Entrepreneurs have expressed strong support for China's new national venture capital guidance fund, recently announced by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), citing its potential to accelerate innovation, fuel startup growth, and narrow the funding gap in emerging sectors like artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technology.
China's announcement that it would establish a trillion-yuan (about 138 billion U.S. dollar) national venture capital guidance fund is seen by many entrepreneurs as a game-changer for the country's startup ecosystem.
The fund, introduced by the NDRC during this year's "two sessions," a major event in China's political calendar, is designed to support early-stage ventures in industries such as AI, quantum technology, and hydrogen energy storage.
Brian Tse, founder and CEO of Concordia AI, a Beijing-based enterprise focused on AI safety and governance, emphasized the importance of capital in driving technological progress.
"When I think about the progress of AI, there are really a couple of key elements. You need a lot of data to train the models. You need to compute, the chips. You need the energy. And also you need great ideas, especially by great talents. And then you need capital, especially for early-stage startups, venture capital is really the fuel of the growth. And when I look at the venture capital industry in China for AI, I think currently it's still less than half of that as compared to the U.S. So I think this type of policy will be critical for young entrepreneurs to create new startups in AI and other industries that are fundamental to the next stage of high-quality growth," Tse said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Alan Tso, founder of CBD Self Storage, also weighed in on the new fund's importance.
"This definitely reflects how committed and how determined our country is in promoting and echoing what we said and what we do. In order to develop an industry, capital expenditure, capital investment is a must. And having this government-backed fund and also integrating capital from the private sector, this new joint venture fund would definitely help to accelerate the development of the process. I think it's one step forward. If you look at the previous decade, it's mostly foreign venture, foreign capital fund, VCs doing this. And if you look at this era, it is mostly driven by domestic capital, by the capital coming from the central government in a very complete movement. So I would say this is very encouraging for anyone who wants to capitalize and to get hold of this ride, of this tech blossom," Tso noted.
As the government focuses on supporting emerging industries, this new initiative presents a unique opportunity for young innovators to secure the funding necessary to scale their businesses and compete on a global stage.
China's new venture fund gets strong backing from young entrepreneurs
