Qingsong raises $153m for fourth China VC fund
Qingsong Fund, a Chinese venture capital firm formed by Xiaosong Liu, an angel investor and co-founder of Tencent Holdings, has closed its fourth renminbi-denominated fund with RMB1 billion ($153 million).
LPs include the Shenzhen government guidance fund, Shanghai-listed Time Publishing & Media, and Qianhai Technology Venture Capital Holdings, Qingsong said in a statement. The firm closed its third fund at RMB850 million in 2017 with support from more than 30 domestic investors.
Qingsong will continue to make early to mid-stage investments in technology and new consumer businesses. Portfolio companies include personal care brands Polyvoly and HomeFacial Pro, B2B marketplaces Yisun Technology and Jiepei, online tuition platform Zhangmen, artificial intelligence-enabled education technology player Squirrel AI, and semiconductor specialist Berxel.
The firm has RMB3 billion under management across six funds and has backed nearly 200 start-ups. Two of these funds have specific mandates. They will soon be joined by a third, with Qingsong recently launching a second vehicle targeting industrial digitalization.
In 2020, the firm generated proceeds of RMB700 million from eight exits, with an average multiple of 45x. It completed a full exit from wedding services provider Hunliji and partial exits from HomeFacial Pro and Zhangmen, delivering returns of 70x, 140x, and 80x, respectively. HomeFacial Pro alone has returned the entire Fund II corpus.
Liu – whose other ventures include Hong Kong-listed digital music company A8 New Media Group – established Qingsong in 2012 with two other angel investors, Wei Su and Zhanbin Dong. They claim to base investment decisions on in-depth research into a handful of industries.
Liu identified protracted global economic uncertainty, in part the result of Sino-US tensions, as a key trend. Technology decoupling is likely to see both countries invest heavily in R&D, with China motivated by a desire to ease its reliance on imports. This domestic substitution dynamic is expected to create plentiful investment opportunities for VC players.
"Whether it is the establishment of the Star Market or encouraging domestic substitution, government policy around high-tech innovation has lit a spark in the venture capital industry,” he said, emphasizing the power of private capital in stimulating innovation.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.