- Third fund brings in insurers, brokerages and overseas capital through a QFLP structure
- Fund manager says the vehicle has already deployed nearly 1.5 billion yuan since its first close last year
Shanghai’s flagship state-backed technology investment platform has completed the final close of its third fund at 6.15 billion yuan ($908 million), pushing total assets under management above 20 billion yuan ($2.95 billion) as it expands its reach beyond local government investors.
The Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Fund, launched by Shanghai International Group in 2017 as China’s first market-oriented state-owned fund-of-funds dedicated to supporting Shanghai’s technology ambitions, said the third vehicle attracted a broader mix of investors than previous vintages, including financial institutions, regional state-owned capital and overseas funds.
Alongside returning backers such as Shanghai International Group, Shanghai Guosheng Group, Shanghai International Port Group and Changning State-Owned Asset Investment, the fund also drew participation from state-owned investors outside Shanghai.
They include Shandong Hi-Speed Group, Lianyungang Financial Holding Group, Gree Group, Shanghai Qilu and Chengdu Orinno Capital.
Major financial institutions including China Pacific Insurance Company, New China Life Insurance, Orient Securities, Shanghai Trust and J-Yuan Trust also joined the fundraising.
Overseas capital joins fundraise
The third fund marked the platform’s first use of the Qualified Foreign Limited Partner, or QFLP, channel to attract overseas capital.
Singapore-based Hong Leong Group participated through a dedicated investment vehicle, a transaction that was later included among the “Top 10 Events” for Shanghai’s global asset management center initiative in 2025.
The new fund will continue the platform’s established strategy of investing through a combination of fund commitments, secondary transactions and direct investments.
A secondary fund strategy involves buying stakes in existing private equity or venture capital funds from current investors, allowing capital to be deployed more quickly into mature portfolios rather than waiting for new investments to be made.
The new sci-tech fund’s allocation has been adjusted to 50% fund investments, 25% secondary investments and 25% direct investments, increasing exposure to both secondaries and direct deals compared with earlier funds.
Since its first close in April 2025, the third fund has deployed nearly 1.5 billion yuan across all three investment categories.
A star-studded portfolio
Over the past nine years, the Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Fund has built a portfolio that includes more than 200 listed companies and over 3,000 portfolio projects. Its underlying funds manage close to 300 billion yuan in aggregate assets.
Among those portfolio companies are more than 780 national-level “little giant” specialized manufacturers. The fund said investments in photonic computing startup Light Intelligence (曦智科技), GPU developer MetaX (沐曦股份) and advanced packaging company SJ Semiconductor (盛合晶微) have each generated paper returns exceeding ten times invested capital.
The fundraising comes as market-oriented fund managers across China face a more challenging fundraising environment.
Shanghai’s platform has maintained a fundraising cycle of roughly four years and raised more than 6 billion yuan for each of its three funds, highlighting what it describes as a shift from local government guidance toward broader regional collaboration and international capital participation.
Separately, a new 3 billion yuan growth fund backed by Shanghai Lingang New Area Investment Holding Group was recently established to invest in equity, asset management and other private-market opportunities.
