Global venture capital firm GGV Capital announced that the company has secured $1.88 billion in its most recent financing round. The venture capital firm is widely known as one of the biggest investors of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaoim, as well ByteDance which is a mobile news application and short video operator.
Majority of GGV Capital's backers during this recent round of funding came from US-dollar based pension funds, mainly California State Teachers' Retirement System, Lost Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, and the Hartford Health Care System. On top of that, the venture capital firm also counted a handful of universities and family asset management firms as some of its latest backers. These backers include Northwestern University and the National University of Singapore.
According to the South China Morning Post, the bitter trade war between China and the United States, as well as the cooling off of the former's economic boost have made it quite hard for many private equities and venture capitalists to raise capital.
With its recent financing secured, GGV Capital confirmed that it will now manage 13 funds, all of which have a cumulative worth of around $6.2 billion. The venture capital firm added that it will focus its ventures both in China and the United States adding that they will concentrate on four major sectors which are: cutting-edge technology, business and cloud services, internet services and social networking, and consumer new retail.
GGV Capital's portfolio now includes instant messaging app Slack, home-sharing platform Airbnb, Singaporean ride-hailing firm Grab, and China's biggest ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing.
As for its investments in China, GGV Capital said that it will focus on firms that target second- and third-tiered cities. Among those that the company targets are startups that can build ecosystems both locally, as well as the Southeast Asian region and some emerging markets.
As for its investments in the United States, GGV capital is looking for successful and established companies that are willing to export their brand to regions like South America and Europe. The company added that by using this strategy, they are leveraging the popularity of American brands in order for them to scale up their operations easily.
Apart from GGV Capital, a handful of venture capitalist firms have also struck it big this year. Among the largest publicly announced fundraising so far this year include the $6 billion global fund closed by Sequoia Capital, the $3.75 billion funding closed by Tiger Global, and China's own YF Capital Yunfeng III which closed a $2.5 billion funding in July.
