Shuli Ren, Columnist

China’s $856 Billion Startup Juggernaut Is Getting Stuck

Government-backed venture capital funds don’t know what to do with all their cash.

December 16, 2018 at 10:00 PM UTC

Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. A former investment banker, she was a markets reporter for Barron’s. She is a CFA charterholder.

Electric-vehicle startup Xpeng has backing from Alibaba, Foxconn and Xiaomi, but has only just started delivering cars.
Photographer: Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg

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If you’re impressed by Masayoshi Son’s $100 billion Vision Fund, China’s $856 billion in “guidance funds” will blow your mind.

The country is quickly becoming a major player in the venture capital world. This year, Chinese investors are involved in over $90 billion worth of deals, second only to the U.S. and up from only $11.5 billion five years ago.