Greater China Deals Barometer Report: Deal count steady, but funding dips in April amid trade war jitters

Private market investors’ unease over the intensifying Sino-US trade war was evident in the fundraising landscape in Greater China in April. While deal volume stayed elevated by historical standards, total funding value was down 13.3% from March.

Privately held companies headquartered in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan raised over $3.4 billion last month, compared with nearly $4 billion in March. The number of transactions held up, falling only 2.9% from the previous month to 201, show proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.

On a year-on-year basis, the monthly deal count was 3.1% higher than in April 2024, while the funding value was 6.8% lower than the roughly $3.7 billion recorded a year ago.

Startup fundraising witnessed a tepid start to the year as geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty scaled new heights, resulting in significant capital retrenchment—deal value in January-March (Q1 2025) dropped 49% sequentially.

As Beijing and Washington kick off their first official trade talks in Switzerland this Saturday (May 10), investors are cautiously monitoring and treading over the possibility of a significant breakthrough in the negotiations. 

In the first four months of this year, startups in Greater China garnered almost $13 billion across 828 venture deals. Deal value plunged 45.3% from the same period of 2024, while deal count held up, clocking 2.2% growth. 

Billion-dollar deals on ice

Nine megadeals, or transactions worth at least $100 million, were recorded in April—the same as in March. They cumulatively raised almost $2 billion, or 57% of the total proceeds last month. Yet, billion-dollar deals continued to be on ice.

The largest deal of the month was by a subsidiary of Shanghai-listed Chinese new energy vehicles maker Seres Group, which plans to raise 5 billion yuan ($681.3 million) from several strategic investors, including ICBC Financial Asset Investment, BOCOM Financial Asset Investment, and ABC Financial Asset Investment.

Three weeks following the deal, Seres Group filed for a public listing in Hong Kong on April 28, as it seeks to raise capital to invest into its R&D projects and enhance its global brand awareness, riding on the waves of A-share firms to list in Hong Kong to expand its financing channels.

In yet another megadeal, Chinese artificial heart maker Core Medical Technology secured $100 million in a Series D round. The financing saw participation from Prosperity7 Ventures, the venture capital fund of Saudi oil giant Aramco, and several local investment firms, including Legend Capital and Delian Capital. 

Medical device firms in China saw a recovery in dealmaking activity in Q1 when their quarterly deal value jumped over three times to $845.2 million from Q4 2024’s $261.1 million.

The rest of the megadeals were scattered across sectors such as semiconductors, business support, consumer products, and logistics. 

Early-stage investments in April stood at 107, accounting for 53.2% of the total deal count, despite securing only 20.5% of the total proceeds. The late-stage dealmaking scene had failed to keep up with the momentum in March when a total of four deals at Series E and above rounds were sealed. 

List of megadeals in Greater China (April 2025)

Semiconductor as the ‘new productive force’

Investors continue to inject massive funds into semiconductor startups vis-à-vis their counterparts in other industries amid the government’s attempt to strive for self-sufficiency in chips. 

Two megadeals were clocked in the month, including Shanghai-listed vegetable and walnut beverages maker Hebei Yangyuan ZhiHui Beverage’s 1.6 billion yuan ($219.5 million) investment into top memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC). 

Despite gaining approval from Yangyuan’s board of directors in December 2023, the deal was only disclosed in an exchange filing on April 26. The beverage firm cited “trade secret” as the reason behind the delay of its information disclosure.

Axera Semiconductor, which makes edge computing chips for the likes of terminal device computing and smart driving, was the other megadeal deal, which pocketed 1 billion yuan ($136.3 million) in a Series C funding round. 

The round has roped in several state capital-affiliated investors, including Chongqing Industry Investment Fund-of-Fund, Chongqing Liangjiang Fund; Ningbo Tongshang Fund; and Zhenhai Industrial Investment, according to a company release on Wednesday.

Venture funding into chipmaking firms hit a four-year low in Q1. Although semiconductor firms collectively secured $527.8 million through the completion of 32 deals in April, the monthly deal value was already 46.6% of the over $1.1 billion proceeds recorded in Q1, though it remains to be seen if the momentum will sustain throughout Q2. 

One thing of certainty is that strategic sectors pivotal to China’s national growth, like semiconductors and electric vehicles, will continue to be the play of RMB general partners (GPs), while dollar GPs prioritise defensive and traditional sectors like healthcare, services, and retail. 

SAIC Motor, Oriza Holdings, and Addor Capital top investor list

State capital-affiliated backers have topped the investor list in April. 

Early-stage venture capital firm Addor Capital, backed by state-affiliated Jiangsu High-tech Investment Group, led five investments, while Oriza Holdings, a state-owned investment enterprise, invested into five firms through its subsidiaries. State-owned automaker SAIC Motor, too, topped the investor list after pumping over $123 million worth of capital into five startups.

Most active investors in China (April 2025)

Note: In our monthly analysis for April 2025, we have put together detailed charts of prominent deals, active investors, deal stages, and the most attractive sectors that have bagged the maximum venture dollars in the Greater China region.

Our database only considers deals officially announced by the related investee, investor(s), and/or financial advisor, while information based on market rumours and news reports citing sources is excluded.

For a more detailed analysis, and to enable comparison between primary and secondary markets, DealStreetAsia has started tracking deals of all sizes since April 2020, as against considering only transactions worth more than $10 million earlier.

We have also introduced a standardised system for industry classification. It currently includes over 50 industries, as well as over 45 new economy and high-tech verticals, which will progressively increase to adapt to local market conditions in our closely watched regions of Greater China, Southeast Asia, and India.