At least seven Chinese venture capital funds are seeking collaboration with the Israeli counterparts and to invest in Israeli start-ups says Gross, Kleinhendler, Hodak, Halevy, Greenberg & Co. partner Lillian Safran Shaked, head of the law firm's China desk and part of the high tech/international practice group. Safran Shaked and her colleague on the China Desk, Adv. Tal Shoham returned to Israel after a series of meeting with Chinese venture capital funds in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.
Safran Shaked said, "Israeli technologies greatly intrigue Chinese funds, but their knowledge of, and interaction with, Israeli companies ranges from negligible to zero. During our meetings, the Chinese funds expressed a wish to deepen their knowledge with a view to share in opportunities for cooperation and investment in Israeli technologies. There is also interest in collaboration with Israeli venture capital funds as the first step toward investment in Israeli technologies."
IDGVC Partners is a Chinese-US fund with $2 billion under management, making it the largest venture capital fund in China. It has more than 100 portfolio companies, including Baidu.com Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU) (China's largest search engine) and MySpace China. It invests in Internet, media, telecommunications, and medical devices companies. It is seeking seed, growth, and pre-IPO stage companies.
ePlanet Ventures invests in Internet, telecommunications, VoIP, and broadband services companies. Its portfolio includes Skype and Focus Media. It is seeking to invest in medical device companies for the treatment of cardiovascular, diabetes, and cancer, as well as cleantech companies.
GSR Ventures recently raised $700 million for its third fund, for investing in semiconductor, Internet, IPTV, and cleantech companies. The company has strong ties with Baidu.com and is seeking compatible technologies for it. GSR wants to present Israeli technologies to its Chinese portfolio companies so that they can integrate them.
Qiming Venture Partners manages $500 million in two funds. It is interested in solar, wind and hydro-energy companies, as well as biodiesel firms. It is seeking to invest in Israeli companies that want to establish a presence in China.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 11, 2008
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