Lightspeed China closes US dollar fund at $560m
Lightspeed China Partners has closed its latest US dollar-denominated fund at $560 million. It is the largest fund raised by the firm to date and brings assets under management to $1.5 billion.
The fund consists of two vehicles, including Lightspeed China Partners IV at $360 million and Lightspeed China Partners Select I at $200 million. According to a statement, it will follow the firm’s previous investment themes of focusing on growth-stage technology companies in China.
Lightspeed China now manages four US dollar funds and a renminbi fund. It closed its debut US-dollar fund at $168 million in 2011. The following two US dollar funds each raised $260 million in 2014 and 2016, respectively. The renminbi fund closed in 2016 at RMB600 million ($87.4 million). Investments are typically in the $5-8 million range.
The firm was co-founded by James Mi (pictured), a former director of corporate development at Google, where he helped lead an investment in Baidu. Mi joined US-based Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2008 and helped it to establish its China presence in 2011. The two firms work in collaboration with each other. In July 2018, Lightspeed raised $1.8 billion for two VC funds.
Lightspeed China investments include a number of large technology companies that now trade in the US and Hong Kong, including e-commerce operator Pinduoduo, group-buying website Meituan-Dianping, and online consumer financial services providers PPDai and Rong360. It has also invested in Full Truck Alliance, a truck information content provider that received a $1.9 billion round led by SoftBank Group in April last year.
“China’s enterprise service and deep tech innovation is in the early innings of development. Given China’s vast market, deep talent pool, and increasing demand for home-grown deep technologies across various industries, we are seeing accelerated growth and significant investment opportunities,” said Mi.
Despite an expected slowdown in China’s economy this year, a number of Chinese VCs have managed to raise record amounts of capital for new funds in recent months. In December, Gaorong Capital raised $500 million for its fourth US dollar fund, with the majority of commitments coming from existing LPs and two endowments coming in as new investors.
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