630 Billion, the Biggest Spender in the Venture Capital Circle Has a New Leader

"Is there really long - term, new, and patient capital?" Nowadays, it seems that there is a new answer to this question.

A piece of news at the end of May excited investors. The 100 - billion Guangdong Strategic Emerging Industry Guidance Fund was launched in Tianhe, Guangzhou. Digging deeper into this news, another piece of good news is subtly bringing changes to the venture capital industry.

In fact, before the Guangdong Strategic Emerging Industry Guidance Fund was launched in Tianhe, a "vanguard" had already landed there.

In September 2024, the National Financial Regulatory Administration expanded the equity investment pilot program of AIC (Financial Asset Investment Companies) to 18 cities including Guangzhou.

Five days after the policy was released, Guangzhou Industrial Investment Group, together with ICBC Capital and GF Xinde, signed Guangzhou's first AIC equity investment fund with a scale of 10 billion yuan. It was regarded as one of the fastest - responding groups among the national pilot cities. After that, the pace became unstoppable, and the AICs of the five major state - owned banks signed contracts in Guangzhou. As of now, 11 AIC funds have been launched in Guangzhou, with a total scale of over 16.8 billion yuan.

By the end of 2025, the number of approved AICs had increased to 9 (the five major state - owned banks, Industrial Bank, China Merchants Bank, China CITIC Bank, and Postal Savings Bank). The six AICs that have disclosed their performance achieved a total net profit of 18.44 billion yuan, and their total assets exceeded 630 billion yuan.

AIC funds are expanding their territory.

Not only is the scale expanding rapidly, but AICs have long been "veterans" in investing in unicorns.

Currently, ChangXin, which is very popular, is aiming for a market value of 2 trillion yuan. In its shareholder list, there is a long list of bank - affiliated entities: ABC Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. holds 0.95%, CCB Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. holds 0.83%, BOC Financial Asset Management Co., Ltd. holds 0.38%, and BCOM Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. holds 0.38%.

This means that all the AICs (Financial Asset Investment Companies) under the five major state - owned banks have quietly taken their positions.

Calculated in this way, if ChangXin Technology is successfully listed and its market value really reaches 2 trillion yuan, the floating profit of bank - affiliated capital will be more than 10 times.

If converted into the market value of the holdings, it is expected to reach up to tens of billions of yuan at most.

The shocking scene seems to have arrived. However, for investors, it seems not so easy to get AIC funds.

The presence of banks is everywhere

The investment of the five major banks' AICs in ChangXin Technology is by no means an isolated case.

In the shareholder list of another storage giant, YMTC, the AICs under Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Bank of China, as well as ICBC Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd., also appear.

"In the financing of some leading robot, AI infrastructure, and commercial space projects, AICs are getting involved more and more frequently, and sometimes they even take the initiative to approach." An investor in a technology track in Beijing said.

More proactive AICs have clearer goals and directions.

Different from government - guided funds for investment promotion, listed companies for industrial synergy, and pure market - oriented LPs pursuing pure financial returns, the KPIs of bank - affiliated capital have different interpretations.

Behind it is the balance sheet of commercial banks. It serves not only financial returns but also the conversion of credit customers of the parent bank, industrial synergy, investment promotion, and the implementation of national strategic directions.

More directly, loan - investment linkage, comprehensive financial services, asset security, and principal defense are the core directions that AICs focus on.

A GP who has been engaged in semiconductor investment for a long time privately said that getting funds from state - owned AICs is different from getting funds from US - dollar funds. "It's not just about different valuations and terms; even the atmosphere in the meeting room is different."

Under different assessment criteria, AICs are all competing for the same batch of high - quality assets that are "highly certain, in line with national strategies, and have IPO expectations."

However, the number of such leading unicorn projects is limited and highly scarce, resulting in more and more "homogeneous funds" in the cap tables of leading projects.

"It can be said that bank - affiliated capital is no longer a supporting role in the venture capital circle." The above - mentioned investor said bluntly, but this is a kind of capital with a completely different nature.

This means that on the one hand, bank - affiliated funds are becoming the most important new source in the primary market, but on the other hand, their requirements are also higher.

Capital with different natures

"Although the policy says that those who perform their duties should be exempted from liability, internal compliance is still a red line." A GP in South China said bluntly. "They don't assess how much investment you can attract for the local area, but they assess 'how much comprehensive financial business you can leverage for the parent bank'."

