LPGP Discusses the New Industry Ecosystem: The 19th China Fund Partners Conference Successfully Held in Shanghai

From July 3rd to 4th, 2025, the 19th China Fund Partners Conference, hosted by Zero2IPO Group (01945.HK) and its subsidiary, Investment Circle, was successfully held in Shanghai. This year's conference attracted over 500 representatives from top FOFs, government-guided funds, insurance funds, wealthy families, VC/PE institutions, etc., who gathered with trillions of capital to deeply discuss the challenges, opportunities, and evolutionary paths of the private equity investment industry in the new economic cycle.

The conference, through forms such as keynote speeches, high-level dialogues, roundtable forums, closed-door seminars, and LP&GP matchmaking meetings, built a precise communication platform for the industry for idea exchange and resource connection.

Keyword 1: Reshaping of the Market Landscape

On-site, Ni Zhengdong, the founder and chairman of Zero2IPO Group and the CEO of Zero2IPO Group Co., Ltd., delivered a speech as the host. He said, "According to the data disclosed by various parties, in the first quarter of 2025, the total investment in China's private equity investment market exceeded 130 billion yuan, and the number of investment cases increased by 12.2% - this is the first positive growth in the past three years. However, the investment amount still decreased significantly, indicating that most investments were made in the early stage. Anyway, the increase in the number of investments is still a positive signal, and the market is warming up." Subsequently, the guests had a dialogue around "The Changes in the Logic of China's Private Equity Investment Market". Zhang Jian, the vice president of Shenzhen Capital Group, shared his observations: "Since the establishment of CITICPE in 1985, China's venture capital industry has developed for 40 years. The overall investment logic of the industry has gradually shifted from focusing on financial analysis in the past to focusing more on technological thresholds, disruptiveness, and sustainability; from pursuing short-term returns to emphasizing long-term companionship, in-depth services, and professional empowerment; from verifying business models to paying more attention to the technological implementation path, the authenticity of scenarios, and real value." When it came to the inflection point of the primary market, Li Wei, the founding partner of Matrix Partners China, said, "The market is indeed warming up, but I think the inflection point has not arrived yet. It's like going downstairs, with pauses in between. Now we are in a small plateau period, and it may rise slowly. Only by maintaining this trend can the real inflection point come." Facing the market situation in 2025 where the fundraising side has stabilized and large state-owned funds remain active, the dialogue session "Where is the 'Living Water'?" focused on breaking the deadlock at the source of capital. Li Xinjian, the general manager of Shenzhen Angel Investment Guidance Fund Management Co., Ltd., said, "Currently, the proportion of state-owned LPs is too high, which will have a crowding-out effect on the real 'living water' of social capital. Only by integrating state-owned LPs with the real 'living water' of social capital can the venture capital industry truly return to its origin, bring higher returns to LPs, and better support the development of the real economy through market-oriented means."

In addition to the fundraising challenges, exit has become another key issue. Regarding "The Solution to the Primary Market Exit", Li Haojun, the managing partner of GGV Capital, said, "When the exit path becomes unpredictable, our investment judgment method also needs to change accordingly. With the increasing importance of industrial resources, we should look at some new industries with an 'incubation' mindset. Compared with simply evaluating opportunities and technological advantages and disadvantages, we now focus more on the possibility of IPO combined with the industry and industrial capitalization." Zhu Jia, a partner of Lightspeed China Partners, shared, "As GPs, we cannot rely on policy changes to adapt to us. The most fundamental thing is to invest in good assets and ultimately realize their value. In the long run, VC/PE still has to rely on high-quality assets to improve the overall return of the fund, which is also the work that GPs must do well."

Keyword 2: Evolution of Investment Strategies

With the arrival of the new cycle in the private equity investment industry, past industry experience is no longer applicable, and investment strategies urgently need strategic adjustments. In this regard, Zhou Yu, the head of the healthcare investment department of Huatai Zijin Investment, shared, "At the investment level, I think this cycle is completely inevitable. The previous bubbles and troughs are a guide for investment and a reinforcement of investment discipline and investment standards. After this cycle, there will be next year, the year after, and even more distant cycles. It is more meaningful for us to consider in advance appropriately." Sun Qi, the founding managing partner of DCM Ventures, expressed his view: "In the current environment where opportunities are decreasing, investment needs to focus on niche tracks and have revolutionary technological innovations. In the future, it will be more and more difficult to select projects, so we need to be more meticulous in screening. In addition, the founders must have comprehensive capabilities. Relying solely on technological highlights is far from enough, and they also need to make good use of various resources." In the first quarter of 2025, the semiconductor and electronic equipment sectors were the hottest, and the hard technology field continued to attract attention. When it came to how industrial investment should evolve accordingly, Liu Kui, the deputy general manager of Shandong New Kinetic Energy Fund Management Co., Ltd., emphasized the importance of leading enterprises. He said, "It is difficult for government-guided funds alone to effectively promote industrial agglomeration. We must combine industrial forces and CVCs to work together. Through the driving force of leading enterprises, we can achieve industrial agglomeration and at the same time explore a path for the guided funds to 'invest and get returns', promoting the sustainable development of the industrial chain and industrial upgrading." Wang Yan, the deputy general manager of Anhui High - tech Industry Investment Co., Ltd., said, "From the perspective of private equity investment, finding good assets, formulating good plans, and determining good valuations are the underlying logic; from the perspective of government-guided funds and private equity investment, which are positioned for industrial cultivation, leadership, and integration, it is also necessary to base on assets with growth potential, valuations with profit margins, and transaction plans with risk - balancing measures to give full play to the combined value of an effective market and a proactive government, forming a closed - loop system with liquidity and integrated investment and exit. This is also the mission and core competitiveness of state - owned investment platforms."

Keyword 3: Adaptability of LPs and GPs

In the current LP capital pattern, government and state - owned capital dominate. The central and local governments continue to explore fault - tolerance and exemption mechanisms to cultivate long - term patient capital. The conference set up the topic "LPs and GPs, Cultivating Patience Together". Fang Min, the managing director of Warburg Pincus and the co - president of private equity investment in China, said in this regard, "In the past few years, government - guided funds have not only injected the source of 'living water' into industrial development but also provided timely assistance to invested enterprises, playing an important role at critical moments. Now, as the market environment warms up, especially with the reopening of the IPO channel and the gradual unblocking of exit channels, I believe that in such a general environment, the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two parties will be stable and far - reaching, and will write a better chapter. In the new stage of China's market transformation and upgrading, Warburg Pincus adheres to empowering local innovation with global resources and selecting high - quality targets with professional capabilities. We hope to cooperate with more outstanding entrepreneurs to create greater value." Zhang Binbin, the director and general manager of Jinan Financial Holding Group, also shared, "The relationship between GPs and LPs has changed in the past few years, from rapidly expanding the circle of friends to in - depth cultivation later. This change in the relationship is determined by the economic and policy environment. Generally speaking, the cooperation process between GPs and LPs is getting closer and closer." At the conference site, a closed - door seminar on government investment funds and an LP&GP matchmaking meeting were held, which significantly improved the communication efficiency and resource connection quality between fundraisers and investors, winning unanimous praise from the participants.

The 19th China Fund Partners Conference came to a successful conclusion. The forward - looking views and practical experience sharing of the participating guests provided valuable strategic references for the industry; the efficient and pragmatic matchmaking and in - depth exchanges laid a solid bridge for the coordinated evolution of LPs and GPs in the new cycle. Looking forward, the China Fund Partners Conference will continue to stand side by side with the industry, join hands with all parties, jointly explore new investment paradigms under the new wave of the industry, cross the cycle, and move forward steadily.