China is now the top start-up nation in the world, according to TechCrunch. The founders who have brought the tech scene there to this level are not any less inventive and ambitious than their Silicon Valley counterparts. They're hungry for success and yearn for fame just like any other entrepreneurs in this competitive age.
This article is part of a series where we present you the best Venture Capital firms across different cities and countries. Here you can view the rankings for Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai.
Top Venture Capital Firms in China
1. Sequoia Capital China
Sequoia Capital China is a VC firm focused on seed stage, mid stage, late stage, and growth investments in the fintech sector.
Sequoia Capital China has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shenzhen. Over the past nine years, Sequoia Capital China has an impressive and diverse portfolio comprising about 300dynamic companies that deliver high returns on investment using differentiated technologies and innovative business models, including Alibaba, VIPshop.com, Sina.com, Didi, JD.com, Ourpalm, Qihoo 360, Jumei, Momo, SINNET, Dianping.com, Meituan, Meilishuo, Toutiao, AutoNavi, Ganji.com, DJI, VanceInfo, Noah Private Wealth Management, Wanda Cinemas, Alibaba Pictures, Plateno Hotels Group, Deppon Logistics, ZTO Express, Beta Pharma, Snibe Diagnostic, BGI, WEGO, and Yuwell Medical.
Website: www.sequoiacap.com
Founded: 2005
Total fund size: $13.5B
Sequoia Capital China's most notable exits include Animoca Brands, NIO, and BIT Mining.
2. Qiming Venture Partners
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.4 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have investedin outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.
Since our debut, we have backed over 480 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 180 of our portfolio companies have achieved exits through IPOs at the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX, Shanghai Stock Exchange or Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or through M&A or by other means. There are also over 70 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn status.
Website: www.qimingvc.com
Founded: 2006
Total fund size: $11.5B
Qiming Venture Partners's most notable exits include Meituan, Schrödinger, and Bilibili.
3. ZhenFund
ZhenFund (Chinese: 真格基金) is a seed stage focused venture fund with over $1 billion under management since founded in 2011 by Bob Xu and Victor Wang, in collaboration with Sequoia Capital China. Bob and Victor previously co-founded New Oriental (NYSE: EDU), one of the world's largest education conglomerates. Three of Bob's seed investment shave IPOed in NYC: Shiji Jiayuan (Nasdaq: DATE) (世纪佳缘, website), LightInTheBox (Nasdaq: LITB) (website), and Jumei (NYSE: JMEI) (聚美, website). Bob was named to the Midas List four years in a row (2016-2019) and was last ranked at #11.
ZhenFund currently dominates China’s early stage venture capital scene, and is rapidly expanding its U.S. practice based in Palo Alto, CA. Its portfolio has over 750 high-growth companies, including 17zuoye, OFO, VIPKID, RED, Hero Entertainment, and Urwork. ZhenFund’s mission is to support, educate, and inspire the next generation of global entrepreneurs.
Website: www.zhenfund.com
Founded: 2011
Total fund size: $1B
ZhenFund's most notable exits include Niu Technologies, Waterdrop, and Ehang.
4. Shenzhen Capital Group
Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd (SCGC) is a limited venture capital company established by Shenzhen Government in 1999. Since its establishment, SCGC has focused on cultivating national industries, shaping national brands, promoting economic transformation and emerging industriesdeveloping. SCGC has registered capital of 5.42 billion RMB, and total AUM of 338.99 billion RMB.
SCGC primarily invests in SMEs, innovative high-tech enterprises, enterprises in emerging industries, and enterprises in start-up period, growth period and in transformation, covering industries supported by national policies, including IT, internet, new media, biopharma, new energy, environmental protection, chemical engineering, new material, high-end equipment manufacturing, consumption goods, modern service, etc. By the end of April 2019, SCGC ranked the first based of the number of portfolio companies and the number of listed portfolio companies: 994 portfolio companies, investments totaling 43.9 billion RMB, 145 of which have been listed in 16 capital markets worldwide.
Website: www.szvc.com
Founded: 1999
Total fund size: $651.9M
Shenzhen Capital Group's most notable exits include Innoviz Technologies, Jinko Solar, and BGI Group.
5. Shunwei Capital
Shunwei Capital is a venture capital fund that focuses on early to mid-stage investments in local internet industry. It specializes in incubation, startups, early to mid-stage, and growth capital investments. It seeks to invest in the technology, media, telecommunications, high technology, new media, games, internet finance, and rural area internetsectors. Their investors include sovereign wealth funds, fund of funds, university endowment funds, and family offices.
