Pictured: GGV Capital Managing Partners: Jeff Richards, Jenny Lee, Hany Nada, Jixun Foo, Glenn Solomon, Hans Tung
Cross-border venture capital player GGV has raised $1.2bn in a collection of funds, which includes $250m pegged for seeding start-ups in China.
Menlo Park-headquartered GGV also said that at least 15 companies in its portfolio are now worth more than $1bn, including 21Vianet, Qunar, Pandora, Square, Youku Tudou, YY.com and Zendesk.
In the company’s 15-year history, 28 companies have completed IPOs, including Square last year and Zendesk and Nimble in 2014.
‘Technology markets are rapidly converging, and embracing a global mindset is imperative for entrepreneurs today – in technology terms the world is getting smaller’
– JIXUN FOO, GGV CAPITAL
The company’s model involves a single global team investing across the US and China.
The new funds include $900m in the firm’s main fund, GGV Capital VI and VI Plus,$250m in GGV Discovery I focused on early-stage opportunities in China, and $50m in the GGV Capital VI Entrepreneurs Fund consisting largely of company founders as LPs.
With these new funds, GGV Capital now manages $3.8bn across eight funds.
Backing the next generation of entrepreneurs
“Technology markets are rapidly converging, and embracing a global mindset is imperative for entrepreneurs today – in technology terms the world is getting smaller,” said Jixun Foo, managing partner of GGV Capital.
“As backers of globally-focused market leaders such as Airbnb, Alibaba, Domo, Houzz, Qunar, Slack, UCWeb, and Youku Tudou, we are excited by the support of new and longstanding partners, such as National University of Singapore, Northwestern University, LACERA and the Oregon State Treasury to back a new generation of technology entrepreneurs.”
The GGV funds are the latest funds to be raised in a time of frenetic fundraising. Accel has raised a $500m fund specifically for European and Israeli start-ups.
Atlantic Bridge Capital has closed a new $140m fund to invest in up to 20 European companies.
Other fundraisings that have closed recently include Index Ventures closing a $550m fund for US, European and Israel firms.
Lakestar last year announced a $400m fund for European and US start-ups.
And, earlier this year, Cocoon Networks, a spin-off from China Equity Group, launched a new $715m investment fund specifically for European start-ups.
