A yearly salary of one million Hong Kong dollars, Hong Kong VCs are starting to recruit talent
“Now, there are more and more job openings for VC positions in Hong Kong, and the annual salary is generally around 600,000 - 800,000 RMB.” A headhunter said bluntly.
“However, the salaries in some popular fields may be even higher. For example, the VPs in fields such as AI, semiconductors, and hard technology have been offered an annual salary of 800,000 - 1,000,000 RMB with 15 - month pay.”
“If you lead a team, the base salary is just for living expenses. The real income almost entirely depends on the fundraising ability, exit returns, and the allocated Carry ratio.”
In recent years, Hong Kong has been gradually strengthening its efforts in equity investment. Recently, a piece of news has been spreading: Hong Kong is preparing an offshore RMB venture capital fund.
Chen Maobo, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, announced in early June this year that the Hong Kong Investment Corporation is actively considering setting up an offshore RMB venture capital fund, which will specifically invest in Chinese mainland technology companies and Chinese entrepreneurs who can lead the global cutting - edge technology development.
If the offshore RMB fund is established, it is not just about adding one more fund. It means that the RMB is starting to enter the global technology equity investment system.
Hong Kong VCs Start to “Splurge”
Headhunters have recently clearly felt that there are more investment positions in Hong Kong.
A few years ago, most investors crowded into US - dollar funds in Shanghai and Beijing. But around 2023, this situation began to change. First, a group of mainland GPs established management entities in Hong Kong. Then, the Hong Kong government began to actively introduce venture capital. Next, the family office trend emerged, and a new batch of funds started to look for people to work in Hong Kong.
Now, the recruitment salaries in the Hong Kong VC/PE market have reached a level that makes mainland practitioners seriously consider. A partner in charge of recruitment in a fund company introduced that the salaries in the Hong Kong financial industry are relatively high. For some top US - dollar funds, the annual salary generally starts at 500,000 RMB, and the median salary is usually around 600,000 RMB.
In the fields of AI, semiconductors, and hard technology, it is not rare to offer an annual salary of 800,000 - 1,000,000 RMB. For more senior team managers, a million - yuan annual salary is just the minimum. Their real income almost depends on the fundraising ability, exit returns, and the allocated Carry ratio.
What drives this wave of recruitment is not just the expansion impulse of a single institution.
In April this year, the Innovation and Technology Commission announced the list of the first batch of 9 GPs selected in principle for the “Innovation and Technology Venture Fund” (ITVF). The wholly - owned subsidiary of CITIC Capital, CC SIF Advisory, jointly with Bank of Communications International and Taiping Asset Management, co - manages the “Harbour Linkage Innovation and Technology Fund”. CMBI Asset Management and Tongchuang Weiye Hong Kong Asset Management were selected. Also on the list are Daotong Investment, Gobi Partners, Yunhao Asset Management, Shanshui Capital Hong Kong, Shuimu Huading (Hong Kong) Venture Capital, and Shuimu Asset Management.
Among them, those with a mainland - Chinese background are in the majority. These institutions establish management entities in Hong Kong, obtain certifications from the Hong Kong government, and participate in local investments. They are the specific forms of the RMB technology investment ecosystem taking root in Hong Kong.
The rising salary figures are, to some extent, a clear statement with real money: the primary market in Hong Kong is serious.
Moreover, what is even hotter is that the Hong Kong government is considering setting up an offshore RMB fund.
In early June this year, Chen Maobo, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, said that the Hong Kong Investment Corporation is actively considering setting up an offshore RMB venture capital fund, which will specifically invest in Chinese mainland technology companies and Chinese entrepreneurs who can lead the global cutting - edge technology development.
What does it mean for Hong Kong to set up an offshore RMB fund?
On the most basic level, mainland technology projects will have one more source of financing, and for RMB funds, they will step onto the international stage.
“Old Money” Flocks to Hong Kong
In 1999, SoftBank invested $20 million in Alibaba. This investment changed Jack Ma's fate and also laid the basic rules for global technology investment in the following two decades: raise US dollars, invest in US dollars, exit through NASDAQ, and distribute dividends in US dollars.
This set of rules has grown into a complete ecosystem.
In contrast, although the RMB has developed for several years, it is still young compared with US - dollar funds. When mainland technology companies want to raise funds, the first step is often to set up a VIE structure, and then they can receive investments from US - dollar VCs and seek overseas listings.
But as time goes by, the situation has changed completely.
