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Horizons Ventures is a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm that manages the personal investments of Li Ka-shing, one of Hong Kong’s richest businessmen. Horizons’ investments cover a wide range of tech, media, and telecommunications companies. Standouts include artificial intelligence company DeepMind (acquired by Google in 2014), plant-based meat replacement makers Impossible Foods, and video conferencing software Zoom. It has also backed consumer-facing businesses like Atomo Coffee in Australia, Kopi Kenangan in Indonesia, and US-based distilled spirits company Endless West.

Evonik Venture Capital is the investment arm of Evonik Industries AG, a chemicals specialty provider in Germany. The firm also has offices in the US and China.With a fund size of €250m, Evonik has made more than 30 investments since 2012. The VC mainly invests in sectors such as nutrition & care, specialty additives and smart materials. Its portfolio includes early to growth stage startups, with investments of €15m per portfolio company.

BASF Venture Capital is the investment arm of the BASF Group. Founded in 2001, the VC also has offices in Ludwigshafen, San Francisco, Boston, Austin, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Mumbai and Tel Aviv.Global investments include stakes in young, fast-growing companies involved in agritech, chemistry, new materials, sustainability, digitalization and disruptive business models. The firm also holds shares in technology funds that target enterprises in Asia, North America and South America.

GROW is a Singapore-based food and agriculture technology accelerator for global impact-focused startups. It is financially backed by AgFunder, an agrifood tech venture investment through the AgFunder GROW Impact Fund. Grow is also supported by the Singapore Government and is an accredited mentor partner of Startup SG.

Founded in 2018, Kale United is a Stockholm-based ethical investor with an overriding interest in plant-based technologies. It raises funds from crowd campaigns and currently has a portfolio of 30 companies, mostly Swedish alternative meat startups. It had crowdfunded €1.34m by April 2020 for its portfolio of companies from three separate campaigns. It also has a portfolio of plant-based public shares and features a team of vegan expert investors and business leaders. Its founder, Måns Ullerstam, owns a third of the company. He is also CEO of local vegetarian food producer startup Astrid och Aporna.

Investing in hi-tech IT, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology sectors – key pillars of China’s innovation-focused economy since 2017 – the Beijing government-backed Beijing Zhongguancun Longmen Investment manages about RMB 10bn via its first fund of the same name. The firm is founded and led by Xu Jinghong, former Chairman of Tsinghua Holdings, the investment and tech/R&D transfer arm of China’s most prestigious science and research university, whose R&D capacity was ranked in the third place of China’s top 500 enterprises in 2018. The LPs of the fund include social security funds, Beijing’s municipal government and the Haidian District government. Its portfolio enterprises are generally ranked in the top three of their respective industries. Among them, Qi An Xin Technology, which is listed in Shanghai and one of China’s biggest cybersecurity companies; Joy Wing Mao, one of China’s major fruits supply chain companies. In October of 2020, it invested RMB 100m into Beijing Immunochina Pharmaceutical, which develops innovative gene and cell therapies for curing malignant tumors. Longmen also provides mentoring and other expertise and support to its investee startups, especially those that plan to seek public listing.

Haier Medical, a health-focused IoT-concept brand, is grouped under Yinkang Life, an arm of the Haier Group Corporation. It is an integrated health platform comprising physical hospitals and online medical services. As to its rehabilitation for intensive illnesses, for example,  Haier Medical has rehabilitation hospitals that offer both physical treatment and Internet-based consultation so that patients spend less time there than in a normal medical facility. Besides rehabilitation, Haier Medical also focuses on cancer treatment, aged care services, and family health management services. Overall, it has a network of 16 hospitals with 8,000 beds, serving over 1m people every year. 

BayWa Venture GmbH is a subsidiary company of BayWa AG, the German agriculture, energy and construction conglomerate.Putting digitalization at the core of its agriculture strategy, the company is looking to expand its core business into digital services within the existing businesses. It is investigating new digital business models and stand-alone concepts through collaboration with emerging startups focusing on cutting-edge technologies in the agrifood tech space.BayWa started to invest in startups in 2012 mainly focused on online customer management, services and sales platforms. In 2015, the company purchased Farm Facts, a German farm management SaaS and in 2017 invested in Abundant Robotics, a US-based automated harvest company. One of the firms’ most recent investments has been Evja, an Italian startup developing precision farming hardware based on advanced agronomic models and machine learning technology.

Founded at the end of 2019, Youshan Capital has raised RMB 3.3bn for its first fund, landing FOF, listed companies, state-owned companies and government guidance funds as its limited partners. It mainly invests in the sectors including TMT, medtech and advanced manufacturing. 

SoftBank announced its second Vision Fund of about $108bn in July 2019 to invest in technology startups across the world. SoftBank had originally planned to contribute $38bn to the new fund. However, its Vision Fund I was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and losses resulting in lower valuations of its investments in Uber and WeWork.In February 2020, the Japanese conglomerate decided to inject more money into the Vision Fund II before raising new funds from other LPs. With $10bn committed to the second fund by the SoftBank Group, the new fund has now invested in 13 portfolio companies including co-leading the Series C round for XAG in November 2020.

Guangzhou Emerging Industry Development Fund (Emerging Fund) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guangzhou Industrial Investment Fund Management Co Ltd (SFund).It was found in line with the Guangzhou Municipal Government’s industrial upgrade strategy, with the aim of pooling capital, projects and talents together in Guangzhou. The Emerging Fund currently manages a set of government-guided funds and direct investment funds. It also invests in several state-level guidance funds on behalf of the municipal government. It mainly invests in emerging sectors in manufacturing, information technology, service sectors, seed and related industries.

Founded in 1997, Seventure Partners is one of Europe’s most prolific VC investors with a portfolio of over 200 startups across both tech and non-tech sectors. The French VC has also managed more than 40 exits in total. It mainly focuses on fintech and insurtech, French and German startups and in life sciences in Europe, North America and Asia.Its five funds cover different market segments, ranging from €24m–€200m, with investments of €500,000–€10m per round. Total funding for a company can reach €20m, right through the early to late stages. Recent investments include the $6.7m Series A round of US biotech Dermala and the $10.7m Series A round of US self-cleaning water bottle startup LARQ.

Founded in 1999, KITVEN is a state investor in startups in the Indian state of Karnataka. Major investment sectors include biotech, animation, visual effects, electronics, manufacturing, gaming and comics. Based in Bengaluru, the office is run by Karnataka Asset Management Company Private Limited.KITVEN has invested in more than 50 startups. In 2019, the VC invested in String Bio’s Series A round and joined the $2.2m seed round of smart lock startup Open App. Backed by state and central government financial institutions, the VC manages five funds: KITVEN Fund, KITVEN Fund 2, KITVEN Fund 3 Biotech, KITVEN Fund 4 and Karnataka Semiconductor Venture Capital Fund (KARSEMVEN Fund).

Forebright Capital originates from the PE investment team established in 2001 under the state-owned China Everbright which is listed in Hong Kong. Everbright was spun off in May 2014 as an independent company. With money raised from institutional investors and family offices at home and abroad, Forebright Capital currently manages four US-dollar funds. It mainly invests in sectors of clean energy, healthcare and fintech.

Founded in 2016, Shanjin Capital is a PE fund manager approved by the Asset Management Association of China. With a focus on new energy and emerging technologies, the firm mainly invests in clean energy, connected vehicles, medtech and healthcare.

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