The Development of Venture Capital in China

Xiong Xiaoge, Yan Yan and Zhou Quan were once called "the three idiots in China".

Among them, Xiong Xiaoge is the founding partner of IDG. 199 1 employed, from Hunan.

Yan Yan is the chief partner of Softbank Safran Group.

Zhou Quan is currently the President of IDG Technology Venture Capital Fund.

Venture capital vs flicker, the initial market often equates venture capital with flicker, which is completely different from today's infinite wind and light. Jin Yanshi, chief economist of Guo Jin Securities, once joked that the export mode of venture capital is: invest in others in the first year, produce results in the second year, become famous in the third year, and then start a new stove and take charge of it yourself.

In the investment field, in the 1990s, almost all VC companies in China were Internet companies, such as Sina, Sohu, Alibaba and other well-known Internet companies, which were favored by venture capital in this period. However, unlike the previous investment in the Internet industry, the new wave of VC investment is keen on traditional projects, and education and training, restaurant chain, clean technology and automobile aftermarket are all investment hotspots. Once the traditional industries form a chain brand, it is easy to form an overall effect, while the catering chain, hotel chain and other industries have broad market prospects, good growth and very stable returns in China, so they are bound to be favored by venture capitalists.

With the sustained, steady and rapid growth of China's economy and the gradual improvement of the capital market, the capital market in China has shown a strong growth trend in recent years. The high return on investment in China market makes China a strategic place of global capital concern.

Although the overall scale of China's industrial investment market still lags behind that of foreign developed countries, the return on investment in China is world-class. In addition, venture capital should be consistent with macroeconomic trends. The urbanization process in China is expected to increase the urban population of China to 65.438+92 billion in 2025. The proportion of urban GDP in the national GDP will also increase to 95%. Urban consumer goods market, medical equipment, environment and energy will become the focus of future venture capital.

In the next decade, it will be regarded as the "golden decade" of venture capital in China, which will develop rapidly from weak to strong. We should face up to the development opportunities faced by the venture capital industry in China with a long-term vision and a global vision. It is predicted that China will become a big venture capital country after the United States and Europe in the next decade. No matter from the macro-economic development momentum, the needs of the national independent innovation strategy, the development prospect of the capital market, or from the development trend of the venture capital industry itself, this wish is completely possible.

According to the data released by Dow Jones VentureSource 20 12 on February 3rd, in 20 1 1 year, China enterprises * * * obtained $6 billion in venture capital equity financing, up 8% year-on-year, while the value in Europe was $665,438 billion. For the first time, the scale of venture capital attracted by China is equal to that of Europe. On February 5, 2007, Businessweek published an analysis article saying that in 2006, there were three new trends in the field of venture capital in the United States: the scale of venture capital was getting bigger and bigger, and the investment targets began to turn to mature companies, paying more attention to markets outside the United States.

For a long time in the past, a startup founded by two people in a garage was the first choice for venture capital companies. Hewlett-Packard Company founded by Bill Hugh Park Jung Su and david packard and Google Company founded by Larry Page and sergey brin are two of the most successful examples. But in the past year, this template has changed a lot.

1. The scale of venture capital is getting bigger and bigger.

According to the data released by VentureOne, the two largest funds raised in 2006 came from Oak Investment Partners and New Enterprise Associates, with financing amounts of 2.56 billion dollars and 2.5 billion dollars respectively. On the whole, in 2006, funds with financing scale between 500 million dollars and 654.38+0 billion dollars accounted for 654.38+02.65.438+0%, which was double that of 2005. Funds with financing scale above $ 1 billion accounted for 4.4% of all funds, much higher than 1.6% in 2005.

Josh Grove, an analyst at Venture One, said: "These funds are getting bigger and bigger, and some small-scale funds are gradually being eliminated. Some people even think that small-scale foundations that mainly invest in early-stage companies form a' vacuum'. " In 2006, the proportion of funds with financing scale below $6,543.8+billion was 34%, much lower than 7 1% in 2002. In 2006, the average financing amount of medium-sized funds was $200.5 million, while in 2004 it was only $654.38 million+$53 million.

This trend leads some venture capitalists to imitate private equity investors and look for high growth opportunities in mature companies, instead of starting from the bottom as in the past to help emerging companies recruit managers, promote products and build markets. Bryan Bryan Roberts, managing director of Venrock Associates, said: "Some funds actually originated from bubbles, and their business models are more like low-risk securities investment than venture capital investment. If this situation continues to develop, innovation will be inhibited. "

2. Does not include small-scale funds.

In a sense, the emergence of this trend has a lot to do with the depression of IPO market and the continuous decline of technology stocks. At the same time, it also shows a strong trend of private equity investment. In 2006, the total amount of private equity investment was as high as $660 billion. While private equity makes money, venture capital companies are naturally not to be outdone. In addition to Oak Investment Partners and New Enterprise Associates, the other top five funds are from Polaris Venture Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital, with financing amounts of $654.38 billion, $654.38 billion and $866.543 billion respectively.

