China’s startup ecosystem, which produced several world-leading companies, has been in the news in the recent past about the impact of the government regulations on the venture capital (VC) market. However, China had a reasonably good H1 2021 despite the uncertain conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and regulatory shakeups. Now, GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, reveals that Chinese startups raised the highest VC funding amount among all the Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries during January to July 2021.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database shows that a total of 2,246 VC funding deals were announced in China during January-July 2021 while the total disclosed funding value of these deals stood at US$52.8bn.

July witnessed decline in VC funding value after growth in June, which was an improvement after two consecutive months of decline. VC funding activity in volume terms also showcased an inconsistent trend.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Despite investors adopting a cautious approach and deal activity remaining volatile for most of the period, China managed to witness the announcement of some big-ticket deals, which helped it register a sizeable cumulative funding value.”

Some of the notable VC funding deals announced during the period in China include US$1.5bn capital raised by Horizon Robotics, US$750m capital raised by Beijing Shihui Technology, US$700m funding raised by Beijing Wusi Chuangxiang Technology, US$700m funding raised by Dingdong Maicai and US$600m funding raised by Qingju.

Mr Bose concludes: “China remains the second top market for VC investment globally after the US. The decline experienced during some of the months could not prevent it from maintaining its dominance in the APAC VC funding landscape. Interestingly, capital raising by startups in no other country in the region is anywhere close to what Chinese startups had raised during January-July 2021.”