China Digest: UOB backs elderly care service provider; Fengfan, Orinno set up $84m fund

UOB Venture Management’s Asia Impact Investment Fund has backed the elderly care service provider Tianyu Healthcare. Separately, China’s Fengfan Capital and Orinno Capital have jointly set up a 607-million-yuan ($84.2 million) equity investment fund.

UOB Venture Management backs elderly care service provider

UOB Venture Management’s Asia Impact Investment Fund, which looks to improve the well-being of low-income communities in Southeast Asia and India, has led an investment in a Chinese elderly care company.

The impact investment platform of UOB Venture Management, a subsidiary of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB), picked up a stake in Tianyu Healthcare just four months after the Shanghai-headquartered firm closed its $20-million Series A+ round led by China-focused venture capital (VC) firm Long Hill Capital.

Eastern Bell Capital, Zoo Capital, and GL Ventures, the VC unit of Hillhouse Capital Group, also participated in the previous round.

UOB Venture Management’s bet on Tianyu Healthcare comes as China’s ageing population becomes a pressing issue for the government and society facing lack of quality elderly care services. By 2035, an estimated 400 million people in China will be aged 60 and over, comprising 30% of the nation’s population, according to official data from the National Bureau of Statistics. That compares to a total of 280 million people, or 19.8% of the population, aged 60 and above in China by the end of 2022.

Tianyu Healthcare, founded in January 2019, is a tech-enabled platform providing door-to-door elderly care services, nursing homes, and elderly care communities, as well as related insurance services and health monitoring solutions across multiple cities in China. The firm claims to serve about one million senior citizens across Shanghai and provinces like Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Hubei, Henan, and Sichuan.

With the new financing, Tianyu Healthcare plans to upgrade its digital elderly care technology platform and develop more intelligent products and services dedicated to Chinese families.

Fengfan Capital, Orinno Capital build $84m tech fund

Shenzhen-based Fengfan Capital and Orinno Capital, an affiliate of Chinese state capital investor Chengdu Hi-Tech Investment, have jointly set up an equity investment fund with 607 million yuan ($84.2 million) in total committed capital.

The new fund, dubbed ‘Chengdu Hi-Tech Orinno-Fengfan Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Equity Investment Fund’, targets to invest in innovative companies in the fields of new energy vehicles (NEVs), intelligent manufacturing, and artificial intelligence (AI).

The Orinno-Fengfan fund counts two government guidance funds in southwestern China’s Chengdu City as its cornerstone investors, namely Chengdu Industrial Investment Advanced Manufacturing Industry Equity Investment Fund and Chengdu New Economy Industry Equity Investment Fund. Its limited partners (LPs) also include IAT Automobile Technology, a Shenzhen-listed manufacturer of automobiles and auto parts.

The background of its key LPs leads to a fund mission of “integrating private-sector capital and industry resources with government initiatives to help startups advance tech innovations, boost manufacturing efficiency, and expand the market size,” with a focus on the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in Chengdu, according to an official statement.

The fund completed its registration with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) in April and made an investment in Chengdu-based new energy logistics vehicles developer JENHOO in June. It was the lead investor of JENHOO’s 170-million-yuan ($23.6 million) Series A round.

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