Lanchi Ventures has completed fundraising for its fourth dual-currency fund, with a total size of about USD 560 million, or roughly RMB 3.9 billion. This brings the firm’s total assets under management to nearly RMB 20 billion, keeping it among China’s largest early-stage fund managers.
“We are grateful for the trust of both new and longtime investors,” said Chen Weiguang, managing partner at Lanchi Ventures. “We have always believed that if Chinese tech talent is given enough room and support, it will lead the world in frontier fields such as artificial intelligence. With the new fund in place, Lanchi will continue to place big bets on AI and deep tech, stay calm and disciplined, and keep backing Chinese tech founders as they grow. We believe there are more, and bigger, opportunities ahead.”
The fundraising drew continued support from both new and existing backers.
On the USD side, the limited partner base includes sovereign wealth funds, insurers, large financial institutions, and family offices, representing long-term institutional capital. In addition to capital from Europe and the US, the fund also attracted investors from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Japan, further diversifying its geographic base.
On the RMB side, the fund moved from launch to close in less than a year and was oversubscribed at a single close. Its limited partners include national-level funds, government-guided industrial funds from key regional markets, financial institutions, market-oriented funds of funds, industrial backers, and family offices. Many existing investors reupped.
Despite strong demand, Lanchi Ventures capped the final fund size and closed the fund on schedule.
The new fund will continue to follow an early-stage technology investment strategy. The RMB vehicle will emphasize deep technologies aligned with China’s industrial policy priorities, while the USD vehicle will focus on globally competitive ventures founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, as well as AI-related opportunities.
By early 2021, Lanchi Ventures had begun evaluating investment opportunities in large models. After ChatGPT emerged in 2022, the firm concluded that China would develop its own large models and that AI would have a deeper impact than the mobile internet. It subsequently increased its AI exposure and continued deploying capital even as broader market activity slowed.
Today, Lanchi Ventures is among the firms in China that have backed early-stage companies across three areas: large model infrastructure, agentic AI, and embodied intelligence.
In embodied intelligence, Lanchi Ventures was a seed investor in Galbot. In early 2023, Chen invested after an initial conversation with founder Wang He, and the firm has increased its position in subsequent rounds. The investment was based on the team’s approach to integrating AI systems with robotic hardware and its use of simulated data to address limited real-world training data.
Around the same period, Lanchi Ventures completed a Series A1 investment in Agibot in August 2023 and added capital in four subsequent rounds. The firm said the team, co-led by Deng Taihua and Peng Zhihui, transitioned from hardware to a broader intelligence stack, demonstrating rapid iteration.
In the same segment, Lanchi Ventures has also backed companies including Tars, Simplexity Robotics, PsiBot, and Hillbot.
In large models, Lanchi Ventures participated in Moonshot AI’s Series A round in 2023. The firm identified talent density, compute resources, and data availability as key differentiators, with talent as the most critical factor at an early stage.
Yang Zhilin, founder of Moonshot AI, is a widely cited researcher in China’s natural language processing field. Lanchi Ventures cited his alignment of technical vision and execution as a key factor in its investment decision.
At the application layer, Lanchi Ventures made an angel investment in AI company Genspark in January 2024. The company, co-founded by former Xiaodu CEO Jing Kun and CTO Zhu Kaihua, said its annual recurring revenue exceeded USD 250 million within 11 months of launch and that it completed a USD 385 million Series B extension. Lanchi Ventures has also backed AI application projects including Vivix, Yuaiweiwu Technology, Daqian Technology, and Trooly, as well as enterprise agent companies such as Fabarta and Yoolee AI.
In other areas, including advanced computing, brain-computer interfaces, and AI for science, Lanchi Ventures has backed early-stage companies such as BioMap, Zhongqi Wuliang, Taichu Data, and Kairos Materials.
2026 marks the firm’s 20th year operating in China. Founded in Silicon Valley in 1998, Lanchi Ventures began building its China presence in 2005, when Chen assembled the local team. Over two decades, it has operated through multiple technology cycles and market shifts.
This cross-cycle experience reflects a long-held view on Chinese technical talent. Since beginning his venture capital career in Silicon Valley in 2000, Chen has observed that Chinese technologists have often been underestimated due to cultural and environmental differences.
When AI adoption accelerated in 2022 and sentiment in China’s capital markets weakened, the firm concluded that Chinese talent could compete globally in deep tech if given sufficient support. Lanchi Ventures maintained its investment pace during the downturn and continued backing companies across multiple rounds once conviction was established.
In evaluating founders, Lanchi Ventures said it places limited emphasis on pedigree or titles. It focuses instead on a founder’s ability to generate measurable productivity gains. The firm looks for builders with a clear sense of mission who can translate technical capability into outcomes with practical social value, particularly in areas that support China’s long-term competitiveness.
Amid the current AI investment cycle, Lanchi Ventures said it has raised its investment thresholds and become more selective. It views investment decisions as anchored in long-term structural trends and maintains that discipline is critical in the absence of clear tailwinds. It added that investors should remain clear-headed during periods of heightened activity and exit positions when conditions warrant.
This article was adapted based on a feature originally written by Stone Jin and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.