Jerry Yang, co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo arrives for the annual Allen and Co media conference Sun Valley, Idaho July 7 2015. Picture: REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE
The influx of money has also boosted political groups aiming to sustain voter engagement after a record surge in AAPI turnout in last year’s presidential election. The Asian-American population is becoming an electorate to be contended with. The challenge is that people have not wanted to make a deep investment in the AAPI communityIn March, Hans Tung of GGV Capital, a top tech investor, tweeted that the firm would match $100,000 in donations to combat anti-Asian hate. Others joined in: Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners and Eric Kim of Goodwater Capital offered their own matches, and Zoom Technologies founder Eric Yuan pledged $1m.
“It’s hard to say whether we can keep up these gains in the future,” Nikore said of last year’s increased voter turnout. “But … it will absolutely not occur if there is not huge investment — tens of millions of dollars or more — in keeping these folks engaged.”