Banyan closes second China VC fund at $362m

Banyan Partners Fund II, which launched in November, was substantially oversubscribed. Demand came to around $500 million, with re-ups from most existing LPs. The debut US dollar fund, which closed at $206 million in January last year, has yet to be fully deployed.

The new fund has attracted more institutional investors than its predecessor, including grroups from the US, Europe and Asia. In Fund I, high net worth individuals - primarily the founders and CEOs of companies the team backed while at IDG - contributed more than half of the capital raised.

Banyan was founded by Zhen Zhang, Xiang Gao and Bin Yue who focused on tech, media and telecom (TMT) investments for IDG. Zhang and Gao, who were both partners at the firm, have been working together for about 10 years. Yue also previously worked at advisory firm China Renaissance Capital.

Banyan typically focuses on seed and growth investments in TMT sector. Over the last 12 months, it has invested in over a dozen companies, including Mogujie, Huami, Three Daddies, Beibei, Renren Kuaidi and iwjw.

In addition to the US dollar funds, the VC firm raised a RMB320 million ($51 million) renminbi fund in January, which focuses on investing in the seed stage start-ups that plan to list domestically.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Venture
• China
• Venture
• Fundraising
• Banyan Capital
• TMT
• seed
• Growth capital