The story of the next stop for state-owned venture capital is told like this.

Over the past year, there have been many changes in the policy environment. From the investment fault - tolerance mechanism to the adjustment of the assessment mechanism for state - owned funds, regulatory authorities have been continuously adding new measures. State - owned venture capital institutions have gradually found new paths through continuous communication with regulatory authorities.

Different from previous reforms, one of the key items in the new stage of the reform of state - owned enterprises lies in guiding state - owned enterprise funds to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects".

On June 17th, the State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) held the second special promotion meeting for the in - depth improvement action of state - owned enterprise reform in 2025, specifically arranging reform work.

At this meeting, SASAC required central state - owned enterprises to focus on new industries and new tracks, concentrate on scientific and technological attributes and technological value, standardize the development of angel investment, venture capital, and equity investment, and guide state - owned enterprise funds to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects".

The Zhejiang Science and Technology Innovation Mother Fund is an early explorer of the "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects" model among state - owned enterprise funds.

After contacting the fund, Economic Observer learned that this government - guided fund established under the leadership of the Zhejiang provincial government mainly aims to guide social capital to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and technology - intensive projects" and support the scientific and technological innovation and the development of strategic emerging industries in Zhejiang Province.

Besides Zhejiang, since 2025, regions such as Jiangsu, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Hubei have also explored the "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects" model to varying degrees.

More than one state - owned venture capital person told Economic Observer that over the past year, there have been many changes in the policy environment. From the investment fault - tolerance mechanism to the adjustment of the assessment mechanism for state - owned funds, regulatory authorities have been continuously adding new measures. State - owned venture capital institutions have gradually found new paths through continuous communication with regulatory authorities.

During the exploration process, state - owned venture capital faces new challenges.

Feng Jianlin, the deputy general manager and the head of the investment department of Guangzhou Industry Control Science and Technology Innovation Group Co., Ltd., believes that taking Guangzhou as an example, during the process of promoting state - owned capital to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects", the risk tolerance of state - owned capital is still insufficient, which affects the investment enthusiasm to a certain extent.

Economic Observer learned from the State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as "SASAC") that it is setting the tone for the next - step state - owned capital investment.

Next, SASAC will focus on promoting the institutional and mechanism reform of scientific and technological innovation, industrial innovation, and their integration, and guide state - owned enterprise funds to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects".

In specific operations, SASAC will also give a certain growth - care and tolerance period to new technologies, new business forms, and new models, and attach importance to the integration after the reorganization and merger of strategic emerging businesses.

The Choice of Zhejiang Venture Capital

Before SASAC made the latest statement on state - owned funds "investing in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects" at the above - mentioned special promotion meeting, local state - owned venture capital and state - owned funds had already taken actions.

In 2025, the Zhejiang Science and Technology Innovation Mother Fund targeted the "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects" model.

At that time, Zhejiang established three major fund groups, namely the "Industrial Cluster Fund, Specialized and Sophisticated Fund, and Science and Technology Innovation Mother Fund", forming a model where the "Specialized and Sophisticated Fund + Science and Technology Innovation Mother Fund" jointly supported the "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects" approach.

Economic Observer learned that in terms of the reform of the assessment and evaluation mechanism, Zhejiang took the lead in reforming the assessment and evaluation mechanism of government - guided funds. It extended the cycle of the science and technology innovation mother fund from the original 8 - 10 years to 15 years, and at the same time extended the assessment cycle for sub - funds, advocating that sub - funds act as patient capital.

In terms of the fault - tolerance mechanism, Zhejiang clearly stated that if the loss of the investment part of a single specialized and sophisticated fund and the science and technology innovation mother fund is within 40%, the liability determination procedure will not be initiated.

Compared with the above - mentioned science and technology innovation mother fund, Zhejiang Venture Capital Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhejiang Venture Capital") is one of the state - owned enterprises that "took the lead in trying new things" earlier.

Going back to 2019, when Zhejiang Venture Capital first contacted Huahai Qingke Co., Ltd., it was criticized in the industry.

At that time, Huahai Qingke's annual revenue was only more than 35 million yuan, and the loss reached more than 36 million yuan.

