Vision Plus raises $500m for China VC funds

The capital is split equally between the two vehicles. LPs invested in the funds include domestic internet and industrial companies, sovereign wealth funds, fund-of-funds, a US public institution, and several Chinese family offices.

Vision Plus raised $250 million for its debut US dollar and renminbi funds in 2015, the year of its establishment. With the new capital, the firm plans to continue its strategy of focusing on areas such as consumer internet, digital healthcare, and advanced computing.

This approach has already delivered one sizeable exit as Tantan – operator of a location-based social search platform that connects mutually interested users, much like Tinder – was acquired by US-listed Momo earlier this year for $735 million, most of it in cash. Vision Plus co-led the company’s Series A and C rounds.

Several other portfolio companies have gone on to raise larger private funding rounds. Online grocery retailer Miss Fresh closed an extended Series C round of $230 million last September, led by Tiger Global Management. Rokid, a developer of home automation devices, got a $100 million Series C in January, while bike-sharing start-up Ofo has raised more than $2.5 billion in the past two years.

Vision Plus was established in 2015 and is headquartered in Hangzhou – also home to Alibaba – with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. One of the founders, Eddie Wu, spent two decades with Alibaba, established the company’s primary advertising platform, headed up its mobile business, and was involved in strategic investments in the likes of Autonavi and UCWeb.

The founding team also includes Archer Chen, another Alibaba alumnus who primarily worked on Taobao. The other three, James Wang, Yiran Liu, and Terry Tian, were formerly with Qiming Venture Partners, Temasek Holdings, and GGV Capital, respectively.

There are said to be no formal ties between Vision Plus and Alibaba at the corporate level, but the venture capital firm benefits from its understanding of – and proximity to – the e-commerce giant’s ecosystem. This is reflected in a tendency to back start-ups that have ex-Alibaba employees on their founding teams.

“By being close to Alibaba’s headquarters, we quickly find out which employees have left to start their own businesses, and we make a reference call with their respective senior managers and understand more about their personalities and strengths,” Wang told AVCJ last year.

In what is expected to be a busy year for China VC fundraising, Qiming has already closed its latest US dollar and renminbi funds – as well as a US-focused healthcare vehicle – with total commitments of $1.39 billion. Sinovation Ventures raised $500 million for its fourth fund and Sky9 Capital got $200 million for its first, while GGV Capital and Redpoint China Ventures both closed renminbi vehicles.

Skadden acted as primary legal counsel for Vision Plus' second US dollar fund.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• Renminbi fund
• GPs
• China
• Vision Plus Capital
• TMT