Chinese venture capital firm Ameba Capital, which specialises in enterprise services and IT, has raised 500 million yuan ($70.4 million) for its latest RMB-denominated fund.
The new fund counts Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone (CDHT) Angel Investment Guidance Fund, a 10-billion-yuan ($1.4 billion) state-affiliated Fund of Funds (FOF) launched in February 2022, as its major limited partner (LP), according to a company release on January 5.
Other LPs that injected capital into the fund include big state-affiliated guidance funds, family offices, and industry groups for its new fund, it said.
The yuan-denominated fund targets to invest in firms specialised in the artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC)-empowered smart hardware sector, per the release.
Founded in 2011 by Wang Donghui, who also goes by his English name Kevin Wang, the Shanghai-based investment firm counts software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Jushuitan Network Technology, fashion e-commerce platform Mogu, and nano-microsphere materials maker NanoMicro Technology among its investees.
The fund comes at a time when Chinese tech giants are splurging on up-and-rising companies in generative AI. China has at least 130 large language models (LLMs) so far, which accounts for 40% of the global LLMs, per brokerage CLSA. The US accounts for 50% of the global count.
Most recently, Hong Kong-based alternative asset management firm VMS Group sealed the first close of its Artificial Intelligence fund, 3Capital AGI Fund (3Cap Fund) in December 2023. The company did not disclose the size of the first close, but it said over half of the vehicle’s target has been raised.