These issues become more acute and direct at the negotiation table:

"If you invest in this hard - tech enterprise, can you open its basic account in our bank? Can you bring in the private - banking salary - payment service for its high - net - worth executives? Can you follow up with our low - interest science and technology loans in the future?"

AIC funds have a large scale and a long term, and they are indeed natural "patient capital". However, on the other hand, bank funds have a cost of liability, simply put, the interest paid to depositors or the cost of wealth management products.

Therefore, although they can endure long - term cycles, they really hate the security issue of "the underlying assets being completely wiped out". They will require the fund portfolio to have a very high overall defensiveness.

Higher security means a preference for projects with higher certainty.

For particularly early - stage and cutting - edge tracks, AICs will still be more cautious in making investments.

A more noteworthy issue is that AICs must participate in the actual management of the fund.

This has caused difficulties for many GPs, especially the leading market - oriented GPs. Their bottom line is to have the investment decision - making power. In the past, state - owned LPs also asked to join the investment committee. In the view of GPs, it's okay for LPs to join the investment committee, but they can't interfere with the investment decisions of our team and can't reach too far!

This contradiction is difficult to resolve in the short term, resulting in the current cooperation partners of AICs being mainly state - owned GPs.

The talent war has started first

With the arrival of funds, talents also need to keep up.

CCB Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. issued a recruitment announcement in April, requiring applicants to be doctoral graduates from well - known universities, with more than 3 years of continuous full - time work experience in overseas financial institutions or internationally renowned enterprises. Those with a compound background in science and engineering are preferred.

It is worth noting that this standard requires applicants to have 3 years of practical experience in equity investment, covering the entire process of fundraising, investment, management, and exit.

This announcement not only marks that CCB Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. is shifting from debt - to - equity swaps to hard - tech equity investment but also seems to mean that they want to find more professional people.

Not only CCB, but many bank - affiliated capitals have taken similar actions.

For example, at the beginning of this year, CITIC Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. (China CITIC Bank) launched a social recruitment, with positions covering investment managers, project review, internal control and compliance, auditing, and party - related work.

This spring, ABC Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd. (Agricultural Bank of China) also issued a recruitment announcement, with positions involving the investment research and financial accounting positions of the headquarters and subsidiaries.

However, a problem has arisen. The problems that used to occur with state - owned enterprises are now also replicated in bank - affiliated capitals - they can't retain core talents.

Compared with the conditions that pure market - oriented GPs can offer, such as high salaries, high market - orientation, promotion space, and decision - making space, state - owned and bank - affiliated capitals have their own systems and it is difficult to provide competitive salary incentives for high - end talents. Even in investment decisions, investment managers have little say, and they need to invest in more compliant projects.

Although they can recruit people, the above reasons make it difficult for them to retain scarce talents who really understand equity investment in the long term. This is still an unsolved institutional problem.

The new position of GPs

The rise of bank AICs has a deeper impact on GPs than expected.

In the past, the general process of state - owned LPs' investment was to give money to GPs. The GPs were responsible for finding projects, making judgments, and managing exits, while the LPs enjoyed the returns.

However, after AICs entered the market, they began to bypass GPs and directly make direct investments. With sufficient funds and the ability to invest in leading projects, how can GPs do their jobs?

This directly leads to the fact that it is extremely difficult for small and medium - sized market - oriented VCs to raise funds, and they are facing the situation of being eliminated.

This makes practitioners seem to go back to a question several years ago: if state - owned enterprises can directly enter the market, what is the value of GPs?

There are also opportunities.

For institutions that are willing to accept the "dual - GP model" and can help AICs with project screening and post - investment management, AICs are actually a huge source of LPs.

However, for most GPs who still require control and decision - making power, their path is also clear - do what AICs are not good at.

The advantage of AICs lies in large - scale, long - term, and highly certain hard - tech assets. Their shortcoming is the lack of clear judgment on early - stage investments and insufficient in - depth understanding of niche tracks.

Some GPs have begun to systematically adjust their strategies. For example, they focus on earlier - stage and non - consensus projects. In other words, they turn AICs from competitors into exit buyers.

Of course, it is certain that both paths are more difficult than before.

The improvement of the direct - investment ability of state - owned LPs means that the pressure on market - oriented GPs in terms of fundraising and project competition is systematically increasing.

However, every time the industry pattern is rewritten in history, the middle - tier players will be screened out, and only truly capable institutions will remain. This time will be no exception.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Rongzhong Finance" (ID: thecapital), written by Abu, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.