Established in 2000, Bluefish Technologies is a leading smartcard manufacturer and wireless value added solution provider with presence in EMEA, APAC and South America. In 2004 Bluefish was acquired by Fundamenture – an investment company focusing on smart card technologies.

The smart card market revenue is expected to grow from $4,498.9 million in 2009 to reach $6,600 million in 2015 with a CAGR of 7.3% from 2010 to 2015. According to a report by IHS Technology, Smart card shipments will see rise of 2.1 billion units by 2019.

To tap the growing market in China, Bluefish recently appointed Mr Tao Chong-Li as Technical Head (China); Hunt Partners was the exclusive transaction-advisor for this mandate.

With over 15 years of professional experience Chong-Li brings with him in depth knowledge of the Chinese Telecom sector and technical expertise in the smart card industry. After graduating in 1995 with majors in Electronics from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Chong-Li joined Beijing Textile Machinery Company as Electronic Engineer. Following that, he held roles of increasing seniority with CBCOM, Gemplus and Oberthur. Chong-Li joined GEMALTO in 2004 as Technical Consultant – IC Card. He was part of GEMALTO’s Card Process Efficiency Committee and also a member of the Patent Committee. Chong-Li has won many awards for his contribution to innovation in smart card technology.