Review of 2025: 16 Major Events That Changed the Direction of China's Venture Capital Industry

In 2025, the primary market is experiencing a structural restart.

According to data from CVSource of Chinaventure Capital, from January to November 2025, a total of 4,871 new funds were established in the Chinese VC/PE market, a year-on-year increase of 16.73%. The total fundraising scale reached 2.29 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.09%.

The investment side has also recovered synchronously. During the same period, there were 10,007 investment events, a year-on-year increase of 30.33%. The investment scale reached 1.193023 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.54%.

The exit side has also significantly recovered. From January to November, 250 Chinese enterprises successfully completed IPOs on the A-share, Hong Kong, and US stock markets. The number of IPOs increased by 26.26% year-on-year, and the fundraising amount reached 318.3 billion yuan, a 1.43-fold increase year-on-year.

Judging from the three-dimensional data of "fundraising, investment, and exit", the venture capital market has emerged from the trough. However, the real change is not limited to the "recovery" itself, but lies in the structural adjustment hidden behind the data: Where does the capital come from? Where does it flow? At what pace do investment institutions make investments, and what kind of logic do they use for investment?

For example, the most crucial thing is that the central government has systematically planned government investment funds at the policy level for the first time. Whether it is issuing a guiding document or promoting the participation of national-level venture capital guidance funds, it will undoubtedly profoundly change the pattern of the Chinese venture capital market in the next few years.

Another example is the listing of a number of companies with a market value of over 100 billion yuan, such as Insta360, Moore Threads, and Muxi Semiconductor. Without accident, it will reshape the future ranking of PE/VC. And when unicorns start to acquire listed companies in reverse, it broadens the possibility boundary for technology companies to raise funds and conduct governance in the public market.

In terms of industrial upgrading, the hard technology track has continued to make breakthroughs. The semiconductor track has maintained its previous popularity, while AI, embodied intelligence, and nuclear fusion will dominate the investment trends in the next few years.

If the core contradiction in the primary market in the past few years was "lack of funds", then in 2025, the problem has evolved into: What kind of financial support is needed for Chinese-style technological innovation?

Therefore, we reviewed the 16 most iconic events in the primary market, trying to restore a more real and three-dimensional picture of the Chinese venture capital market in 2025.

01.

The Release of "Document No. 1 of the General Office of the State Council"

The first major event in 2025 was undoubtedly the official issuance of "Document No. 1 of the General Office of the State Council" - the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Government Investment Funds" on January 7. This is the first important document issued at the national level to promote the development of government investment funds.

This document, drafted by the Ministry of Finance, addresses the pain points of the industry and puts forward many constructive suggestions. It was issued by the General Office of the State Council, which ensures the guiding status of the relevant content for the work of various departments. Its release has an important background: At the beginning of 2025, governments at all levels in China had established a total of 1,627 government guidance funds, with a cumulative scale of 3.35 trillion yuan, which has become an important force in promoting the high-quality development of the Chinese economy.

"Document No. 1" was issued to regulate the operation of government investment funds. It mainly focuses on two key points: First, how to encourage government investment funds to be patient capital through various levels of relaxation; Second, how to regulate government investment funds from the perspectives of establishment, investment, and operation to improve the efficiency of fiscal funds and ensure that government investment funds can accurately serve national strategies and industrial development.

The issuance of this document directly promoted the relaxation of many issues such as the return investment, tolerance for losses, and due diligence exemption in the state-owned asset system in 2025. It also promoted a series of major events such as the implementation of the national venture capital guidance fund and the systematic participation of social security funds.

02.

The Emergence of DeepSeek

Shortly after the issuance of "Document No. 1", the Chinese technology circle welcomed the "DeepSeek moment". On January 20, DeepSeek launched the R1 inference model and fully open-sourced it, quickly triggering a strong response in the technology and venture capital circles. The emergence of DeepSeek changed the global market's inherent thinking about the formation mechanism of the capabilities of large models.

Previously, the market consensus on AI was that "the upper limit of the model's capabilities is determined by computing power". The emergence of R1 shows that under certain constraints, through architecture design, training, and system coordination, the output per unit of computing power can also be significantly improved, and the cost can be reduced. At the same time, DeepSeek also promoted the transformation of open-source models from low-cost alternatives to important carriers of technology diffusion and application innovation.

This change has impacted the trading logic of the US stock AI and semiconductor sectors in the short term. For China, it is a demonstration of achieving breakthroughs through engineering optimization under limited conditions, strengthening confidence in the development of Chinese AI, and providing an important cognitive basis for the continuous activity of themes such as AI applications, embodied intelligence, and domestic computing power.

Although DeepSeek has not raised external funds, its leading role in the venture capital circle cannot be underestimated. In the same month, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance took the lead in establishing the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund in Shanghai, with a total scale of 60 billion yuan, which is the largest-scale artificial intelligence fund established this year.

