SHANGHAI, Dec. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 2021 is a big year for equity investors. During the first three quarters of the year, the Chinese equity investment market raised funds totaling nearly 1.3 trillion yuan (approx. US$208 billion), an increase of 50 per cent from the same period of the previous year. Funds raised by RMB and US dollar funds during the first three quarters of the year surpassed the amounts raised for the whole of 2020. In addition, total investment in the market exceeded 1 trillion yuan (approx. US$160 billion) during the reporting period, representing a year on year rise of over 70 per cent.
Through an independent survey conducted in 2021 that examined capitalists who work at over 200 venture capital (VC) firms and are active in mainland China, Forbes China selected 100 investors who delivered strong performance over the past five years. This year's selection results not only represented the Matthew Effect in the Chinese VC investment market but also demonstrated the Long Tail Effect of VC investment. The return on investment (ROI) upon exit of the 100 capitalists accounted for 80 per cent of the total ROI of all the candidates, indicating that the market over the past five years has been facing a lack of projects that can show long-term value throughout the market cycle.
Alan Song, founding partner and chairman of Chinese VC firm Harvest Capital, has once again made Forbes China's list of the Top 100 Venture Capitalists for his excellent insights into and strong influence across the equity investment market. This marked the third consecutive year that Mr. Song has been included in the list.
"The garnering of this honor is an affirmation of Harvest Capital's commitment to supporting China's consumer brands, and, by doing so, to boosting the growth of the consumer sector," said Mr. Song, who has led the VC firm that has been committed to investment in consumer goods and modern service companies for 15 years. "This is also a victory for our portfolio companies that uphold the values of altruistic empowerment and long-termism."
Harvest Capital's portfolio companies include Eastroc Beverage and Aimer Co, both of which successfully launched an IPO in the Chinese A-share market, Laoxiang Chicken, a fast food chain that is in the home stretch of an IPO launch and Wenheyou, a food and beverage firm that has made great progress along the path to going public. In addition to these successful investments, Harvest Capital has bought shares of GLP Pte Ltd. and Sequoia Capital China collectively worth nearly 800 million yuan (approx. US$128 million), becoming a strategic shareholder at the two companies.
"Investment is neither about seizing opportunities brought about by market changes and trends, nor about simply increasing the ROI," is something that Mr. Song has said many times. "You can never go wrong by providing people with premium products and services in good faith while respecting the market, consumers and the fact about the rise of Chinese consumer brands." Harvest Capital, with Mr. Song at the helm, has been exclusively focusing on investment in the consumer goods and services sector for 15 years and plans to continue doing the same in the future.
