(Yicai Global) April 24 -- China-US trade frictions have not deterred venture capital funds from backing Chinese entrepreneurs, according to American investors who took part in the 2019 China-US Business Leader Summit.

Recently hosted by the China Institute in New York, the summit invited tech and finance professionals from both countries to discuss the two nations' technologies, reforms and social innovations.

Slava Rubin, who set up crowd-funding platform Indiegogo and early-stage funder Humbition, said at a panel session that China is now their fastest growing market, with annual growth of 70 percent over the past three years, and their project financing across China last year exceeded USD150 million.

A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Rubin founded Indiegogo in 2006. He and his ventures are trying to help Chinese entrepreneurs and financiers tell their stories better so they can attract more investors.

Chinese entrepreneurs use Indiegogo not just to raise funds, but also to raise their visibility in the international market, Rubin said, adding that these startups have also developed many great products, including TicPods, the hit wireless headphones from Beijing-based Mobvoi Information Technology, that are comparable with Apple's AirPods.

Gary Rieschel, a partner at Qiming Venture Partners, said that Qiming's funds originate mainly in the US, but trade frictions have not yet affected their investment in China, nor have they felt any limits on investment.

Jeannette Wing, professor of computer science and director of the Data Science Institute at Columbia University, said that her Chinese students have not been subjected to additional restrictions on visas, and higher education in the US is still a magnet for students from China and around the world. In fact, they are willing to stay there and start businesses, she added.

Guest speakers, including the University of Hawaii's Chief Innovation Officer David Ai, iQiyi Chief Technology Officer Liu Wenfeng, AccuWeather Chief International Strategy Director Vincent McDonald, and FinTech4Good President Zhang Xiaochen, discussed topics such as the ethics and personal privacy issues raised by technology. They expressed concern about governments and firms owning too much personal biological data.