Lightspeed China closes US dollar fund at $920m
Lightspeed China Partners has closed its latest US dollar-denominated fund at $920 million. It is the largest fund raised by the firm and brings assets under management to $3 billion.
Fundraising kicked off in July with an initial target of $750 million. The entire process was carried out online due to the pandemic. LPs include sovereign wealth funds, funds-of-funds, endowments, pension funds, and family offices.
Half the corpus is earmarked for the firm’s early-stage strategy, while the other half will be invested in growth-stage opportunities. Investments have been finalized or term sheets provided for 10 start-ups to date.
Cleantech will become the key strategy and direction going forward with the launch of a new program, Lightspeed Photosynthesis. Previous investments in this space include new energy commercial vehicle company Newrizon, electric boat company ePropulsion, hydrogen energy company Tang Feng, energy storage company Xie Neng Technology, and silicon carbide chip company Zhanxin
Lightspeed China raised $560 million for its prior US dollar fund in January 2019. That fund consisted of two vehicles, including Lightspeed China Partners IV at $360 million and Lightspeed China Partners Select I at $200 million. The firm started its independent operation in 2011 and raised its debut US-dollar fund at $168 million in the same year. The following two US dollar funds each raised $260 million in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
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.
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 technology firms such as Zhongji Innolight and QingCloud.
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