According to the statistics of the People's Bank of China, Hong Kong has the largest offshore RMB capital pool outside the Chinese mainland, with a scale of about 1 trillion RMB. In January this year, Zou Lan, the deputy governor of the central bank, announced at the Asian Financial Forum that the scale of the RMB business fund arrangement of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority would be increased to 200 billion RMB.
One trillion RMB is not a small amount.
But most of this money has only two places to go: buy dim - sum bonds or earn interest in the bank.
It's like a person with a risk preference walking into a bank that only sells treasury bonds. They want to buy stocks, but there is no such option.
Meanwhile, the amount of money flowing into Hong Kong is still increasing.
Fong Chin - kwong, the Global Head of Family Office at InvestHK, revealed that among the family offices that have the intention to settle or are in the process of doing so, half are from other parts of the world, including the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. “In a state of geopolitical tension, Hong Kong is a good and safe option, and more and more old money is coming to Hong Kong.”
The press release issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in May 2026 showed that as of the end of 2025, more than 3,380 single - family offices had been established in Hong Kong, an increase of about 680 in two years, a rise of more than 25%. As for the “New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme”, a supporting policy to attract high - net - worth individuals to Hong Kong, as of the end of April 2026, it had received nearly 3,600 applications in total, which are expected to bring about HK$108 billion in investments to Hong Kong.
The money is coming, and more and more of it. But after entering Hong Kong, it mainly stays in the secondary market - buying Hong Kong stocks, making cornerstone investments, and allocating dim - sum bonds. The door to the primary market has always been closed.
How can these huge funds be invested in high - tech enterprises in the Chinese mainland?
The Hong Kong Investment Corporation, the First RMB Buyer to Enter the Market
This task falls to the Hong Kong Investment Corporation.
The Hong Kong Investment Corporation was established in October 2022. It is a patient - capital investment platform wholly owned by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. The outside world is used to calling it the “Hong Kong - style Temasek”. It manages about HK$64 billion in government assets.
Its business philosophy can be summarized in one sentence: “Every Hong Kong dollar buys an opportunity for Hong Kong.”
Different from ordinary sovereign funds, the Hong Kong Investment Corporation always emphasizes a dual mission - to pursue financial returns and to promote the settlement of enterprises in Hong Kong and the development of local innovation and technology.
Since its establishment, it has invested in more than 200 projects in total, covering sectors such as hard technology, life science, health technology, and new energy. Among them, 10 enterprises have been listed in Hong Kong, and more than 30 are applying or preparing for listing in Hong Kong this year. In terms of financial returns, the internal rate of return (IRR) of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation in 2025 may have reached double - digits, and for every Hong Kong dollar invested, it can generally drive about HK$8 in long - term market funds to follow up.
The offshore RMB venture capital fund will be a new upgrade for the Hong Kong Investment Corporation. According to Chen Maobo's statement, Hong Kong is considering allocating part of the capital injection amount of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation to set up this fund specifically “to support Chinese mainland technology to go global”, which will invest in Chinese mainland technology companies and Chinese entrepreneurs who can lead the global cutting - edge technology.
This means that for the first time, there will be an active buyer denominated in RMB, backed by the sovereign, and focused on technology projects in the global technology primary market.
This buyer does not need to set up the project as a US - dollar - denominated entity and does not need to wait for the NASDAQ listing window. It is the RMB, directly entering the market and making direct investments.
VCs/PEs “Rush into” Hong Kong
On one hand, Hong Kong has a global perspective. On the other hand, mainland enterprises are flocking to Hong Kong to set up offices.
In June last year, Xiaohongshu opened an office in Hong Kong. This was Xiaohongshu's first office outside the Chinese mainland.
Not only unicorns but also venture capital institutions have accelerated their layout in Hong Kong in recent years.
In May last year, Futeng International, a subsidiary of Shanghai Guotou, was officially established. Zhang Sensen, the general manager of Futeng International (Hong Kong), once introduced that Futeng International is mainly to help the invested enterprises of the Futeng system go global, taking Hong Kong as the first stop.
A few months later, Dai Minmin, the deputy secretary of the Party Committee and the president of Shanghai Guotou, led a delegation to visit Hong Kong, and the person in charge of Futeng Capital and the Futeng Hong Kong team accompanied them. It is understood that in order to support excellent science and technology innovation enterprises to connect with the Hong Kong capital market, the delegation specially led representatives of some excellent invested enterprises to visit the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In addition, Morning One Capital has also carried out business layout in Hong Kong. In August last year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced that it had appointed Zhang Yong, the managing partner of Morning One Capital and the former chairman of the board of directors of Alibaba Group, as a member of the China Business Advisory Committee under the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The continuous efforts and strong support of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government for the development of science and technology innovation have made more and more mainland VC/PE institutions layout in Hong Kong. In addition to planning to apply for licenses and set up funds in Hong Kong, they are also actively connecting with the innovation resources of universities and the capital support of government - guided funds and other multi - party linkages.
