Long-time Midas List member Neil Shen, founding partner of HongShan, speaks at an investment summit … [+]
China, buoyed once again by the performance of social media and healthcare companies, accounted for 16 members of the 2024 Forbes Midas List unveiled on Tuesday, an increase of one from a year ago. However, it lost the top spot and had two investors fall out of the top 10.
The China group, which combines those based on the mainland and Hong Kong, ranked second to the United States this year on the list of the world’s top venture investors.
Long-time listee Neil Shen, the Hong Kong-based founding and managing partner of HongShan, slid to No. 3 this year from No. 1 in 2023. The billionaire’s successful investments include TikTok parent ByteDance and online fashion site Shein.
China’s large economy and talent pool have helped to make the country a global focus of venture capital investors and spawn a home-grown venture industry. The number of China listees edged up despite a decline in the country’s stock benchmark index in the past year amid eased post-pandemic economic growth and rising global geopolitical tensions.
Two China-based investors in the top 10 last year that ranked lower this year were Richard Liu, a founding partner at 5Y Capital (formerly known as Morningside Ventures), who came in at No. 13 (versus No. 4 last year) and Zhen Zhang, the founder of Gaorong Capital, who ranked at No. 87 (compared with No. 7 last year).
Among China’s members, three were women: Anna Fang, partner and CEO, ZhenFund, ranked No. 63. Nisa Leung, managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners, moved up to No. 40 this year. Annabelle Yu Long of BAI Capital – a venture arm of Germany’s media giant Bertelsmann — debuted at No. 99.
5Y led the China pack with the most listees from one firm this year – three. Besides Richard Liu, the firm’s Fisher Zhang ranked No. 29 and Elwin Yuan came in at No. 56. A notable Zhang and Yuan investment is video platform Kuaishou.
Other China-based listees were DCM’s Hurst Lin, Source Code Capital’s Yi Cao, Shunwei’s Tuck Lye Koh, Granite Asia’s Jixun Foo, Matrix’s David Su, DST’s David Lindfors, and IDG Capital’s Justin Niu.
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@rflannerychina
