   @Ventures_HTX