Li Kai-fu’s Innovation Works Nails $180 Mil. Silicon Valley Fundraiser

Innovation Works, the start-up incubator that was conceived by former Google China head Li Kai-fu, has just wrapped up a $180 million fundraiser.

The two-year old Innovation Works acts as both an accelerator and an investment firm for Chinese tech companies. In today’s press release, Mr Li explains:

Innovation Works has incubated and invested in about 34 project companies, and nine of them have successfully obtained sizable Series A financing from third-party VCs. Our unique ‘incubation + investment’ model has not only produced a pipeline of high-quality projects, but also enabled local early-stage start-up teams to grow quickly with the help of our 360-degree mentoring services, in effect creating the ‘entrepreneurial academy’ for Chinese start-ups.

This $180 million injection boosts the academy’s power, and brings ‘angel investor’ luminaries from Silicon Valley, such as Ron Conway and Yuri Milner, closer to the Chinese start-up scene. Conway himself says:

Over the years, I have helped numerous companies in the United States from their founding. When I saw that Kai-fu’s Innovation Works has built up a great team planning to do the same in China, I became very excited. I personally invested in Innovation Works, and recommended many of Silicon Valley’s top investors to invest. Innovation Works has already shown excellent early results, and we look forward to their continued success.

Li Kai-fu pictured in the US in 1983. Accidental hipster geek FTW!

Clearly excited about the deal, Li Kai-fu has been especially active on Sina Weibo today – he’s @kaifulee – where’s he’s been tweeting about Conway, Milner, and various fund projects. He even retweeted an amusing old photo of himself from 1983 (pictured right). Incubated companies include the Android-based OS Dianxin/Tapas, and the Tumblr-like light-blogging site DianDian.

Today marks the first dollar-based fund that’s tied to the Innovation Works Development Fund (IWDF). Back in June, a separate Chinese yuan fund opened up with a commitment of 700 million yuan (which was $106 million at the time). One of the investors into that fund is Chinese tech giant Tencent.

Check out the Innovation Works website to read-up on how they incubate and accelerate firms, and what its unique ‘Entrepreneur-In-Residence program’ entails.