Firm of the Year – Venture Capital

5Y Capital

5Y Capital defied challenging fundraising conditions to close its latest China-focused venture capital fund at the hard cap of USD 800m in the first quarter of 2024. This vehicle alone accounts for 40% of all commitments made to US dollar-denominated China VC funds over the past 12 months. Liquidity events included a HKD 989.3m (USD 126.6m) Hong Kong IPO for QuantumPharm, the holding company for China-based artificial intelligence-enabled drug development platform XtalPi. 5Y also participated in funding rounds for the likes of biotech companies Angitia Biopharmaceuticals and Revir Therapeutics, Wuhan Jizhao Energy Storage Technology, and Anhui Xinchen New Material.

AC Ventures

AC Ventures closed its fifth Indonesia-focused fund in January 2024 on USD 210m, exceeding the USD 210m raised for the prior comparable vintage. The manager curated what is described as an increasingly institutional LP base featuring development finance institutions (DFIs), sovereign wealth funds, and financial institutions. AC’s seed stage strategy has contributed to the emergence of unicorns like Carsome, Xendit, and Koinworks, but Fund V signals a shift towards Series A rounds. Notable deals in the past 12 months include re-upping in a USD 55m round for rooftop solar start-up Xurya Daya, which included direct participation from several DFIs.

Chiratae Ventures

India’s Chiratae event registered a significant liquidity event in August 2024 when Brainbees Solutions, holding company for mother-and-baby retailer FirstCry, raised INR 41.9bn (USD 498m) through a domestic IPO. The venture capital firm first backed FirstCry circa 2012 and continued to invest through its growth strategy. It did much the same with Lenskart, another start-up that has received significant growth capital, facilitating exits for early-state investors. Chiratae has also re-upped in the likes Bizongo and Vayana Network over the past 12 months, while reportedly offloading a USD 70m portfolio of interests from its early funds to Madison India Capital.

Openspace Ventures

Investments made by Openspace Ventures over the past 12 months reflect the breadth of the firm’s coverage – within Southeast Asia and across sectors. In addition to leading rounds for Vietnam’s Every Half Coffee Roasters and Singapore-based forestry carbon projects developer Thryve.Earth, it re-upped in insur-tech business Igloo and prop-tech player Rukita. The firm is deploying its fourth venture fund, which reached a first close last year. A second growth-stage vehicle is also in the market. Meanwhile, Openspace’s debut fund has achieved DPI of 1.4x – with five positions remaining – partly on the back of judicious use of the secondary market.

Qiming Venture Partners

China’s Qiming Venture Partners can point to three significant liquidity events over the past 12 months: the trade sale of medical device supplier APT Medical at a valuation of USD 4.4bn and IPOs of USD 152m and USD 130m for automotive services platform Tuhu Car and smart hardware specialist Ubtech Robotics, respectively. The APT exit was especially striking. Qiming received USD 877m in proceeds for a 16.8x return. In all, the firm claims to have completed 47 deals and secured 55 exits since September 2023. New investments or re-ups range from SanegeneBio and Shanghai Chemlex to Fxiaoke and Swap Energy.