China-focused fund manager BAI Capital, formerly Bertelsmann Asia Investments, has announced the final close of its latest private equity (PE) fund and its related investment vehicles at $700 million.
The fund, BAI Capital Fund I, was launched in December 2019. BAI did not specify the target corpus for the fund but said the amount raised in the final close exceeded the target size.
Fund I and its related investment vehicles received commitments from institutional investors including sovereign wealth funds, large insurance companies, internet giants and fund of funds globally, as well as Bertelsmann.
In the announcement, the firm said Fund I has two focus areas – China-based global companies and China’s structural transformation. It seeks to partner with Chinese companies and entrepreneurs that can leverage the multiplier effect of China’s technology, talent, and supply chain advantages.
The fund will also seize major cross-cycle disruption opportunities in frontier and infra tech, electric vehicles and autonomous driving, and industrial upgrade driven by enterprise software development, BAI added.
The latest vehicle adds to BAI’s more than $3 billion in funds under management.
Based in China, BAI Capital was originally established in 2008 by founding and managing partner Annabelle Long as Bertelsmann Asia Investments, the investment arm of Bertelsmann’s investment businesses.
Since its inception in 2008 as Bertelsmann’s long-term commitment to China, BAI Capital has built a portfolio of over 200 companies spanning retail, media and content innovation, industrial tech, software, fintech and beyond. More than 40 of these have reached unicorn status.
Last year, DealStreetAsia reported that BAI led the $15-million pre-Series A funding round in Dalezhuang, a cloud-computing platform for the construction industry.
“The success of this fundraise is evidence of the sound investment strategy that the BAI team has employed for nearly 15 years,” Long said.
In 2014, BAI launch a dedicated fund, called BetaFun, to promote business ideas at the very early “angel” stage, focusing on early-stage companies in mobility, social networking, intelligent hardware, games, education, enterprise services, and content.
BetaFund provides capital support and professional services in every operational stage for startups seeking angel-stage investments, to create a closed-loop investment, while synergizing with Bertelsmann’s business units by facilitating close partnerships.
The close of Fund I comes as startup financing in Greater China rose for a second consecutive month in June to reach $4.8 billion, the highest so far in 2022. At 246, the volume of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) deals in the month was also 2022’s highest, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.