Chinese venture capital (VC) firm Bright Capital has held the final closing of a new US dollar fund, bringing the total capital commitments for its third dual-currency fund series to 1 billion yuan ($139.3 million), it announced on Wednesday.
With the dry powder, Shenzhen-headquartered Bright Capital plans to double down on early-stage investments in the consumption and technology sectors where it has built a portfolio of over 50 companies, it said in a WeChat post.
The firm said that the latest USD- and RMB-denominated funds received commitments from funds of funds (FOFs), government-led funds, industry investment platforms, and entrepreneurs at home and abroad.
At 1 billion yuan, the latest fundraising size was on par with the firm’s second fund series. Its debut dual-currency funds closed 500 million yuan ($69.6 million) in total, according to the company’s official website.
Bright Capital was founded in 2016 by Alice Luo and Wu Xiaofeng, ex-partners at NewMargin Ventures, one of China’s earliest VC companies with a history dating back to 1999.
The founding partners led Bright Capital’s investments in Ximalaya, China’s biggest podcasting platform, and online-to-offline (O2O) retail business KK Group, as well as a range of smaller startups such as cross-border e-commerce platform Youkeshu, fitness technology firm Yunmai, and Leyaoyao, which sells offline self-service products like shared washing machines and massage chairs.
Ximalaya and KK Group are arguably Bright Capital’s two most mature investee firms with potential exits in sight. But the current capital markets downturn has hindered their listing plans.
Ximalaya, whose backers also include Tencent, Baidu, and Sony Music Entertainment, is said to have pushed back its plan for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong amid market volatility, according to a Bloomberg report in June.
In May, the KK Group also saw its Hong Kong IPO application lapse — six months after it had filed with the stock exchange. The startup reportedly reached a valuation of $3 billion in mid-2021 after raising $300 million from Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com.
