MPCi () is a Chinese

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

(VC) firm that is headquartered in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Founded in 2008, it is the China investment arm of

Matrix Partners Matrix (formerly Matrix Partners) is a US-based venture capital investment firm. The firm invests in seed and early-stage companies in the United States and India, particularly in the software, communications, semiconductors, data storage, Int ...

previously known as Matrix Partners China before it was rebranded.

Background

Matrix Partners China was founded in 2008 as an affiliate of Matrix Partners to focus on investments in China. During the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, VC firms were cautious to invest. However Matrix Partners China was more aggressive and invested in ten companies in 2008. Its initial investment fund was US$275 million. Early on, Matrix Partners China would spend weeks and months researching companies getting to know founders before choosing whether or not to invest in them. Its focus was on the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sector. However, later on, as the venture capital scene in China developed with more competitors like

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...

Alibaba Group Alibaba Group Holding Limited, branded as Alibaba (), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in E-commerce in China, e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology. Founded on 28 June 1999 in Hangzho ...

and

SoftBank Vision Fund The SoftBank Vision Fund is a venture capital fund founded in 2017. It is managed by SoftBank Investment Advisers, a subsidiary of the SoftBank Group. With over $100 billion in capital, it is the world's largest technology-focused investment ...

providing funding, the firm had to less time to spend on

due diligence Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. Due diligence ...

. Some decisions on whether or not to invest only took three hours. In May 2022, The Information reported Matrix Partners China's difficulty in fundraising for its latest fund, Matrix Partners China VII (with a target of $1.5 billion) due to factors such as U.S-China geopolitical risks, weakening economy from

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

and suboptimal returns from previous China funds. However, on 31 July 2023, Matrix Partners China VII closed at $1.6 billion making it the largest China-focused fund that year. Effective 1 July 2024, Matrix Partners rebranded its China and India units as MPCi and Z47 respectively. This reflected greater independence for its China operations but stopped short of a complete split from its international operations. It was compared to

Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, specializing in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. the firm had appro ...

splitting of

HongShan HongShan Capital Group (HSG; ) is a Chinese venture capital firm founded in 2005. It was previously the China investment arm of Sequoia Capital (Sequoia) and was known as Sequoia Capital China and Sequoia China before it was rebranded and spun- ...

amid geopolitical tensions between China and the U.S. MPCi investments include

XPeng Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co., Ltd., Trade name, trading as XPeng Motors ( zh, c=小鹏汽车, p=Xiǎopéng Qìchē), commonly known as XPeng, is a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. The company is headquartered in Guangzhou, Guan ...

Li Auto Li Auto Inc. () is a Chinese electric car, electric vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Beijing, with manufacturing facilities in Changzhou.https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1791706/000104746920004077/a2241802zf-1.htm Founded by Li Xiang ...

DiDi Didi Chuxing Technology Company is a Chinese vehicle for hire company headquartered in Beijing with over 550 million users and tens of millions of drivers. The company provides app-based transportation services, including taxi hailing, private ...

and Ele.me. It has also invested in sensitive space companies such as LandSpace, iSpace, and Spacety. MPCi investors have included U.S. endowments, pensions, and other American-domiciled money although it has not stated how much of its funds comes from U.S. money.

References

External links

* {{authority control Chinese companies established in 2008 Companies based in Beijing Financial services companies established in 2008 Investment management companies of China Venture capital firms of China