The Science and Technology Innovation Board had not yet been launched, and international giants had monopolized the CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) equipment market for decades.

Economic Observer learned from Zhejiang Venture Capital that in that year, facing this "high - risk target", although Huahai Qingke had certain technological reserves, there were still risks in technology transformation.

In terms of the risk of technological maturity, Huahai Qingke had certain technological accumulations in the field of semiconductor equipment such as CMP equipment at that time. However, whether these technologies could operate stably and efficiently in actual production and meet the expected performance indicators was still uncertain. For example, CMP equipment needs to achieve high - precision polishing of wafers in a complex process environment, and the technological maturity directly affects the product quality and production efficiency.

In terms of the risk of market acceptance, even if the technology can be successfully transformed into products, it is still unknown whether the market is willing to accept these products. The semiconductor equipment market is highly competitive. As a start - up company, Huahai Qingke has relatively low brand awareness and market share, and it needs to spend a lot of time and energy to develop the market and convince customers to accept its products.

In addition, there is also the risk of technological iteration.

The semiconductor industry has a rapid technological update cycle. Huahai Qingke needs to continuously invest in R & D resources to maintain its technological leadership. If the enterprise cannot keep up with the pace of technological development in a timely manner, its existing technologies may be eliminated by the market, resulting in the waste of the previous investment in technology transformation.

Economic Observer learned that the risk of the loss of core technical personnel was also one of the key discussion topics of the Zhejiang Venture Capital team that year.

The discussion at that time focused on "if core technical personnel leave during the technology transformation process, it may lead to the interruption or delay of technology transformation, and even cause problems such as technology leakage". Because Huahai Qingke's technology R & D highly depends on the professional knowledge and experience of core technical personnel.

Moreover, technology transformation requires a large amount of capital investment, including R & D expenses, equipment procurement expenses, and market promotion expenses. At that time, Huahai Qingke was relatively short of funds. Although Zhejiang Venture Capital's investment could provide certain financial support, whether it could meet all the capital needs during the enterprise's technology transformation process and whether the enterprise could achieve successful technology transformation with limited financial support were all issues that needed to be considered.

All the above - mentioned problems made other potential investors back off, and Zhejiang Venture Capital also faced external pressure and doubts.

Compared with other venture capital institutions, Zhejiang Venture Capital finally took the lead in the "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects" approach.

What the Zhejiang Venture Capital team valued was the scarce value of Huahai Qingke: at that time, it was the only domestic enterprise that could provide 12 - inch CMP commercial models, and its technology filled the gap in domestic high - end semiconductor equipment, directly competing with international giants such as Applied Materials in the United States and Ebara in Japan.

The Strategy for Hard - tech Investment

In 2025, Zhejiang Venture Capital's investment in Huahai Qingke achieved financial returns - a cumulative recovery of 470 million yuan, with an investment return rate of up to 15.6 times.

The success of Zhejiang Venture Capital is not an isolated case.

Zhu Changming, a partner of Sunshine Law Firm, believes that the reform and innovation mechanism of local state - owned assets is an important support for the development of early - stage technology enterprises.

The strategy of the early - stage hard - tech fund initiated by Shanghai International Group is based on the reform and innovation mechanism of Shanghai.

Public information shows that the target scale of this fund is 1 billion yuan, and the initial scale is about 200 million yuan. The investment cooperation agreement was officially signed on January 29, 2024.

According to the official website information, Shanghai International Group is an important financial investment platform in Shanghai, with relatively rich financial resources and a professional investment team. The early - stage hard - tech fund initiated by it can fully utilize the group's experience and resources in the financial field, providing a solid foundation for the operation of the fund.

After sorting out the financial and technological policies of the Shanghai municipal government, Economic Observer learned that the Shanghai municipal government has issued a series of relevant support policies.

For example, the release of the "Action Plan for Supporting the Construction of Shanghai International Financial Center" provides a good policy environment for Shanghai International Group's hard - tech fund, which can help the fund attract more funds and projects.

Since 2024, Shanghai International Group's hard - tech fund has repeatedly established industrial alliances with other local industrial funds and financial institutions in Shanghai. Through cooperation with enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, it provides multi - dimensional support for investment projects, promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and industrial development.

