SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese technology startups are racing for fresh fundraising to capitalise on the DeepSeek-induced fervor towards artificial intelligence, as well as President Xi Jinping’s recent show of support to the country’s private enterprises.
AI-powered optics startup Rid Vision, brain-computer interface company AI CARE Medical and robot-maker Shanghai Qingbao Engine Robotics are among Chinese tech start-ups seeking fresh onshore financing, venture capitalist Andrew Qian said.
“Many people are knocking at the doors of these AI companies, half discussing business cooperation, the other half talking about investment,” said Qian, the CEO of New Access Capital, which has invested in the three firms.
“You can see from the DeepSeek case, that a batch of Chinese innovators with disruptive technologies is emerging… Previously, Chinese start-ups were nearly all ‘me too'”, Qian said, referring to copycats.
The flurry of roadshows and deal announcements by AI-related businesses – including chipmakers, cloud service providers and AI apps – has breathed new life into the country’s moribund venture capital sector.
The outlook for exits from investments by venture capital and private equity firms, however, remains clouded by a stringent regulatory vetting of IPOs at home, and heightened Sino-U.S. geopolitical tensions that threaten offshore listings.
In the near-term, however, DeepSeek’s AI breakthrough and this month’s rare meeting between President Xi and tech business leaders have boosted investor sentiment.
New Access Capital has recently invested in a chip startup and a maker of millimeter wave antenna, and is planning to invest in a company focused on rocket recovery technologies, betting on the next DeepSeek in these fields, Qian said.
Companies that are seen as benefiting from China’s AI advancement are the main focus of the latest round of investments.
AI image generation platform LibLib AI, for example, announced several hundred million yuan in a new funding round on Monday at what the company called a “record-breaking pace of financing”.
AI-powered medical startup SenseCare said last week it had raised 100 million yuan, while chipmakers Aspiring and Hyseim also announced fresh fundraising recently.
BLEAK PICTURE
Other startups that have tapped investors in recent days include AI Infrastructure provider Siliconflow, robot-maker Ruichi Smart Technology and medtech startup Neurodome, according to consultancy Zero2IPO.
The pickup in venture capital investment interest comes after bleak performance over the last few years – China venture fundraising and investments have fallen off the cliff since a 2021 peak, Preqin data showed.
In 2024, 67 funds raised $12.5 billion, a far cry from 2021’s $141 billion. Dollar-denominated funds raised a meagre $1 billion last year, the data showed. Venture deals totalled $229 billion last year, down 36% year-on-year and just over a quarter of 2021’s $816 billion.
The industry, which relies mainly on IPOs to exit from their investments, suffered from China’s introduction of stringent IPO rules, and Sino-U.S. tensions that had hampered offshore listings by Chinese companies.
Since the launch of DeepSeek’s breakthrough AI model, “the sentiment has improved a lot,” said Huo Zhongyan, founder of Bonanza Capital, which has invested in an AI-powered garment designing and marketing startup.
“People get more sanguine about China’s future … Stock bullishness made entrepreneurs more confident, and investors more willing to place bets.”
Morgan Stanley said on Tuesday that it sees signals of normalising IPOs in the A-share market.
But Huo doubts Chinese regulators will loosen IPO criteria any time soon, also cautioning that offshore listings, which have shown signs of recovery, are vulnerable to geopolitical winds and fluid market mood.
(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Lincoln Feast.)
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