Cooley Helps GGV Raise $625M For 4th Venture Capital Fund
GGV Capital, a venture capital firm based in California and China, has raised $625 million for its fourth venture capital fund, the firm's largest fund to date, GGV Capital said Tuesday.
The venture capital fund manager, based in Menlo Park, Calif., and Shanghai, said it raised $520 million in U.S. funds and RMB 650 million ($105 million) in funds from Chinese investors for the GGV Fund IV LP. With the combined commitments, the new fund has surpassed GGV Fund III LP, which launched in 2007 with $610 million in assets, as the firm's largest fund, GGV Capital said. Fundraising closed on July 31, according to a GGV spokeswoman.
GGV Capital, one of the few venture capital firms in the world to be run by a unified global team investing in the U.S. and China, now has roughly $1.6 billion in total assets under management.
Brien Smith, a managing director with GGV Capital limited partner and asset management giant Neuberger Berman Group LLC, said in a statement that the venture capital firm has redefined the concept of a joint U.S. and China venture capital firm.
"It is extremely challenging to do what the GGV team does — execute across the U.S. and China," Smith said. "GGV's long history of success and strong reputation for partnering with top entrepreneurs in both markets set the firm up well for future success."
The fund will make expansion-stage investments of between $5 million and $25 million in leading Internet, digital media and mobile companies in the U.S. and China, GGV Capital said. The fund will also make select investments in the consumer industry in China.
Fund IV has already made several investments, the venture capital firm said. Among its investments in 2012 are a minority investment in Internet audio platform SoundCloud in a fundraising round led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and a $5.1 million Series A funding commitment to California-based subscription e-commerce site Citrus Lane in conjunction with Greylock Partners.
Other investments made by the new fund include Chinese women's social network Meilishuo, 300-store early learning educational chain RYB and online food recipe sharing platform DuoGuo.com, GGV Capital said.
The firm has sold off several portfolio companies for a tidy sum, such as China video-sharing website Tudou Holdings Ltd.'s $1 billion merger with Chinese video hosting service Youku Inc. Tudou CEO Gary Wang said in a statement in Tuesday's release that GGV Capital partner Jixun Foo will remain on the firm's board after the Youku merger.
"Entrepreneurs require different levels of expertise at every stage of growth," Wang said. "GGV truly works as a team — we had partners from both Asia and the U.S. involved at the board level helping us drive Tudou from our early expansion years to our IPO and eventual $1 billion merger with Youku."
GGV is represented by Cooley LLP. UBS AG is serving as placement agent.
--Editing by Katherine Rautenberg.
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