- New 200-million-yuan fund will invest in early-stage projects spanning photonics, biotech and advanced manufacturing
- The initiative forms part of Hubei’s broader push to commercialize university research
Gong Hongjia (龚虹嘉), one of the key founding figures behind video surveillance giant Hikvision (海康威视) and a well-known angel investor, has joined a new seed-stage technology fund tied to his alma mater Huazhong University of Science and Technology in central China’s Hubei Province.
This move comes as Chinese local governments intensify efforts to turn university research into commercial ventures.
The Hubei Changjiang Huake Seed Investment Fund was recently registered in Hongshan District of Wuhan, capital city of Hubei, with an initial target size of 200 million yuan ($27.7 million).
The fund will focus on original early-stage technologies emerging from Huazhong University in areas including optoelectronics, biomedicine, new materials and high-end equipment manufacturing, public records show.
The fund was jointly launched by Chutian Fengming Science and Technology Innovation Angel Investment Fund Partnership, Jiadao Capital and Hongshan Capital, with Changjiang Venture Capital serving as manager under a provincial-municipal-district co-investment structure.
Deep-tech financing
Jiadao Capital is a venture firm initiated in 2014 by Gong, with a focus on life sciences, healthcare and low-carbon development. He participated through his two Shenzhen-based Jiadao investment entities. Of the planned 200 million yuan size, the first 100 million yuan has already been paid in.
The fund requires at least 70% of invested capital to go toward seed-stage projects involving original or potentially disruptive technologies, targeting one of China’s longstanding “pain points” in deep-tech financing: helping fast-track research from laboratories into industrial production.
A Hubei native-turned-Hong Kong citizen, Gong graduated from Huazhong University’s computer science department in 1986 before pivoting to angel investing in 1994.
Crowning glory
The crowning glory of his investor career came through an early stake in Hikvision in 2001, where a 2.45-million-yuan injection into the then-obscure Hangzhou-based startup founded by his two alumni eventually generated returns exceeding 10,000 times his original bet.
The new fund marks Gong’s latest effort to support his alma mater’s innovation ecosystem after donating 10 million yuan in 2012 to establish the “Success Lake” entrepreneurship fund at the university.
The initiative also forms part of Hubei province’s broader “One University, One Fund” strategy aimed at building dedicated commercialization funds around major research institutions.
In addition to this fund, Gong has recently participated as a limited partner in the Wuhan Jiangcheng Academician Fund and signed an agreement with Jiangcheng Fund to jointly establish another Jiadao Capital-backed sub-fund focused on academic research commercialization.
According to the 2025 Hurun China Rich List, Gong Hongjia and his wife Chen Chunmei have a net worth of 67.5 billion yuan (approximately $9.93 billion).