Shunwei Capital is a China-based company that was founded in 2011 by Tuck Lye Koh and Lei Jun.
Website: www.shunwei.com
Founded: 2011
Total fund size: $4.2B
Shunwei Capital's most notable exits include Zomato, NIO, and iQiyi.
6. Northern Light Venture Capital
Northern Light Venture Capital was founded by general partners Feng Deng and Yan Ke on January 1, 2005. Currently it is managed by five Managing Directors. It manages approximately US$ 1.5 billion in committed capital with 4 US$ funds and 4 RMB funds, investing in more than 180 portfolio companies and seed investments to date.
NLVC is led by apartnership of accomplished local Chinese and returnee executives (returnees are those who grew up in mainland China but studied or worked abroad before returning) with significant investing and entrepreneurial accomplishments. Its management team includes Feng Deng, former member of the board at NetScreen (a pioneering IT security firm), Yan Ke, vice President of Netscreen, and Lei Yang, chairman of Vantage Point Venture Partners.
NLVC is a China concept venture capital firm focused on early and growth stage opportunities which targets businesses that leverage China’s industrial, economic, or human resources to build exceptional, lasting enterprises in the global economy.
NLVC focuses on early and growth stage opportunities in information technology, new media, TMT, clean technologies, consumer service and healthcare. Portfolio companies include Meituan.com, Kaixin001.com, Gogo.com, redbaby.com, MasaMaso.com, and Velo City.
Website: www.nlvc.com
Founded: 2005
Total fund size: $375M
Northern Light Venture Capital's most notable exits include Meituan, Missfresh, and Drive.ai.
7. Legend Capital
Legend Capital, a subsidiary of Legend Holdings Ltd., started its vintage year in April, 2001 with a mission to become a top-notch and the most respected venture capital investment manager in China.
Managing up to US$700 million across four funds, Legend Capital focuses on driving high-growth ventures with operations substantially based in Chinaor on markets related to China.
Legend Capital mainly invests in early stage IT companies, specifically, in sectors of network applications and services, outsourcing and professional services, Infrastructure (IC design/key components), and mid-market growth stage companies in the fields of consumer goods, clean technology, health care, equipment manufacturing and modern services.
Among over 60 portfolio companies are Joyo.com (acquired by Amazon.com), SinoCom (0299.HK), Solarfun Power (Nasdaq: SOLF), Spreadtrum Communications (Nasdaq: SPRD), China Sunshine Paper (2002.HK), and VanceInfo (NYSE:VIT), Eyang (0117.HK), etc.
As an active investor, Legend Capital provides its portfolio companies extensive business resources and tailored services to assist with business development, company image building, and other critical company building activities on Chinese market so as to add value and maximize returns. Legend Capital is proud and thankful that it has the opportunity to blaze a trail with its innovative practice for China's venture capital industry.
Website: www.legendcapital.com
Founded: 2001
Total fund size: $177M.
Legend Capital's most notable exits include Innovent Biologics, Axonics Modulation Technologies, and Luckin Coffee.
8. Sinovation Ventures
Sinovation Ventures is a full-service venture capital firm that actively invests in the Chinese technology market.
Website: www.sinovationventures.com
Founded: 2009
Total fund size: $300M.
9. 5Y Capital
5Y Capital is a firm engaged in providing early-stage venture investments. It was formerly known as Morningside Venture Capital. The investment firm manages USD 5bn in dual-currency funds in USD and RMB, backed by world-renowned sovereign wealth funds, family offices, fund of funds, university endowments, pensions, and foundations. It was head quartered in Xuhui, Shanghai, China in 2008 by Ken Shi and Richard Liu.
Website: www.5ycap.com
Founded: 2008
Total fund size: $4.7B
5Y Capital's most notable exits include SenseTime, Agora.io, and BIGO Technology.
10. Source Code Capital
Founded in 2014, Source Code Capital is a leading China VC focused on the broad TMT sectors and investing in both early stage start-ups and growth stage companies. With $1.5 billion and RMB 3.5 billion under management, Source Code Capital has been successfully partnering with close to 150 leading Chinese technology founders since inception including Bytedance, Meituan, Homelink, among many others. Source Code is focused on the Big 3 fundamental drivers, which are Internet+, AI+, and Global+ , and invests along sectors such as media and entertainment, consumer services, enterprise, finance, retail, transportation, housing, education, and healthcare.
Website:www.sourcecodecap.com
Founded: 2014
Total fund size: $2B
Source Code Capital's most notable exits include Meituan, Li Auto, and RELX Technology.
