The return of super LPs: The three internet giants are heavily investing in GPs.
The market recovery has never been a linear upward process. However, the return of industrial LPs has further boosted market confidence.
In the past two years, the once-dominant Internet giants have almost withdrawn from the LP landscape.
Recently, the situation has changed dramatically: Tencent has heavily invested in the Chenyi Fund led by "the Queen of Mergers and Acquisitions" Liu Xiaodan; Alibaba has quietly entered the early-stage territory of Tsinghua University; JD.com has invested 50 million US dollars in a GP...
Silently, the three Internet giants are collectively returning to the LP battlefield.
The Three Giants Return Together
In the past two years, the Internet giants that were once active in the LP field have left one after another. It was rare to see the figures of Internet giants behind GPs. However, in recent days, the long-lost scene has reappeared.
The cause was a business registration change on July 3, which brought Tencent back into the vision of the venture capital industry.
According to the Qichacha APP, on July 3, a business registration change occurred in Shanghai Chenluan Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership). Guangxi Tencent Venture Capital Co., Ltd. unexpectedly appeared on the list of new partners. Shenzhen Zhouyi Management Consulting Partnership, also a Tencent subsidiary, also joined.
Tencent's total investment in the Chenyi Fund this time exceeded 20 million US dollars.
The fund, led by "the Queen of Mergers and Acquisitions" Liu Xiaodan, welcomed Zhang Yong and Hu Xiao, two powerful generals from the Alibaba system, last year. Now, with Tencent's entry, it is regarded as a strategic move in the currently hottest M&A track.
According to the observation of FOFWEEKLY, this is already Tencent's third move as an LP in 2025:
In February this year, Shenzhen Tencent Industry Investment Fund Co., Ltd. invested 10 million US dollars in Suzhou Xingchuang Emerging Medical Industry Investment Fund Management Partnership (Limited Partnership). In April, it invested another 20 million US dollars in Shanghai Xingchuang Chuanhe Private Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership). The fund managers of both funds are Xingchuang Capital. In May, Tencent Industry Investment Fund Co., Ltd. made another move, investing 30 million US dollars in Shanghai Lilan Private Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership).
Investing 60 million US dollars in half a year, Tencent continues its super LP investment landscape covering top GPs such as Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Zhongding Capital.
It is worth noting that JD.com also made a move again almost at the same time.
On July 8, Shenzhen Huakong Frontier Technology Private Equity Venture Capital Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) was registered and established with a registered capital of over 150 million US dollars. JD.com Technology Information Technology Co., Ltd. invested 50 million US dollars to become the largest LP. Behind the fund, there are also state-owned LPs such as Zexiang Investment and Hongshan Capital.
Looking back further, Hangzhou Alibaba Venture Capital Co., Ltd. participated in the Wuxian Qihang Haihe (Tianjin) Venture Capital Partnership and became one of its LPs.
In a short period of time, the three giants have "made a comeback" one after another.
In the eyes of the outside world, this may not be a coincidence, but a consensus judgment of industrial capital on the market's bottoming out and rebound.
Industrial LPs Start to Place Bets
In recent years, the entire venture capital market has faced many challenges and changes. Difficulty in fundraising has become a prominent pain point in the industry. Affected by multiple factors such as the market environment, many industrial LPs have changed from onlookers to withdrawers. The market has been short of market-oriented funds for a long time.
However, in 2025, the cold wave is gradually receding, and the market is showing signs of a structural recovery: investors' business trips have doubled, the decision-making cycle has been significantly shortened, and the long-silent LPs are also showing enthusiasm. Real money is flowing back to the primary market.
In fact, it's not just the Internet giants that have chosen to return. According to our observation, since the beginning of 2025, the technology industry has also been returning to the LP battlefield with unprecedented enthusiasm.
Just two weeks ago, the new fund of Chaoxi Capital had its first close of 70 million US dollars, with industrial LPs accounting for up to 60% and the reinvestment rate of old LPs exceeding 50%.
The reason is that the dual resonance of policy relaxation and technological breakthroughs is reshaping the value logic of the venture capital market, and market confidence is gradually returning.
First, there has been a structural change in the exit end - the speed of IPOs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has accelerated, the number of restructuring cases on the Science and Technology Innovation Board has increased significantly, and state-owned M&A funds have exploded. Recently, the regulatory authorities have also intensively released positive signals, opening a "new exit window" for the industry; on the fundraising end, there are signs of "return of fresh water", and the LP decision-making cycle has also accelerated.
Recently, the person in charge of the investment department of an industrial group told us frankly: "The group has several funds that can be used to invest as an LP."
Many LPs such as CATL, Kanglonghua Cheng, Aofei Entertainment, Huapeng Power, and GCL Energy have also made investments recently. In addition to being mainly related to their own businesses, the investment fields of the invested funds are more focused on future industries such as robotics and AI.
In fact, the current investment demands of industrial LPs are more focused on the level of "industrial synergy + ecological control", and there are also new changes in the screening logic for GPs.
The person in charge of investment of an industrial group said frankly: "We focus on evaluating the quality and growth potential of the GPs' historical investment projects. We also hope that GPs can provide more high-quality direct investment projects."
Although the market has faced many challenges in the past few years, it has also provided a rare opportunity for practitioners to reflect and adjust. Although there are still pessimistic voices in the industry, there is more enthusiasm for the industry's development. The pessimists remain pessimistic, but the optimists have already seen the signs of a better market and are actively deploying.
This year may become a new starting point for the venture capital industry to cross the cycle.
Conclusion
As giant LPs start to return, state-owned LPs become more active, the decision-making cycle shortens, and the number of new fund filings increases... These concrete "signs of recovery" are becoming clearer.
Although challenges still remain, as many industrial LPs predict: 2025 is very likely to become a new starting point for China's venture capital, and they also hold a positive attitude towards the development of future industries such as artificial intelligence.
The market recovery has never been a linear upward process. However, the significant return of industrial capital has undoubtedly written the most powerful footnote for this "year full of expectations".
This article is from the WeChat public account "FOFWEEKLY", author: FOFWEEKLY. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.