In 2020, on the other side of the ocean in China – the United States, IPOs almost stalled before the end of May. There were only 119 IPOs in the first three quarters, but there were still some surprises. On August 19, Airbnb applied for listing. Since then, cloud software developer Snowflake Computing Landed on Nasdaq on September 17. In contrast, there were more than 290 listed companies in China in the first three quarters, and the number has exceeded that of the whole year of 2019.
The adoption of the registration system on the China Growth Enterprise Market and the establishment of the Science and Technology Innovation Board have improved the tolerance of technology companies with weak profitability, and also made investment in “high-tech” related fields an important direction in the future. For Chinese venture capitalists, this year has been a “warm winter”.
In 2020, Forbes China once again conducted an independent survey of venture capitalists active in mainland China. From nearly 200 active venture capital firms, we selected 100 investors who have achieved good results over the past 5 years. In the questionnaire survey of these investors, more than 95% of the listed VCs responded to our questionnaire effectively.
Compared with the 2008 Forbes China Best Venture Capital List in 2008 during the US financial crisis, this year’s list shows that only 11 venture capitalists survived the 12-year cycle and are still on the list. The first place on this year’s list is still Mr. Shen Nanpeng from Sequoia Capital China Fund, who once again defended his title with the performance of Meituan, Pinduoduo, ByteDance and other projects. As old projects such as Baidu, Ctrip, Sina, and Alibaba have “expired”, “new star” projects such as Xiaomi, NIO, InnoLight, Bilibili, Ganli Pharmaceutical, and SenseTime have emerged.
In this list, the average age of venture capitalists is 49 years old; more than 60% of investors have invested in early career star cases between the ages of 37 and 42, and only no more than 30%. The project has ushered in a spectacular IPO within 5 years of investment, while some exits need to wait for more than ten years.
Comparing the investors on the list in 2008 with the representative projects of the investors on the list this year, the most obvious change is that the proportion of medical project exits has increased from a rarity at the time to nearly a quarter of today’s.
There are 9 women on the list in 2020; the fastest rising female investor this year is Ms. Liang Yuyu from Qiming Venture Partners. At the end of 2018, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, invested by Liang Yuyu, managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners, joined hands with Sandoz under Novartis to enter the European and American insulin markets, marking that the original capabilities and R&D capabilities of Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been recognized by the international mainstream market. In June of this year, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals landed on the A-share main board, and Liang Yuyu finally ushered in the harvest after ten years of investing in this company. An investment of RMB 100 million has today turned into a record-breaking return figure for VCs in the global healthcare sector. Talking about the criteria for selecting founders and teams, Liang Yuyu said in an interview with Forbes China last year: “I hope to find some teams with technical barriers, have ideals, and hope to make products that fill the market vacancies, and can really save people. ” Enterprises focusing on the medical and health field are also the opportunities at present. Chinese companies have shown their ambitions in the fields of innovative drugs, diagnostics, devices, R&D and digital medical care. Chinese prices, first-class products are now a clear trend.
In this season’s list, the re-emergence of new car manufacturers has once again pushed up the ranking of corresponding investors. With Tesla’s establishment of a factory in Shanghai, capital’s concerns about the production capacity of electric vehicles have finally been dispelled. Among the new forces of domestic electric vehicles, Weilai, Lili, and Xiaopeng have seen their share prices soaring in the first three quarters of this year along with their sales volume. As an angel investor of Lili Auto, they are also one of the few new faces in this year’s list. Mingshi Capital Huang Mingming was selected for the first time in Forbes China’s Best Venture Capitalist list. His previous investment in Mavericks Electric Vehicle and Pure Child City also achieved considerable returns this year.
In “Opening,” Norberg writes that human history is filled with the cacophony of the cacophony of drawbridges being pulled down and pulled up. With the effective control of the epidemic in China in April, GDP growth resumed in the second quarter, and the Chinese market has become a safe haven for capital. Although the anxiety of the economic “cold winter” starting from 2018 has made many investors walk on thin ice, under the background of China’s double-cycle economy, the venture capital community’s expectations for China’s economy have not shown pessimism. Another restart after the return of value.
Top 5 Best Venture Capitalists in China
1. Shen Nanpeng
Sequoia Capital Global Managing Partner
Shen Nanpeng, the global managing partner of Sequoia Capital, the founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China Fund, he is also the founder of Ctrip.com and Homeinn hotel chain, and his representative projects include ByteDance/Today’s Toutiao, Meituan, Pinduoduo , WuXi AppTec, New Industrial Biology, etc.
Shen Nanpeng is currently the Vice Chairman of the Venture Capital Fund Professional Committee of the Asset Management Association of China, a member of the Innovation and Strategic Development Advisory Group of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Chairman of the Yale China Center Council, a board member of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Director of Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum. Shen Nanpeng holds a master’s degree from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University.
2. Liu Qin
Five Source Capital · Founding Partner
Liu Qin, the founding partner of Wuyuan Capital, focuses on media, entertainment, consumer services, corporate services, artificial intelligence and other fields. He has worked in the industry for more than 20 years. He has very rich experience and resources in early and growth stage entrepreneurial projects. Investors in companies such as Happy Time, Xiaomi Group, Kingsoft Office, Xiaopeng Motors, Agora, and Horizon. He has been listed on Forbes Magazine’s “The Midas List” and Forbes China’s Best Venture Capital List for many times.
Mr. Liu Qin graduated from China Europe International Business School with an MBA degree.
3. Zhang Zhen
Gaorong Capital Founding Partner
Zhang Zhen has more than 18 years of experience in venture capital, and has discovered and invested in a number of outstanding companies in the fields of new consumption and the Internet, of which more than 10 have successfully completed listings. Projects include: Pinduoduo, who to learn from, Zhiyuan Internet, ArcherMind, Gigabit, Razer, 3G Portal, ShenzhouPay, Ping An Good Doctor, Dewu App, Original Life, Hello Travel, etc. Zhang Zhen graduated from Tsinghua University with a double bachelor’s degree in engineering and law and a master’s degree in management. He is qualified as a Chinese lawyer and obtained an EMBA degree from the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University in 2018.
4. Xu Xin
Capital Today Founder
Xu Xin has been engaged in venture capital in China for 25 years and is a professional investor with rich experience in the industry. She has led the evaluation of Jingdong Mall, Meituan Dianping, NetEase, Ganji.com, Zhihu, Three Squirrels, BESTORE Leisure Snacks Chain Store, Yifeng Pharmacy, Yipin Fresh Food Chain Store, Xingsheng Selected Fresh Food E-commerce and Dingdong Investments in companies such as grocery shopping.
5. Chen Hao
Legend Capital · President
In 2001, Chen Hao, Zhu Linan and Wang Nengguang jointly established Legend Capital, the predecessor of Legend Capital. Since May 2015, Mr. Chen Hao has served as the President of Legend Capital, responsible for the promotion and coordination of the company’s overall business. Representative projects include Spreadtrum Communications, iFLYTEK, and EasyCar.
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