Ex-Qiming managing partner raises $352m for debut China fund

The fundraising process has taken less than four months, with a first close of $163 million coming in late August. The overall target for the vehicle – at the time of the first close – was $300 million.

Global institutional investors account for $328 million of the corpus, with the rest coming from the founding partners and individuals in their networks, including entrepreneurs. University of Pittsburgh, Duke University, Carnegie Mellon University, C.V. Starr, the Dietrich Foundation, Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Commonfund, Unicorn Capital, Axiom Asia, and Siguler Guff are among the LPs.

The firm's name offers insights into its approach. "In" stands for internet, intelligence, innovation, and integrity, while "Ce" is from the Chinese for strategy or decision. Gan was the managing partner at Qiming responsible for coverage of the consumer-facing internet segment – his deals generated cumulative distributions of $1 billion – and Ince will do much the same. Artificial intelligence deals will also be considered, where there is a consumer angle.

There are likely to be 20-25 companies in the portfolio, with an average investment size of $10 million. Gan expects Ince to primarily participate in Series A and B rounds, with the latter being the core focus. While many venture capital firms are pouring resources into enterprise-facing businesses, he still sees huge potential in a consumer-enabled internet space that continues to evolve as it grows.

"People are changing their consumption patterns," Gan told AVCJ. "Those from the 1990s and 2000s generations have never experienced war or poverty. They have two sets of grandparents, and if they own just one property in a major city, they are effectively a US dollar millionaire. There is a propensity to borrow and spend money."

Meanwhile, there is no guarantee that the established platforms of today will be the winners of tomorrow. Gan points to the evolution of e-commerce from Alibaba Group to JD.com to Pinduoduo and the way in which video streaming platforms such as ByteDance Technology's TikTok and BiliBili have become social networking tools to rival Tencent Holdings-owned WeChat.

The Ince team is currently five strong and is unlikely to grow past 10. Gan took two investment professionals with him from Qiming, Steven Hu and Alex Yan, and has brought in Paul Keung as CFO. Keung served as CFO at Taomee Entertainment and was most recently a venture partner at Qiming.

Gan started his career in private equity with The Carlyle Group and served as CFO at NASDAQ-listed wireless value-added services provider KongZhong Corporation before joining Qiming in 2006. Gan and Hu were colleagues at KongZhong and then at Qiming. Hu was recruited as the firm's first Beijing-based staff member in 2009, was promoted to partner in 2011, and left in 2013 to become CEO at mobile games developer Ourpalm. He returned to Qiming in 2018.

"I have known the Ince team for a long time and have personally observed their achievements and how they have made investments, worked closely with founders, and generate substantial returns for the investors over the years. We are honored and proud to be an investor in their maiden fund and look forward to a productive and fruitful partnership for the long run," Dorothy Dong, who leads C.V. Starr's investments in Asia, said in a statement.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Technology
• GPs
• Venture
• China
• Ince Capital Partners
• Qiming Venture Partners
• TMT