QINGDAO, China, May 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of May 13, 2023, the Qingdao∙ Global Venture Capital Conference officially ended. Over the past two days, more than 1,000 leading investors, economists, entrepreneurs and representatives from financial institutions in the field of venture capital from China and around the world gathered in the city of Qingdao to discuss new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation. More than 30 million people watched the live broadcast, an increase of nearly 10 million compared with the year before.
Although the conference lasted only two days, it featured more varied content than previous editions. The 2-day event included one main forum and six sub-forums, with participants discussing new applications and trends for venture capital investment, and making suggestions on how to improve Qingdao's efforts for developing into a global venture capital center in the future. During the conference, the 3.0 policy for the "10 Articles of Qingdao Venture Capital Investment" was issued. In order to meet the needs of Qingdao's industrial development, a number of awards, including capital investment awards, S fund transaction awards and scale awards were added, aiming to attract more venture capitalists to invest in Qingdao, share opportunities with the city and attract the attention of the industry.
Agreements on 55 projects were signed at the conference worth a total value of CNY 58.7 billion, including 2 projects worth 5 billion and 5 projects worth 3 billion. These projects were concentrated in strategic emerging industries such as electronic information, integrated circuits, intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine and VR. The Metaverse Joint Investment Fund focuses on allocating funds for the metaverse; the Tailai Venture Capital Fund employs academics as consultants to provide support for project implementation and industrial investment; the Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund will help semiconductor enterprises achieve technology independence and controllability; the CICC AstraZeneca Medical and Health Fund covers the whole industrial chain, from R&D, production, operation and commercial development of new drugs all over the world.
In addition to project funding, the implementation of other financial projects was also of great interest to attendees. The Hengfeng Financial brand was launched; Zhongtai Securities Qingdao Regional Headquarters and Qingdao Capital Market Service Base were opened; and Fortune Luchenhui, an investment platform belonging to Fortune Capital (a top venture capital investment institution in Shenzhen), was established on the 13th. This platform will bring together high-end resources to boost the development of enterprises following investment.
During the conference, many districts and cities also seized the opportunity to encrypt their regional financial system, thus laying a solid capital foundation for industrial development. The "Fushanwan Fund Valley", a key project for the fund park established in Shinan District, will make full use of the agglomeration of the financial (fund) industry, creating a large Qingdao-based investment and financing platform to serve all of Shandong province. The scale of the fund is planned to reach CNY 100 billion by 2026. In addition, agreements for 12 funding projects were signed in Laoshan District, at a total investment of CNY 15.8 billion. These projects are centered on the four emerging industries of medicine and health, new-generation information technology, AI and VR, and advanced manufacturing.
The "Best Partner Award for Qingdao Municipal Government Guiding Fund in 2022" and the "Outstanding Contribution Award for Qingdao Municipal Government Guiding Fund in 2022" were awarded for the first time this year. Partners who have supported innovation and entrepreneurship, transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and the development of the "Four New" economies in Qingdao received these awards. Up to now, the Qingdao Municipal Government Guiding Fund has participated in the establishment of 137 funds, with a subscription of more than CNY 144.9 billion. The equity fund has made direct equity investments of CNY 18.9 billion across 420 projects in the city, attracting 218 overseas projects to settle ere, including "unicorn" enterprises such as Extreme Vision, BOE and AdTiger. Companies yet to be listed have also opened headquarters, resulting in a more than ten-fold increase in the number of fund enterprises, as well as the scale of private equity investment and number of employees in related fields in Qingdao.
"Hard Science and Technology" enterprises and SRDI enterprises were the key words at this conference. 9 venture capital investment institutions forming part of the first SRDI Enterprise Cooperation and Development Alliance in Qingdao were awarded licenses, allowing them to better serve as an "incubator" and "booster" for the development of SRDI enterprises. Blue Ocean Equity Exchange and Wanrong Investment released their own financing products for SRDI enterprises. According to the Annual White Paper on the Global Venture Capital Industry (2023) issued during the conference, Qingdao's "Hard Science and Technology" enterprises are greatly favored by venture capital investment institutions. More than 70% of the nearly 100 investment cases in Qingdao in 2022 were in the "Hard Science and Technology" fields, including information technology, biomedicine, semiconductors, intelligent manufacturing and high-end equipment.
The roadshow for specialized emerging industry park projects, which was launched during the conference, was also a great focus of attention. According to the current situation of the top ten emerging industries in Qingdao, the municipal government plans to build 15 specialized parks (as a first batch) within the city. The agglomeration and development of specialized parks cannot be realized without the empowerment and support of industrial and venture capital. The roadshow for these high-quality projects attracted the attention of many venture capital investment institutions present at the conference.
The Qingdao• Global Venture Capital Conference has been held for five consecutive years since 2019. As a grand event for the development of the financial industry in Qingdao and throughout the country, the conference has provided a broader platform for the city to attract both investment and talent. In this way, it has provided strong support for the strategy of "finance serving the real economy", improved the scale and service level of Qingdao's financial industry, and greatly boosted the city's high-quality socio-economic development.
