China’s Qiming to launch US healthcare fund
China-focused GP Qiming Venture Partners is planning to raise a healthcare-dedicated fund in the US that will help China- and US-based start-ups expand in both markets.
The fund, which is still at the early stages of planning, is likely to have a corpus of between $100 million and $150 million. Qiming is in the process of setting up a local office and hiring investment professionals, according to Gary Rieschel, founding managing partner at the firm.
As companies in Qiming's pipeline are increasingly addressing global demand from an early stage, the venture capital firm sees there is a need to help entrepreneurs - whether they originate from the US or China - to expand cross-border with local infrastructure.
"Cross-border is more something that a company does. We don't believe that we can have partners living California and then invest in the China. We think people should invest where they live because the context of venture capital is so important," Rieschel told AVCJ.
The VC firm isn't in a hurry to set up funds specific to other verticals in overseas. Rieschel noted that the technology, media and telecom (TMT) space in the US is already crowded enough, with many well-established firms chasing deals, but cross-border healthcare is an area in which Qiming can genuinely differentiate itself from other US-based players.
Founded in 2006, Qiming has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou and Hong Kong. It has more than $2.5 billion in assets under management across five US dollar funds and three renminbi funds. Its latest US dollar fund - Qiming Venture Partners V - closed at $648 million early this year.
Qiming was one the first VC firm in China to introduce healthcare practice. Over the past seven years, the GP has invested over $600 million in nearly 50 companies in the sector, spanning medical devices, diagnostics, healthcare services and biopharmaceuticals. Recent deals include participation in a $100 million Series B round for existing portfolio company Zai Lab, a biotech start-up.
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