While the top five venture capital companies go hand in hand, the financing scale of other companies shows a downward trend. For example, Charles River Venture Capital Company raised $250 million in 2004, down from $450 million in 2006. Northbridge Venture Capital Company raised $500 million in 2005, down from $825 million in 2006. American venture capital partners raised $600 million in 2004, down from $654.38+0 billion in 2006. The expansion of the fund scale also means an increase in investment. The highest venture capital an enterprise can get is usually between $20 million and $50 million, much higher than the previous $6,543.8+0,000 to $6,543.8+0,000.

3. The investment object turns to foreign countries.

This trend does not mean that emerging companies cannot attract investment. According to the data released by VentureOne, in 2006, emerging companies in the field of information services, that is, companies whose main business is to generate content for users, received $2.4 billion in venture capital, an increase of 27% over 2005. However, it is very difficult to find winners among emerging companies, and more and more venture capital companies are turning their eyes to markets outside the United States. Even those funds that specialize in investing in early-stage technology companies are no longer limited to Silicon Valley.

Draper Fisher Jurvetson manages about $4 billion, but it includes 65,438+09 funds with offices in Boston and Beijing. Generally speaking, regional managers are more likely to find investment opportunities than those who work in the company headquarters. In the past two years, three of Draper Fisher Jurvetson's four most successful investments came from markets outside the United States, and the investment targets were Baidu, Skype in Yi Bei and Focus Media.

Medium-sized funds have limited living space.

Venture capital firms are trying to find mature and promising companies in China and India that lack funds. In this process, medium-sized funds are in a dilemma. Compared with small-scale funds, it is not flexible enough; Compared with large funds, there is a big gap in strength. For this reason, pension funds and university donations often choose large-scale funds or small-scale funds, while ignoring medium-scale funds.

In any case, the total amount of venture capital obtained by American emerging companies is still on the rise. According to the data released by Ernst & Young and VentureOne, in 2006, American companies * * * received $25.75 billion in venture capital, an increase of 8% over 2005. Among them, mobile phone service provider AMP 'D Mobile raised $65.438+0.5 billion in April 2065.438+02, with investors including Intel and Qualcomm; Spotrunner, an online advertising company, received $40 million in venture capital in June, 20 12, with investors including CBS and Interpublic.

VC is a more suitable financing method for traditional small and medium-sized enterprises.

(1)VC has a high risk, and the investment object is a high-growth project, with the aim of obtaining a potential high return. It focuses on the future development potential of the enterprise, not the balance sheet. In developing new projects, traditional small and medium-sized enterprises have hidden risks in technology research and development, technological transformation, product trial sale and production expansion. For security reasons, banks and other financial institutions usually do not provide loans. (2)VC is a kind of equity capital, investors and enterprises are the same risk stakeholders, so they will actively participate in enterprise management, introduce advanced production equipment and modern management concepts for enterprises, and have a guiding role in clarifying the property rights of traditional small and medium-sized enterprises and completing the transformation to modern enterprises. Bank loans only pay attention to the collection of principal and interest, and do not intervene in enterprise management; (3)VC is a long-term investment with low liquidity and stable capital flow supply. Investing in small and medium-sized enterprises in the early stage of development can meet their demand for funds in technological innovation, product research and development, organizational marketing and other links as well as in different stages of development. Bank loans are difficult to meet this small part of capital needs; (4)VC's strict and standardized operation mechanism, financial supervision of enterprises and compliance with various laws, regulations and policies can standardize the behavior of small and medium-sized enterprises, protect intellectual property rights and improve their independent research and development capabilities.

Therefore, venture capital is an effective financing channel for the survival and development of traditional small and medium-sized enterprises. First of all, help enterprises turn technological innovation achievements into real productive forces, increase investment in scientific research, attract outstanding talents, and change to intensive production factors dominated by technology and talents; Secondly, introduce modern business model for enterprises, change traditional family management and establish modern enterprise system; Thirdly, reduce the excessive debt ratio of enterprises, carry out financial planning, avoid repeated development and construction, and improve the efficiency of capital utilization; Finally, guide enterprises to build brands, improve their image, and improve their social status and credibility.