In terms of development logic, Shanghai International Group's hard - tech fund targets the hard - tech field. This fund focuses on investing in hard - tech fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine, which have high technological thresholds and market potential.

Zhu Changming believes that by investing in early - stage hard - tech enterprises, the fund can share the growth dividends of these enterprises and at the same time support Shanghai's scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading.

So far, Shanghai International Group's hard - tech fund has developed a relatively mature market strategy.

Taking project screening and evaluation as an example, the fund has established a complete project screening and evaluation mechanism to evaluate the technological innovation, market prospects, team strength, etc. of investment projects.

After Economic Observer investigated multiple investment cases of the fund, it was found that after investment, the fund not only provides financial support but also provides post - investment management services and value - added services for enterprises. For example, it helps enterprises optimize their management structures, expand market channels, and connect with upstream and downstream resources, enhancing the competitiveness and growth rate of enterprises.

In terms of the exit mechanism, the fund has designed a diversified exit mechanism, including IPO (Initial Public Offering), mergers and acquisitions, and equity transfer.

Besides Shanghai, regions such as Hubei and Beijing have also gradually developed their own hard - tech investment logic.

The Beijing SASAC requires relevant enterprises that the investment direction should focus on new industries and new tracks, concentrate on scientific and technological attributes and technological value, and in the next step, it will also standardize the development of angel investment, venture capital, and equity investment.

Trend

Economic Observer learned from the State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as "SASAC") that it is setting the tone for the next - step state - owned capital investment.

Next, SASAC will focus on promoting the institutional and mechanism reform of scientific and technological innovation, industrial innovation, and their integration, and guide state - owned enterprise funds to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects".

In specific operations, SASAC requires relevant central state - owned enterprises to systematically connect with the national key industrial development strategy on the basis of their plans, scientifically formulate the "15th Five - Year Plan" for state - owned assets and state - owned enterprises, overall plan and layout based on the enterprise's own strategic positioning and industrial advantages, select the "main attack direction" for cultivating strategic emerging industries, and resolutely avoid "involution - style" competition and blind diversification.

SASAC will also give a certain growth - care and tolerance period to new technologies, new business forms, and new models, and attach importance to the integration after the reorganization and merger of strategic emerging businesses.

Feng Jianlin reminded that at present, during the process of "investing in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects", the risk tolerance of state - owned capital is relatively low, which affects the investment enthusiasm; the exit path for early - stage projects is single, and the exit mechanism for early - stage investment projects is not perfect enough, resulting in the difficulty for state - owned capital to exit smoothly after investment; the cross - departmental cooperation mechanism needs to be improved. Promoting the "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects" approach requires the cooperation of multiple departments, but the current cross - departmental cooperation mechanism is still not perfect.

Zhu Changming suggested that in the next step, the intensity of incremental investment should be continuously increased to guide state - owned enterprise funds to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects". To increase the intensity of incremental investment, it is necessary to break through the traditional financial dependence, lead through national - level funds, coordinate with local funds, and innovate financial tools to build a diversified capital layout and optimize the innovation investment strategy, so as to achieve the simultaneous incremental improvement of capital scale and scientific and technological attributes.

He believes that to guide state - owned enterprise funds to "invest in early - stage, small - scale, and hard - tech projects", it is necessary to improve the classified evaluation and incentive mechanism. For early - stage projects and small - micro enterprises, factors such as technological innovation, team strength, and market potential should be focused on; for hard - core technology projects, factors such as technological barriers, core competitiveness, and industry influence should be emphasized. Long - cycle evaluation should be carried out, and a long - cycle and precise innovation incentive mechanism should be established to avoid the excessive influence of short - term performance assessment on investment decisions.

Zhu Changming said: "We should also explore and build a specific and scenario - based compliance exemption mechanism. For investment failures caused by factors such as market uncertainty and technological risks, exemption treatment should be given under the condition of compliance, so as to relieve the worries of fund managers."

This article is from the WeChat public account "Economic Observer", author: Wang Yajie, published by 36Kr with authorization.