Fund focus: Qiming sees growing opportunity set

The fundraising process for Qiming Venture Partners’ latest US dollar-denominated vehicle – like the five before it – went according to plan. The China-focused GP revealed its intentions at its annual general meeting in November and the official launch came in February. Within a month, Qiming Venture USD Fund VI closed at the hard cap of $935 million. One difference is the step-up in size. The VC firm raised $648 million and $500 million for its two previous funds. 

“We are seeing more and more opportunities across all sectors. The fund size might look a bit bigger this time, but if you think about our sector focus – including technology, media and telecom (TMT) and healthcare – we could easily raise a $500-600 million standalone fund for each sector,” says J.P. Gan, a managing partner at Qiming. “Our TMT and healthcare teams have been working together for many years and we’re happy together. So, we have raised relatively a larger fund for both strategies.” 

In line with the US dollar fund, the firm also raised a renminbi vehicle – Qiming Venture RMB Fund V – which also reached its hard cap of RMB2.1 billion ($334 million). It marks a steady increase from RMB1 billion for Fund III and RMB1.5 billion for Fund IV. Most of the LPs in the core China vehicles are existing investors. They include Princeton University, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, and Commonfund on the US dollar side, and Oriza FoFs, CDB Capital FoFs, and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) in the renminbi vehicle. 

The investment strategy is largely consistent with that of its predecessors. The GP focuses on early-stage and expansion-stage deals, with over half the capital going to early-stage companies. “We are excited about the new consumption opportunity. People born in 2000s will enter university this year and they will become the new consumers. Young talent born in 1990s would have been working in tech firms like Tencent and Ctrip for several years, with some becoming mid-level managers. Now they can come out and set up their own businesses, and we’re excited to back them,” Gan says. 

The firm has also been active in terms of exits. Nine portfolio companies have gone public in China, Hong Kong and the US over the past 18 months, including photo app Meitu, animation platform Bilibili, and biotech firm Zai Lab.  

Qiming expanded into the US with bases in Seattle and Boston, which led to the launch of a healthcare fund last year. The US Healthcare Fund I, which aims to help China- and US-based start-ups expand in both markets, also closed at its hard cap of $120 million. Most of the LPs have exposure to Qiming’s China vehicles. 

“The US healthcare fund is focusing on investments in the US, while the China vehicles are only in China,” says Gan. “If there is an opportunity in the healthcare sector where we can draw capital from both China and the US funds, that’s our advantage. But they’re not cross-border funds - that’s not our strategy.”   

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Venture
• Fundraising
• Technology
• Healthcare
• China
• TMT
• Qiming Venture Partners