In addition, according to data from CVSource of Chinaventure Capital, from January 1 to December 1, 2025, there were 816 investment events in the Chinese artificial intelligence industry, a year-on-year increase of 94.7%. The total transaction amount was approximately 60 billion yuan. AI investment is undoubtedly one of the biggest themes this year.

03.

The Scale of Science and Technology Innovation Bonds Exceeds 100 Billion

During the Two Sessions this year, the People's Bank of China clearly proposed to promote the construction of the "science and technology board" in the bond market. On May 7, the People's Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Announcement on Supporting the Issuance of Science and Technology Innovation Bonds", and the "science and technology board" in the bond market was officially launched. Since then, science and technology innovation bonds have entered an accelerated development stage.

Shortly after the introduction of the policy, the first science and technology innovation bond issued by a private venture capital institution was launched in Shenzhen. Oriental Fortune Capital issued science and technology innovation bonds with a total scale of 1.5 billion yuan and a term of 15 years in the interbank market, becoming a landmark case for private venture capital institutions to support science and technology innovation through the bond market. Subsequently, institutions such as Zhongke Chuangxing, Cornerstone Capital, and Tongchuang Weiye successfully completed the issuance of science and technology innovation bonds.

Statistics from the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors show that as of November 21, the interbank market has supported a total of 276 entities to issue science and technology innovation bonds this year, with an issuance scale of over 530 billion yuan, including 46 equity investment institutions.

According to data from CVSource of Chinaventure Capital, from January 1 to November 30, 2025, the scale of science and technology innovation corporate bonds issued by various bond-issuing entities for fund contributions has reached 122.291 billion yuan. Among them, entities controlled by local state-owned assets supervision and administration commissions, local governments, or local state-owned enterprises issued a total of 83.191 billion yuan, accounting for as high as 68%.

From the perspective of the primary market, the implementation of science and technology innovation bonds is essentially an upgrade of the "toolbox for patient capital". It opens up a new source of medium- and long-term, low-volatility funds for venture capital institutions and lowers the financing threshold for private venture capital. Of course, from a structural perspective, state-owned capital remains the absolute dominant force.

04.

The Largest Exit Transaction in China's PE Market

At the beginning of 2025, PAG completed the sale of Yingde Gases at a consideration of approximately $6.8 billion and retained approximately 25% of the minority equity after the completion of the transaction. This transaction is widely regarded in the industry as one of the largest controlling exits in the history of the Chinese private equity market. It is also a rare large-scale realization under the background of fluctuating IPO windows and tight M&A liquidity.

This profitable exit is a perfect manifestation of PAG's long-term strategy of "controlling M&A - industrial integration - value release". Since privatizing Yingde Gases in 2017 and subsequently integrating Baosteel Gases and establishing Gas Power, PAG has built this heavy-asset, long-contract, and highly concentrated industrial gas platform into one of the largest comprehensive gas operators in China.

From the perspective of the end of the year, this transaction shows that in a cycle of tight liquidity and large valuation differences between buyers and sellers, a small number of leading assets with infrastructure attributes, long-term stable cash flows, and high industry concentration can still achieve verifiable large-scale exits through the M&A market.

05.

Unicorns Acquire Listed Companies

In July, Yuanzhi Robotics, a unicorn in the field of embodied intelligence, completed a typical "primary market buying secondary market" capital operation by acquiring the controlling rights of Shangwei New Materials, a company listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. Yuanzhi chose to obtain the governance rights of the listed platform through a publicly tradable controlling rights transaction and then reserved space for subsequent financing and business collaboration.

This transaction is widely regarded in the market as one of the representative cases of "new productive force enterprises merging into the market", which has also triggered intensive discussions about "whether it is a backdoor listing".

From the perspective of capital operation, Yuanzhi entered the secondary market by controlling a company listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, providing a feasible path sample for embodied intelligence enterprises under the background of uncertain IPOs. It significantly broadens the possibility boundary for technology startup unicorns to raise funds and conduct governance in the public market in the future.

In addition, this transaction provides a replicable operation model: Use a combination of "agreement transfer + voting rights arrangement + tender offer" to complete the transfer of controlling rights without relying on major asset restructuring. This path has been quickly learned or replicated by the market. For example, Dreame Technology acquired Jiamei Packaging, and Qiteng Robotics acquired Shengtong Energy... Unicorns acquiring listed companies has become a major highlight of the market this year.

06.

The Rapid Development of Embodied Intelligence

This year, humanoid robots are no longer just a technological ideal in the laboratory but are accelerating their way into the real world. At the beginning of the year, Unitree H1 of Unitree Robotics could only play the game of "passing the handkerchief" on the Spring Festival Gala stage; but by the end of the year, T800 of Zhongqing Robotics could already "beat up" its founder. Next year, humanoid robot factories and shopping malls may no longer be just a fantasy.

