Cheetah Mobile plans fund to support Taiwan start-ups

"Taiwan almost missed the Internet era, and it is now time for Taiwan to deploy and integrate more resources to catch the tail end of the mobile Internet era," Cheetah Mobile CEO Sheng Fu told a conference in Taipei, the Taipei Times reported.

The fund, which is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2015, will seek to mentor start-ups rather than just provide capital. Cheetah Mobile does not intend to acquire the start-ups supported by the fund.

Fu noted that companies stand a better chance of prevailing with their technologies through strategic partnerships with the likes of Cheetah Mobile and Chinese smart phone maker Xiaomi that can help them enter new markets.

Fu was speaking alongside Lei Jun, Chinese super angel investor and co-founder of Xiaomi. Lei is also a co-founder of Cheetah Mobile, having led the restructuring of Kingsoft that led to the company's creation in 2009. Cheetah Mobile's primary businesses include a junk file clearing and privacy protection service, a computer battery optimization tool, an anti-virus software solution, and a safe internet browser.

While Kingsoft remains the majority shareholder in Cheetah Mobile, the company received funding from Tencent Holdings and Matrix Partners in 2011. It went public last on the New York Stock Exchange last year, following a $168 million IPO.

Corporate venture capital has come to the fore in Taiwan in recent years, while the independent GP universe has been largely stagnant. Investors include traditional hardware players seeking solutions to make their businesses more internet-related, such as Foxconn Technology Group, Acer and Asus.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Venture
• Technology
• Fundraising
• Taiwan (China)
• China
• Venture
• Fundraising
• Technology
• TMT
• Xiaomi