Germany's Evonik backs China VC fund

The fund targets a range of sectors, including energy efficiency and storage, agriculture, medical devices, and cloud computing, with a theme of supporting climate change mitigation. GRC announced a first close of $75 million in 2014, with a target of $100 million.

GRC III was launched in 2013 by New Zealand's Pan Pacific Capital. It was initially supported by a co-investment partnership between New Zealand's Venture Investment Fund and Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry. GRC Managers later merged with Pan Pacific and took over the fund. Under the terms of the investment at least $35 million from the fund must be invested in New Zealand companies.

This is Evonik Venture Capital's first investment in Asia, and follows its investments in Europe and North America. The firm plans to invest a total of €100 million ($109 million) in start-ups globally.

"By investing in GRC III, we are opening the door to the fast growing start-up community in Greater China," Bernhard Mohr, head of venture capital at Evonik, said in a statement. "With GRC we have found a strong partner with a proven track record and with immediate relevance to our own business activities."

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Cleantech
• Venture
• Fundraising
• Australasia
• China
• Cleantech
• Venture
• Fundraising
• New Zealand