Setting up an office in Hong Kong is just the first step. Raising funds and looking for projects in Hong Kong are the real directions.
In March this year, Zhongke Chuangxing officially announced that the Zhongke Chuangxing - The University of Hong Kong Venture Capital Fund (FutureTech Stars - HKU Venture LPF) had completed its first - round fundraising and closed.
This is Zhongke Chuangxing's first foreign - currency fund and the first step in its layout in Hong Kong.
It is understood that the Zhongke Chuangxing - The University of Hong Kong Venture Capital Fund is operated and managed by Zhongke Chuangxing Hong Kong Company. The investors include the Entrepreneurship Engine Fund (EEF) of The University of Hong Kong, BOC International, and Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable.
This fund aims to target future industries, focus on global disruptive technologies and major original innovation achievements, concentrate on the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and mainly invest in world - leading technology teams in Hong Kong universities and overseas R & D institutions, as well as global hard - technology start - ups led by Chinese people under the wave of AI to help them achieve industrialization.
Mi Lei, the founding partner of Zhongke Chuangxing, said that Hong Kong's core advantage lies in source innovation and connection with international capital, and its original innovation ability should be fully utilized. The Chinese mainland has unparalleled advantages in market scale, industrial support, and manufacturing costs.
“By closely connecting the two, not only can the overall innovation cost be reduced, but also a complete hard - technology ecological closed - loop from original innovation to industrial implementation and then to global market expansion can be established. Relying on its experience in successfully transforming hundreds of hard - technology enterprises in the Chinese mainland, Zhongke Chuangxing hopes to introduce this mature model to Hong Kong and cooperate with universities such as The University of Hong Kong to jointly promote the formation of this new situation.”
This is not an isolated case. In October last year and March this year, Gobi Partners successively set up strategic cooperation venture capital funds with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The University of Hong Kong, both of which were supported by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.
An increasingly intense wave of going to Hong Kong is about to begin.
Raise Funds in Hong Kong
The other protagonists in this story are mainland VCs/PEs.
In October 2023, organized by the Shenzhen Venture Capital Association, a luxurious inspection team flew to the United Arab Emirates. Liu Zhou, the founding partner and chairman of Fortune Capital, Jiang Yucai, the vice - president of Shenzhen Capital Group, and representatives from more than a dozen institutions such as Cornerstone Capital, Qiancheng Capital, and Taixin Capital gathered in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to visit local sovereign funds.
After returning, the statements of the inspection team were quite restrained. “Although there seems to be a lot of money in the Middle East, it's not easy to get.” Most of the decision - makers of local sovereign funds are local crown princes, and the management teams are very international, with relatively high thresholds.
This inspection team is not an isolated case.
Industry insiders revealed that most of the successful fundraising cases occurred in 2022 and before, and most of them were obtained through strong personal relationships. In the past two years, there have been almost no successful cases.
As for the root cause, a Middle - East consultant put it clearly: “The needs of both sides do not match. Middle - East capital hopes that Chinese venture capital institutions will bring Chinese enterprises to the Middle - East, while Chinese VCs/PEs hope to bring Middle - East money back to China. Raising funds in the Middle East requires long - term network building and patience. It's not just about making a PPT to get the money.”
Now, Hong Kong has become the key.
Chen Maobo's words are very accurate: “In the face of the complex geopolitical situation and the wave of artificial intelligence, funds are being re - allocated on an unprecedented scale. Unilateralism and regional conflicts are driving funds to flow to stable and reliable safe havens, while breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are attracting a large amount of funds into related fields. How to receive and make good use of these two capital flows at the same time is one of the key issues for Hong Kong's current development.”
Mainland VCs/PEs can go to Hong Kong to look for funds, find projects, and even set up their first foreign - currency funds.
Now, the recruitment salaries in the Hong Kong VC market are quietly rising: starting at 60,000 RMB, with 15 - month pay, and million - yuan annual salaries. Behind this figure, a group of institutions are betting on one thing. The RMB is getting a new entry ticket to global technology investment.
And Hong Kong is the place issuing the ticket.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Rongzhong Finance” (ID: thecapital), written by Abu, edited by Wuren, and published by 36Kr with authorization.