Greater China Deals Barometer Report: Startup financing jumps 25% MoM in Oct despite fewer deals

Despite a dip in deal count from the previous month, financing into Greater China-based startups continued on an upward curve in October.

The month saw the completion of 202 startup investments, down 9% from the previous month’s tally of 222. They cumulatively raised almost $4.5 billion, up 25% from September’s $3.6 billion, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.

This October fared significantly better than the same period last year, when 151 startups had raised north of $1.9 billion. The month’s total financing jumped 132.1%, while the number of investments grew 33.8% year-over-year (YoY).

As macro market volatility and geopolitical risks persist, US dollar investors have not fully returned to startup financing in Greater China. Yet, there have been more conversations around potential deals, especially involving embodied intelligence and other artificial intelligence (AI)-powered startups, amid surging investor interest in China’s tech sector after its ‘DeepSeek moment’.

While it’s still unclear when, or if, the renewed investor interest will translate into actual US dollar deployment, RMB financing will remain the main pillar supporting the Greater China market.

RMB financing will remain the main pillar supporting the Greater China market.

In the first 10 months of 2025, the number of startup investments has already surpassed that in the same period of 2024. A total of 2,057 deals were completed in January-October 2025, up 15.3% YoY. However, their overall value was under $37.7 billion, 13.9% less than the nearly $43.8 billion recorded in the year-ago period.

The silver lining is that startups in Greater China are likely to enjoy at least another two months of sustained financing before the market winds down due to the cyclical slowdown in dealmaking ahead of the Chinese New Year, around mid-February 2026.

‘Auto & Parts’ emerges as October’s best-funded industry  

October’s megadeals—defined as investments of at least $100 million—and their combined proceeds of just under $2.8 billion contributed significantly to the 25% month-over-month (MoM) increase in deal value.

Twelve megadeals raised closed to $2.8 billion in October, accounting for 62.5% of the monthly financing sum and doubling the $1.4 billion raised across seven megadeals in September. In comparison, August booked just three megadeals with $619.7 million in combined financing.

The 12 megadeals in October spanned a wide spectrum of industries: from auto & parts, aerospace, and transportation services to medical devices, business support services, and consumer services and beyond.

Companies advancing the next-generation auto technologies landed three of the four top megadeals, including Level 4 RoboVan solutions developer Neolix, which secured over $600 million in a Stone Venture-led Series D round— the month’s biggest financing.

Robotaxi services provider DiDi Autonomous Driving and Contemporary Amperex (Shanghai) Intelligent Technology, or CAIT-SH, a CATL subsidiary that produces integrated intelligent chassis for electric vehicles (EVs), were tied for third place. They each raised the equivalent of $280.5 million in Chinese yuan.

The second-biggest startup investment in October went to commercial reusable orbital rocket developer Space Pioneer, which closed the equivalent of $351 million in Chinese yuan, for its Series Pre-D and D financing. The company hired investment bank China Securities just a week after the deal for its pre-listing tutorial, as it officially moved towards a domestic initial public offering (IPO).

The megadeals in Auto & Parts made it the best-funded industry, with $947.2 million across 11 deals in October.

Regarding the number of deals, Industrial Machinery, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceutical were the top three, despite having only one megadeal each.

RMB, state investors drive focus on early-stage dealmaking

Early-stage investments again dominated the dealmaking scene as 117 investments, or 57.9% of October’s deal count, happened at Series A or earlier funding stages.

The market’s focus on dealmaking around early-stage startups is expected to remain, as the Chinese government presses ahead with its mission of guiding “long-term, patient capital” towards early-stage, small-scale, and hard-tech companies.

Amid the ongoing dominance of RMB financing in Greater China, the five most active investment firms of October were all RMB-denominated funds, which include three state capital investors.

The state investors, namely Shenzhen Capital Group, Shunxi Fund, GTJA Innovation Investment, made it to the list of top investors with the completion of seven, six, and five deals, respectively.

Shenzhen Capital Group, which is led by the municipal government in southern China’s Shenzhen City, has backed over 1,700 companies with more than 510 billion yuan ($72.1 billion) in cumulative assets under management (AUM). GTJA Innovation Investment’s cumulative AUM is north of 70 billion yuan ($9.9 billion), according to their websites.

Shunxi Fund, a venture capital (VC) platform under Beijing State-Owned Capital Operation and Management Company Limited, is in the process of raising a new fund to pool 2.2 billion yuan ($310.9 million) for “early, small-sized, tech startups.”

Note: In our monthly analysis for October 2025, we have put together detailed charts of prominent deals, deal stages, and the most attractive sectors 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.