Top-tier 985 universities are vying to invest in "Genius Kids"
Since entering the era of science and technology innovation, universities have always taken the lead in "investing in early - stage, small - scale, and technology - based projects". Many universities have launched concept verification funds. However, such funds are more targeted at scientists and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. This year, when the popular investment track shifted to AI applications, the target of this round of competition has changed. Compared with "veterans", "young talents" are obviously more favored by current investment institutions. If we trace the gathering places of "young talents", universities are naturally one of the important sources.
According to exclusive information obtained by China Venture Capital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University officially launched a systematic support program for young entrepreneurs called "Super Jiaozi" on the occasion of its 130th anniversary. Open to all current undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and alumni who graduated within the past five years, Shanghai Jiao Tong University directly invests real money. Together with the alumni - owned investment institution, Houxue Capital, it has launched the "Super Jiaozi" Student Entrepreneurship Seed Fund, moving the support directly to the campus.
The younger generation is standing at the center of the innovation stage at an unprecedented speed. Previously, BaiFu (Guo Hangjiang), a senior student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, received an investment of 30 million yuan from Chen Tianqiao, the former richest man in the Internet industry, for his multi - agent prediction engine MiroFish developed in ten days with "Vibe Coding". Later, Chen Hao, a doctoral student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, completed two rounds of financing within a year, with a cumulative amount of several tens of millions of yuan.
The above phenomena are not isolated cases. A recent report released by the global early - stage venture capital firm Antler analyzed 1,629 unicorn companies and the 3,512 founders behind them. It reached a conclusion that the average age of unicorn founders in the AI field has dropped sharply from 40 years old in 2020 to 29 years old in 2024 - a full 11 - year decrease in just four years.
To find the most promising young people, universities, especially top - tier universities, become particularly important. Technological evolution changes rapidly. The first projects of young entrepreneurs may not succeed, and they will probably adjust their directions. However, universities are like sieves. In top - tier universities where talents gather, there will undoubtedly be a wave of potential high - quality entrepreneurs.
A Hundred - Million - Yuan Seed Fund: The Ambition to Invest in Young People
Let's take a closer look at Shanghai Jiao Tong University's plan. In terms of the target population, Shanghai Jiao Tong University covers all aspects. It is open to all current undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as well as young alumni who graduated within the past five years. In principle, the applicants should be no more than 35 years old. It has to be said that this definition of "young people" is relatively broad and friendly.
In terms of admission criteria, whether the applicants are in the idea - germination stage, prototype - development stage, or have initially formed a team or even registered a company, as long as they have innovative technologies, products, or business ideas and a clear willingness to start a business, they can apply to participate.
In terms of industry direction, this plan does not set too many restrictions. It leans towards hard - technology tracks such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine, new materials, and high - end equipment, and also includes fields where young people are good at, such as consumer electronics and cultural entertainment.
To support the implementation, there is also the "Super Jiaozi" Student Entrepreneurship Seed Fund jointly initiated by Hanyuan Asset Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University's Entrepreneurship Center, and Houxue Capital. The proposed total scale of the fund is 130 - 300 million yuan, with its core positioning as "initiation" and "guidance".
This is a market - raised fund, but it does not pursue short - term returns. The funds are earmarked to support student entrepreneurship projects from concept verification to product prototypes, the crucial stage from 0 to 1, and to solve the pain point of the lack of early - stage start - up funds.
At the same time, the "guidance" effect of university investment can undoubtedly amplify the value of projects. Through the demonstration effect of the seed fund, standardizing the commercial operation of projects can theoretically help project parties establish a credit endorsement, thereby guiding cooperative funds and more social capital to pay attention to and invest in Shanghai Jiao Tong University - affiliated youth entrepreneurship projects, leveraging social capital with university funds.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University has nurtured student entrepreneurship benchmarks such as Mihoyo and Ele.me, and has built a full - chain, step - by - step, and sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem of "in - campus incubation - off - campus acceleration - capital empowerment". In the past three years, nearly a hundred student teams have won gold awards in national - level competitions such as the China International College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. More than 50 companies founded by current students or alumni who graduated within the past five years have successfully received various types of financial support.
This is also a relatively long - term support plan. In terms of investment strategy, this fund is deeply integrated into Shanghai Jiao Tong University's entrepreneurship ecosystem. It discovers and invests in projects when they are still in the "under - the - surface" stage and accompanies young entrepreneurs through the "valley of death" through strong post - investment empowerment.
Both VCs and Universities Are Eyeing Young People
Shanghai Jiao Tong University is not the only university eyeing "young talents".
In February this year, the F - LAB Fudan Young Talent Science and Technology Innovation Camp started recruiting, also targeting young AI science and technology innovation talents. The profile of the first - phase class students is Fudan undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students who have certain characteristics and have taken initial exploration actions in the cross - fields of artificial intelligence (such as AI for Science, AI + healthcare, embodied intelligence, and the new generation of AI engineering architecture). These characteristics can be divided into four categories: in - depth thinkers, geek action - takers, tenacious creators, and future connectors. In addition to providing a mentor network and industrial resource connections, F - LAB has also set up a special angel fund, and high - quality projects have the opportunity to receive early - stage investment directly.
The successive actions of two top - tier 985 universities in Shanghai indicate that a new consensus is gradually forming among top - tier universities: they are betting that future disruptive innovations will probably be born among the AI - native generation.
