Gobi Partners, a pan-Asia venture capital (VC) firm that has backed over 380 startups, has reached its HK$2-billion ($255.9 million) target for an Alibaba-backed fund dedicated to dealmaking across southern China’s Greater Bay Area.
The development, which was first reported by media outlet AVCJ, followed a first close of the fund at $100 million in June 2021.
Dubbed the AEF Greater Bay Area (GBA) Fund, the new fund will remain open until the end of this year for small cheques from additional limited partners (LPs), Gobi managing partner Chibo Tang, who leads the firm’s investments in the Greater Bay Area, was cited as saying.
Gobi Partners confirmed the fundraising update with DealStreetAsia.
DealStreetAsia reported about the AEF GBA Fund and its HK$2-billion fundraising goal in early 2022, when Tang shared Gobi’s move to expand its investment scope to the overall Greater Bay Area from the previous focus on Hong Kong.
The AEF GBA Fund, which counts e-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s not-for-profit foundation Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund (AEF) as an anchor investor, invests in the Greater Bay Area covering the Chinese special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau as well as nine cities in southern China’s Guangdong Province.
Official data show that the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the 11 cities was close to $2 trillion in 2022, comparable in size to Italy’s and up 25% from $1.65 trillion in 2019 when China announced the blueprint for this development zone.
Since its launch in 2021, the AEF GBA Fund has backed companies such as Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming developer Animoca Brands, insurtech startup OneDegree, and clinical-stage biotech firm Immuno Cure. It also re-upped Gobi’s investment in virtual reality firm Sandbox VR.
At HK$2 billion, the AEF GBA Fund is twice the size of its HK$1-billion ($127.9 million) predecessor fund named the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund (AEF), a Hong Kong-focused VC fund that was launched in 2016 with the AEF as its sole LP and Gobi as the GP.
Founded in 2002, Gobi has $1.6 billion in assets under management (AUM) with operations from its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong as well as 13 other offices across locations such as Singapore, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, and Manila.
The company established Gobi Partners GBA in 2016 to raise its stake in VC dealmaking across the Greater Bay Area. As of 2022, Gobi GBA has invested in over 70 startups and nurtured seven unicorns, including Animoca Brands, global fintech firm Airwallex, crypto lender Amber Group, logistics company GoGoX, and biotech firm Prenetics.