Alice Zhang, a general partner at the iCANX fund, is also a professor of integrated circuits at an elite Chinese university. … [+]
Venture capital has long been a reliable source of new investment in China, but it has come under pressure from slowing economic growth and tensions between Washington and Beijing, while at the same time global competition is intensifying in technology areas that venture capitalists often fund, such as AI.
A newly launched fund in China is taking an original approach to getting tech-savvy academics more involved in entrepreneurship by attracting them as early-stage investors. The fund, known as the iCANX Fund, brings together Beijing investment firm InnoLink and Haixia (Alice) Zhang, a professor of integrated circuits at China’s prestigious Peking University, as general partner. Zhang is also the founder of the iCANX Association and International Innovation Competition (iCAN), which attracts 20,000 participants from more than 20 countries each year. To date, the new fund has raised about 50 million yuan, or US dollars, from around 15 academics.
According to a fund press release, Wang Tianmao, president of Zhongguancun Zhiyou Research Institute, said at a press conference on June 26 that academics are at the cutting edge of technology but tend to focus on abstract ideas. Wang, who is a member of the fund’s investment committee and honorary director of the Robotics Institute of Beihang University in Beijing, said academics “need to get out of the lab and explore new avenues for high-tech entrepreneurship.” “It’s beneficial for academics to be closer to investment decisions in order to achieve faster application,” Wang said.
“Sometimes we need to pursue the truth and iterate on conviction, rather than waiting until all issues have been clearly considered before acting,” Wang said.
The efforts come amid expectations that AI-driven changes will shake up global economic competitiveness. Last week, China’s commercial capital hosted the World Artificial Intelligence Conference Shanghai to forecast what the future might hold. Speakers included Baidu CEO Robin Li.
China had 16 companies on the 2024 Forbes Midas List, one more than the previous year, buoyed by the performance of its social media and healthcare companies, but it lost its top spot and two investors dropped out of the top 10.
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