Winreal hits $150m first close on China tech fund
Winreal Investment, a China-based venture capital firm established by a former chief engineer at domestic telecom equipment provider ZTE Corporation, has reached a first close of CNY 1.3bn (USD 150m) on its latest renminbi-denominated fund.
The vehicle - known as Rongteng No.2 - has a hard cap of CNY 2bn. Institutional investors account for 70% of the first close, with most Rongteng No.1 LPs choosing to re-up. The previous fund closed on CNY 1.2bn in 2019.
ZTE is an LP in the new fund, alongside the likes of state-owned automobile manufacturer SAIC Motor, Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group, and optical transceiver supplier InnoLight Technology. Several government guidance funds also participated.
Winreal was founded in 2015 by Jinping Huang, who started out in engineering with ZTE and later joined the company's investment unit, ZTE Capital.
The firm focuses on hard technology and digitalisation. While the flagship Rongteng fund series has been positioned as 5G-focused, the firm claims to have developed a comprehensive industrial network spanning communication, smart terminals, smart cars, aviation, and digitalization.
The automotive supply chain is of particular interest, given the opportunities arising from electric vehicles and smart vehicles. Winreal is an active investor in automotive chip-enabled devices like sensors.
Huajun Shi, deputy director of Hangzhou Xiaoshan Venture Capital Fund and Xiaoshan District Investment Promotion Bureau, which is an investor in Rongteng No.1, noted that Winreal had brought more than 30 high-quality portfolio companies to Xiaoshan with a cumulative market value of more than CNY 10bn.
Explaining the decision to re-up in Rongteng No.2, he said: "We hope the collaboration can help Xiaoshan become a highland for strategic emerging industries."
Rongteng No.1 backed 43 companies in total. Four have gone public: optical products manufacturer Lante Optics, intelligent systems platform vendor EmbedWay Technologies, and data intelligence business Haohan Data in Shanghai; and smart mining technology player Keda Automatic Control in Beijing.
A further 10 companies have applied for IPOs or will do so in the coming year.
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