Trustbridge spin-out Vitalbridge closes debut China fund

The vehicle, which launched in July of last year, received LP commitments from leading domestic corporates, internet entrepreneurs, the founders of Chinese companies listed at home and abroad, international fund-of-funds, and family offices.

“We finished meeting LPs last year and they followed up with internal procedures this year, so our fundraising was basically not obstructed by COVID-19," Zhang told AVCJ. "In fact, the fund was oversubscribed.”

Vitalbridge's 32-year-old founder joined Trustbridge in 2012. Investments he participated in include children’s storytelling start-up Kaishu Story - also known as Kaishu Jianggushi - language learning app Liulishuo, which went on to list in the US, and flower shop chain Beast.

Zhang believes that, as a member of the younger generation of investors, he can stay on top of the latest trends and communicate effectively with founders, many of whom are his age or younger. Vitalbridge will focus on early and growth-stage start-ups in education, healthcare, and business services. “We will concentrate our resources and hold positions in high-quality enterprises for a long time,” Zhang said.

He is tracking the post-COVID-19 increase in demand for online exposure among traditional offline businesses. “The new environment is beneficial to our investment strategy,” Zhang said, noting that US-listed Chinese education players like New Oriental Education & Technology Group, TAL Education Group, and GSX Techedu are all trading strongly.

Vitalbridge has a team of 10, all of whom have previous experience investing US dollar-denominated funds. "That’s why we have started with a US dollar fund and why we will stick to it," Zhang said.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• Healthcare
• China
• Trustbridge
• Vitalbridge
• TMT