China’s ZWC Partners completes the first close of new fund at $400m

ZWC Partners, a Chinese venture capital firm that operates dual-currency funds, announced that it has completed the first close of its US dollar-denominated fund at US$400 million. The fund aims to raise a total of US$450 million.

ZWC Partners founding and managing partner Patrick Cheung / Photo credit: ZWC Partners

The company said this is the largest amount it has raised for a fund since its inception. The new fund will focus on investing in early and growth-stage startups in the industrial internet and new consumer sectors.

Over two-third of existing limited partners participated, ZWC Partners said in a statement. Meanwhile, it plans to start raising money for a new yuan-denominated fund.

Founded in 2015, ZWC Partners focuses on companies in China and Southeast Asia across the consumer tech, enterprise services, and industry technology sectors.

It currently manages over US$1.5 billion in assets under management and has team members in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The VC firm has invested in over 10 unicorns, such as VIPKid (edtech), Xpeng (electric vehicles), Yitu Technology (artificial intelligence), Mobike (bike-sharing), among others.

Last year, ZWC Partners raised US$150 million for its Southeast Asia and China fund. Its investments in the region include Tenopy, a Singapore-based online tuition startup; Target Media, a Jakarta-based media company; and Ritase, an Indonesian logistics first-mile provider.

Update (December 9, 13 :05 pm): This article has been updated to clarify the company just completed the first close of its new US dollar-denominated fund.