Gobi-managed Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund hits first close

The overall target is HKD 2bn (USD 256.9m) and a final close is planned for mid-2022, Chibo Tang, a managing partner at Gobi, told Mergermarket, AVCJ’s sister title. The first iteration of the fund was established in 2016 with a corpus of HKD 1bn, all from Alibaba. A TWD 10bn (USD 359m) fund was also launched for deployment in the Taiwan market.

For Fund II, the remit has expanded from Hong Kong to include the broader Greater Bay Area (GBA) and capital is being raised from external investors. While Alibaba remains the anchor LP, the fund has also won support from Hong Kong financial institutions with an interest in the GBA and Southeast Asian corporates that can help portfolio companies expand overseas.

Other participants include Hong Kong family offices with expertise in areas like manufacturing, Tang said. They are expected to assist with forays into deep-tech and industry 4.0.

There are plans to invest in 30-40 companies, typically Series B rounds and beyond. In addition to deep-tech and industry 4.0, the fund will focus on artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare, sustainability, consumer, and financial technology.

Six investments have been made, among them Hong Kong blockchain media company Animoca Brands. The start-up, which develops non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – individually unique cryptographic assets – for use in brand-connected games, is raising capital at a fast pace. Last month, it closed a USD 359m round at a pre-money valuation of USD 5bn, double the valuation in October 2021.

Fund I invested in nearly 60 companies, including unicorns Airwallex, Prenetics, Amber, and AutoX, Tang said. Genetic testing business Prenetics and another start-up, direct-to-consumer brand DayDayCook, have both announced mergers with US-listed special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). A third, last-mile logistics player GogoX, has reportedly filed for a Hong Kong IPO.

Established in 2002, Gobi Partners has USD 1.1bn in assets under management (AUM) with funds across Southeast Asia and North Asia. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai, it employs approximately 12 people in Hong Kong and plans to double headcount in the next six months.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• Hong Kong (China)
• China
• Greater Bay Area
• Gobi Partners
• Alibaba Group
• Fundraising