Neil Shen, founding partner of Sequoia Capital China, speaks in 2022. Photographer: Bryan van der … [+]
China, buoyed once again by the performance of social media and healthcare companies, accounted for 15 members of the 2023 Forbes Midas List unveiled today, a decline of two from 17 members in 2022. The China group, which combines those on the mainland and Hong Kong, ranked second to the United States this year.
China’s growing wealth, technology prowess and talent pool have made the country a global focus of venture capital investors and helped to spawn a home-grown venture industry. The number of listees edged lower following “zero-Covid” policies last year that hurt China’s economy, stock prices and business travel.
Long-time listee Neil Shen, the Hong Kong-based founding partner of Sequoia Capital China, rose to No. 1 in this year from No. 3 in 2022. The billionaire’s successful investments include TikTok parent ByteDance and online fashion site Shein.
Shen was one of three China-based investors in the top 10, up from two last year. The others were No. 4, Richard Liu, a founding partner at 5Y Capital (formerly known as Morningside Ventures), whose investments include electric vehicle maker XPeng, and Zhen Zhang, the founder of Gaorong Capital, who rose to No. 7 from No. 14 a year ago in part on the success of his investment in e-commerce site Pinduoduo.
Among China’s members, four were women: Anna Fang, partner and CEO, ZhenFund, who at No. 28 was the country’s top-ranked female. Nisa Leung, managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners, moved up to No. 41 this year from No. 61 last year, and Jing Hong, founding partner at Gaocheng Capital ranked No. 76 compared with No. 83 last year.
David Su, founding managing partner of Matrix Partners China, is a list newcomer this year. 2022 listees Elwin Yuan, a partner at 5Y Capital, JP Gan, founding partner at INCE Capital, and Kathy Xu, founder partner of Capital Today, missed the cut this year.
Two firms have two China members each on the 2023 edition of the Midas List: Sequoia Capital China and Qiming Venture Partners.
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