The team of CVSource of Chinaventure Capital counted the investment and financing data of the embodied intelligence track this year. As of now, there are 286 embodied intelligence companies in the country. Among them, 168 companies received investment this year, a year-on-year increase of 87% in the number of invested enterprises. The total financing scale reached 32.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 291%.

Moreover, the entrepreneurial activity remains high this year. Among these 286 enterprises, 53 are newly established, and 31 of them received investment after their establishment. At the same time, the trend of capital concentration is becoming more and more obvious. The top 10 companies accounted for more than 40% of the annual financing amount. Among them, Galaxy Universal Robotics received a financing of 2.1 billion yuan at once, becoming the embodied intelligence company with the highest valuation (approximately 21 billion yuan) at present.

As subsequent funds, talents, and industrial resources gather towards the leading companies, and with the IPOs of companies such as Unitree Robotics and Yuanzhi Robotics, embodied intelligence is likely to enter an obvious stratification period in 2026: Some companies will take the lead in moving towards commercialization, while others will be left in niche scenarios.

07.

The High Tide of Semiconductor Investment Continues

According to data from CVSource of Chinaventure Capital, in 2025, the semiconductor industry ranked first in both the number and scale of financing among all industries. There were 1,419 financing events in total, with a cumulative financing scale of over 185 billion yuan, far ahead of other industries.

In terms of IPOs, there were 20 IPO events in the semiconductor industry this year, with a total fundraising amount of over 45 billion yuan. In December, there were 6 IPOs in the semiconductor industry. Among them, the market values of Moore Threads and Muxi Semiconductor both exceeded 100 billion yuan at the opening.

Looking forward to 2026, the IPOs in the semiconductor industry are expected to remain hot. At the computing power level, domestic GPU and AI chip companies are accelerating their entry into the public market. After the listings of Moore Threads and Muxi Semiconductor, Biren Technology and Tianshu Zhixin passed the listing hearings of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week, and Suiren Technology and Hanbo Semiconductor have also launched the IPO guidance for the A-share market.

This capitalization expansion is not limited to design companies. The potential listing of ChangXin Memory Technologies also reflects that the focus of capital is further extending to the storage and basic manufacturing sectors. As a key domestic supplier of DRAM and HBM, ChangXin Memory Technologies is expected to further shift the capital focus of the Chinese semiconductor industry from computing power chips to computing power basic devices.

The expansion of the scope is also reflected in the directions of wafer manufacturing, materials, and tool chains. The listing preparations of companies such as Gotion Semiconductor, Tongchuang Puren, and CoreHawk Semiconductor indicate that capital is advancing vertically along the industrial chain, gradually covering key bottleneck links from wafer fabs to high-purity materials and then to EDA and simulation software. All these mean that semiconductor capitalization is no longer concentrated only on the design end but is advancing in depth across the entire industrial chain.

08.

Controlled Nuclear Fusion Achieves a Single Financing of 10 Billion

The field of controlled nuclear fusion is accelerating its departure from the prediction of "always 50 years away" and moving towards industrialization. In September this year, the "Atomic Energy Law" was passed, which proposed to give play to the guiding role of fiscal funds, encourage the participation of diversified capital, and optimize the capital investment structure. The 14th Five-Year Plan clearly proposed to promote nuclear fusion energy to become a new economic growth point.

According to data from CVSource of Chinaventure Capital, as of December, there have been 9 financing events in the field of controlled nuclear fusion in China in 2025, and 8 companies have completed financing. Among them, Nova Fusion completed a 500 million yuan angel round of financing from the Zhongguancun Independent Innovation Special Fund, Legend Capital, Gao Rong Capital, Alibaba, etc. three months after its establishment, breaking the record for the single financing of domestic private nuclear fusion companies.

At the same time, the national team is also accelerating its entry. In July, China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., backed by the China National Nuclear Corporation, was established in Shanghai, receiving a total investment of 11.492 billion yuan from the China National Nuclear Corporation, China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., PetroChina Kunlun Capital, Shanghai Fusion, Guolv Fund, Zhejiang Energy Group Co., Ltd., and Sichuan Fusion. Together with Fusion New Energy, which was established under the leadership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and received investment from Anhui state-owned assets and PetroChina Kunlun Capital, they are known as the two national teams in Chinese nuclear fusion research and development.

In addition, the number of funds investing in controlled nuclear fusion is increasing rapidly. In addition to the 20 billion yuan "Fusion Industry Fund" established by the National Energy Administration, the Shanghai Future Industry Fund announced that its scale would be increased from 10 billion yuan to 15 billion yuan, and its first direct investment project was China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd.

Although the financing data of the nuclear fusion track is far from comparable