venture capitalist
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...
, who is the founding and managing partner 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- ...
, formerly known as Sequoia China, the Chinese arm of venture capital firm,
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 ...
. Prior to that, he was a co-founder of two companies, Ctrip.com and
Home Inn
BTG Homeinns is a hotel chain in China. It is a part of BTH Hotels and its headquarters are in the Xuhui District, Shanghai.
He has been dubbed the most successful early-stage investor in China.
In December 2022, ''Forbes'' put his net worth at $3.6 billion.
Early life and education
Shen was born in
Haining
() is a county-level city in Zhejiang Province, China, and under the jurisdiction of Jiaxing. It is in the south side of Yangtze River Delta, and in the north of Zhejiang. It is to the southwest of central Shanghai, and east of Hangzhou, the p ...
, Zhejiang in 1967. He grew up in Shanghai and attended Shanghai No. 2 High School where he was called a math prodigy. He then attended
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 98 ...
where he graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in
applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...
. Afterwards, he moved to the United States and attended the
Yale School of Management
The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Admi ...
, graduating with a master's degree in management in 1992.
Career
After graduation, Shen worked for
Citibank
Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...
in the United States for two years. In 1994, he moved to Hong Kong to work as an investment banker at
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...
. In 1996 he joined
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
...
as director of China
capital market
A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt (over a year) or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of savers ...
s.
Shen left the banking sector and in June 1999 co-founded Ctrip.com with
James Liang
James Jianzhang Liang (; born December 1969) is a Chinese American social scientist and businessman who has been the chairman of Trip.com Group since 2003. He also is a professor at the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, conduc ...
, Min Fan, and Qi Ji. He served as president of the company from August 2003 to October 2005. He oversaw the company's
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...
(IPO) on the
Nasdaq
The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
in December 2003.
In 2002, Shen co-founded
Home Inn
BTG Homeinns is a hotel chain in China. It is a part of BTH Hotels and its headquarters are in the Xuhui District, Shanghai.Beijing Tourism Group
The Beijing Tourism Group (BTG; ) is a Chinese state-owned enterprise operating in various areas of tourism, including travel agencies, dining, hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities ...
. It was spun-off from Ctrip as a separate company before its IPO on the Nasdaq in 2006.
In 2005, Shen co-founded Sequoia China with Zhang Fan under the guidance of
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 ...
partners
Michael Moritz
Sir Michael Jonathan Moritz (born 12 September 1954) is a Welsh billionaire venture capitalist, philanthropist, author, and former journalist. Moritz works for Sequoia Capital, wrote the first history of Apple Inc., '' The Little Kingdom'' ...
and Douglas Leone. Shen was given full autonomy and led Sequoia China to make successful investment in various companies such as Alibaba,
ByteDance
ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, and incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
Founded by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo, and a team of others in 2012, ByteDance developed the video-sharing ap ...
,
Meituan
Meituan ( zh, p=Měituán, c=美团, literally "beautiful group"; formerly Meituan–Dianping, literally "beautiful group–reviews") is a Chinese shopping platform for locally found consumer products and retail services including entertainment ...
,
JD.com
JD.com, Inc., also known as JINGDONG (), formerly called 360buy, , Retrieved 3 December 2013
,
Pinduoduo
Pinduoduo () is a Chinese online retailer, with a focus on the traditional agriculture industry. The business is the largest product of PDD Holdings, a company currently headquarted in Ireland that also owns the online marketplace Temu.
Histor ...
,
Qihoo 360
Qihoo 360 (; approximate pronunciation CHEE-hoo), full name 360 Security Technology Inc., is a Chinese internet security company that has developed the antivirus software programs 360 Safeguard and 360 Mobile Safe, the Web browser 360 Secure Bro ...
, DJI, Vipshop.
When managing partner, Douglas Leone retired in 2022 from Sequoia Capital, Shen was considered one of the potential successors. However the role went to Roelof Botha instead. Shen did not work as closely with the new leadership and has talked about going independent for years.
In June 2023, Sequoia Capital announced its plans to split into three entities. Sequoia China led by Shen will be operating independently under the name
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- ...
, a
pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
romanisation
In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...
of Sequoia Capital's chinese name, which means redwood.
Personal life
Shen is married to an investment banker and has two daughters who attended school in Hong Kong.
Shen currently holds Hong Kong citizenship and resides in Hong Kong. He speaks Mandarin and English. He also has some proficiency in Cantonese. Outside Hong Kong, Shen also has a mansion in
Hainan
Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...
where he often invites investors.
Shen is current Chairman of the
Yale School of Management
The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Admi ...
Board of Advisors.
In January 2018, Shen was elected to the 13th
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...
. However, in January 2023, ''The Information'' reported that he was no longer a member as he was not elected for a second term.
In February 2024, it was reported that Shen had acquired
permanent residency in Singapore
Permanent residency in Singapore is an immigration status in Singapore, second only to Singaporean citizens in terms of privileges. Collectively, both Singaporean citizens and permanent residents form the country's resident population and are ...