SZ plans to build VC block in Xiangmihu

A computer-generated image of the international venture capital (VC) block in Xiangmihu. SD-Agencies

Shenzhen plans to build an international venture capital (VC) block in Xiangmihu, Futian District, drawing on the experience of Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley notable for its concentration of VC firms, according to a government document released Monday.

The VC block represents the city’s latest effort to build the city into an international sci-tech innovation hub. It will be the first of its kind in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

The Xiangmihu VC block will cover Chegongmiao area to the south of Shennan Boulevard and some blocks of Donghai community to the north of the boulevard, with the new financial center in Xiangmihu as the core.

Futian is traditionally compe-titive for its financial services industry in Shenzhen and is one of the three major financial centers in China.

The district has gathered over 260 licensed financial institutions, accounting for nearly 70% of the city’s financial institutions.

The district also houses the headquarters of four locally developed Fortune Global 500 companies and seven VC firms among the top 50 of Zero2IPO Group’s rankings.

In July 2021, the city’s first special office building for VC firms was put into operation in Futian.

According to the government document, the VC block will focus on fostering and introducing well-known VC firms oriented by serving scientific and technological innovations and real industries, and improve the market system and mechanism for connecting Hong Kong, Macao and the world.

By 2025, the VC block will be preliminarily built into an international, market-oriented and brand-name capital accumulation area.

It aims to have no less than 10 private VC institutions ranking among the top 100 in the domestic industry and no less than 50 institutions that pilot QFLP (qualified foriegn limited partner), QDIE (qualified domestic investment enterprise) and WFOE PFM (wholly foreign-owned enterprise private fund management).

The VC block is also aimed at leveraging social capital to fully cover the city’s strategic emerging industries and future industries, and initially forming a VC landscape with international influence.