Kai-Fu Lee (right) pictured in 2011 in an interview with Sarah Lacy. Photo credit: TechCrunch.
Former Google executive Kai-Fu Lee, once the boss of the firm’s troubled China office, has topped up his VC fund with a fresh US$675 million in cash.
It marks a comeback for Taiwan-born Lee, who has been battling cancer since a diagnosis in 2013.
Innovation Works, which Lee co-founded back in 2009 under the Innovation Works name, now has two new coffers to splash on Chinese startups – a US dollar-denominated fund of US$300 million plus a Chinese yuan-denominated fund, reports the Wall Street Journal this morning. It’s in the process of rebranding as Sinovation Ventures.
Lee’s fund has backed some of China’s hottest app-making startups, such as Android app store Wandoujia, which was reportedly acquired by Alibaba earlier this summer, and Meitu, a selfie app maker that’s queueing up for a billion-dollar IPO.
Innovation Works’ portfolio now holds about 300 startups.
See: China’s startup funding is still booming, $37b ploughed in during first half of year
Converted from Chinese yuan. Rate: US$1 = RMB 6.67.
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