The so - called AI - native generation refers to the young group that has grown up in a digital environment and has a natural understanding and usage habits of large models, algorithms, data, and intelligent interaction. They are not restricted by traditional industry thinking, dare to reconstruct technologies and products from scratch, and have a much higher sensitivity to new technologies, application imagination, and iteration speed than previous generations of entrepreneurs, which is more in line with the rapid development rhythm of the AI industry. Especially in the fields of AI applications and AI cross - fields, young people almost have a natural advantage.
Among early - stage investment institutions, ZhenFund's "Post - 00s Tough Guy Plan" and Yunqi Capital's "Y Transformers" plan for post - 98 AI entrepreneurs are all targeting the AI - native generation and have clearly marked the age group. Since investment institutions are scrambling for young people, universities are naturally not willing to lag behind.
Initially, universities have at least three major advantages in capturing the AI - native generation: First, they have access to the most original scientific research results and technological patents; Second, they gather the most top - tier, youngest, and most creative talents; Third, they have a long - term and stable source of funds, can tolerate high risks and long - term cycles, and do not need to pursue short - term financial returns.
"Half of the Venture Capital Circle Consists of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Alumni"
Taking Shanghai Jiao Tong University as an example, its confidence in systematically investing in young entrepreneurs comes from its large - scale, mature, and market - oriented university capital ecosystem. As one of the earliest universities in China to enter the primary market, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has formed a full - chain capital system from seed funds to science and technology innovation mother funds, from in - campus direct investment to market - oriented cooperation.
Among them, the core operator of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's venture capital system is Hanyuan Asset Management. In 2018, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Education Development Foundation established a specialized market - oriented asset management institution, "Hanyuan Asset Management", to preserve and increase the value of donated funds through active asset allocation and management. At the same time, it invests in first - class VC/PE funds and supports alumni entrepreneurship through relevant plans, helping to build the Shanghai Jiao Tong University - affiliated entrepreneurship and investment ecosystem.
For example, the "Future Industry Mother Fund" managed by Hanyuan Asset Management is specifically for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's teachers and students. It mainly invests in fields such as the new generation of information technology, high - end equipment, new materials, new energy, and biomedicine. Its cooperative GPs include first - tier institutions such as Sequoia Capital, Legend Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, GSR Ventures, and Photosynthetic Ventures.
Hanyuan Asset Management is also one of the initiators of this plan to support young people. The other two partners are Houxue Capital and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Student Innovation Center. The three parties jointly initiate the plan, each playing their own advantages, and jointly form a collaborative ecosystem of "initiation and guidance + platform building + joint achievement".
Shanghai Jiao Tong University's long - term goal for this plan is: within the next five years, to incubate a number of hard - technology quasi - unicorns, cultivate dozens of start - up companies with core technological barriers and high growth potential, among which several quasi - unicorn companies with a valuation of over 1 billion yuan will emerge; to build a first - class entrepreneurship ecosystem, coordinate the university - affiliated funds and alumni resources, and create a strong atmosphere of "everyone dares to innovate and everywhere can start a business" on campus; to create a benchmark for talent output, and send a group of entrepreneurial leading talents with both scientific spirit and entrepreneurial qualities to all sectors of society; to form a virtuous cycle mechanism, so that successful alumni entrepreneurs can give back to their alma mater, forming a virtuous closed - loop of "cultivation - entrepreneurship - success - feedback".
In fact, this phenomenon of alumni giving back to the university is not uncommon at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. China Venture Capital previously sorted out the Shanghai Jiao Tong University - affiliated venture capital ecosystem. On the investor side, Shen Nanpeng of Sequoia China, Liu Qin of Wuyuan Capital, Zhu Xiaohu of GSR Ventures, Xue Cunhe of SoftBank China, Zhu Linan of Legend Capital, Mao Chengyu of Yunqi Capital, Huang Mingming of Mingshi Capital, Fei Fei of Futeng Capital, Yin Botao of Yuanhe Puhua, Zhu Jia of Photosynthetic Ventures (formerly of Lightspeed China), Xu Qiangao of Fangguang Capital, Zhang Yong of Qigao Capital, Qu Liefeng of Lianxin Capital, Yang Guang of Yaotu Capital, Zhao Peizhou of Xiaomiao Langcheng, and a group of top - tier investors are all alumni of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. On the entrepreneur side, Zeng Yujun of CATL, Cheng Minghe of Mindray Medical, Zhang Qiang of United Imaging Healthcare, Dai Wenyuan of Fourth Paradigm, Peng Li of Muxi Semiconductor, and other founders of industry leaders also graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, forming a powerful Shanghai Jiao Tong University - affiliated venture capital landscape.
A recent story is that in March this year, Jing Xiandong, an alumnus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the chairman of Ant Group, and his wife, also an alumnus, donated cash and Ant Group shares worth 130 million yuan to their alma mater. Then in April, Liu Wei, the co - founder and president of Mihoyo, on behalf of the founding team of Mihoyo including Cai Haoyu and Luo Yuhao, jointly donated to the "AI Future Cornerstone" Fund. The goal of establishing the "AI Future Cornerstone" Fund is to support the university's overall strategic layout in the field of artificial intelligence, including recruiting top - tier scholars, cultivating AI talents, and promoting research and development in various AI + cross - disciplines.
More and more universities will upgrade from scientific research institutions to innovation ecosystem operators. However, universities and VCs are not in a competitive relationship but play a more synergistic role. With the advantages of original technologies, top - tier talents, long - term funds, and alumni ecosystems, universities are playing an increasingly important role as "initiators" and "connectors" in the venture capital system. This is also the case in the AI venture capital wave.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Dongshisi Tiao Capital” (ID: DsstCapital), author: Liu Yanqiu, published by 36Kr with authorization.