The term “trade war” dominates headlines — conjuring images of tariffs, decoupling, and disruption. But behind the noise, something more powerful is taking shape. At 01VC, we’re seeing firsthand how top-performing cross-border companies are using this turbulence not as a barrier, but as a tailwind.
At the recent 01VC CEO Summit, Executive Director Yangfeng TAO moderated a roundtable with four founders from our portfolio — all deeply embedded in the global economy. Their experiences offer a compelling counter-narrative: in a world of shifting trade routes, rising platform costs, and geopolitical volatility, the most agile companies aren’t retreating — they’re accelerating.
🧭 Who’s Driving the Change?
XTransfer - A global B2B fintech platform that enables secure, low-cost cross-border payments for Chinese SMEs. Today, it processes 2% of all Chinese export payments, giving it unmatched visibility into real-time trade flows.
Morror Art - A technology and lifestyle brand (registered as MorningBlues Technology Limited) offering built-in speaker furnishings and stylish electronic décor — including art‑styled speakers and cabinets. They target users who care about both audio performance and visual aesthetics, merging functional electronics with design-forward living.
TYMO BEAUTY - An innovative personal care brand specializing in hair styling tools designed for diverse consumer needs, especially in North America and Europe. TYMO is a leader in leveraging social platforms like TikTok to scale globally.
A fast-growing email marketing SaaS focused on cross-border sellers, empowering them to convert paid traffic into owned audiences across email, CRM, and messaging — creating powerful, defensible growth loops.
💡 Key Insights from the Roundtable
Bill Deng (XTransfer)
“U.S. share dropped from 23% to 8%, but Southeast Asia picked up the volume instantly.” Rather than witnessing a collapse in trade, XTransfer sees a reallocation. Smart exporters are redirecting flows to faster-growing regions like Southeast Asia — adjusting to macro conditions at digital speed.
Timo Qi (TYMO)
“We moved to a six-month inventory buffer while others ran dry.” Anticipating logistics disruptions and tariff risk, TYMO doubled its U.S. inventory. This enabled them to maintain continuity and gain share when competitors couldn’t deliver — a playbook in operational foresight.
Zhang Jian (Morror Art)
“We were overly optimistic about the U.S. Now we’re balanced across Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.” Morror Art’s pivot from a single-market focus to a diversified global approach reflects a broader trend toward resilience through regional balance — de-risking while opening new channels.
Zhou Huoneng (CartSee)
“Our D2C website and CRM ecosystem have become a self-sustaining growth engine.” With digital ad costs surging, CartSee is enabling brands to shift from platform dependence to owning their customer relationships through independent D2C websites, email, SMS, and CRM systems.
🌍 The Missed Opportunity: Emerging Markets
Perhaps the most surprising data point: XTransfer now processes 10% of Nigeria’s import volume. This isn’t an experiment — it’s a clear signal that emerging markets represent an urgent and investable opportunity. Western markets are saturated. But Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America are wide open. Chinese entrepreneurs, with advantages in cost structure and operational speed, are rapidly building positions. The companies investing now will enjoy first-mover advantages that compound over the next decade.
🎯 Three Investment Themes Shaping the Next Decade
1. Infrastructure Plays That Scale with Trade Route Shifts
Platforms like XTransfer and CartSee benefit from network effects and switching costs. As global flows shift, they serve as connective tissue — capturing value across the system.
2. Localization-as-a-Moat
Winning cross-border isn’t about exporting a one-size-fits-all product — it’s about building hyper-local relevance at scale. TYMO’s insight that there are nine types of American curly hair illustrates just how deep product-market fit must go.
3. Developing Markets as Growth Engines
While many chase established markets, the next great frontier lies in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. The smart money is moving now — laying foundations before the land rush begins.
🔍 Additional Strategic Insights
The TikTok Commerce Shift: TYMO now earns 20% of its revenue from TikTok. That’s not just a marketing channel — it’s a reshaped go-to-market motion.
The Rise of D2C Independence: CartSee empowers brands to build and scale independent D2C websites and owned channels — turning one-time buyers into lifelong customers. This shift is fast becoming a key competitive advantage.
The Talent Bottleneck: XTransfer’s expansion misstep — targeting 30 countries too quickly — wasn’t a capital issue. It was a talent constraint. Winning globally requires not just funding but management teams with the skills to build and lead across borders.
📌 Final Takeaway: The Recalibration is Already Underway
The noise around trade wars distracts from the deeper truth: global commerce is becoming more distributed, digitally enabled, and market-responsive. The most adaptable companies aren’t just reacting — they’re using today’s uncertainty to build better, more resilient businesses.
This is the real recalibration.
As investors, the question is no longer whether your portfolio is affected by trade dynamics — but whether they’re using those dynamics as a catalyst to build stronger long-term advantage.
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