GP "flood" Hong Kong
Flights heading south remain crowded, the heat in Central is still rising, and the Hong Kong battle for the venture capital circle has long entered a white-hot competition stage.
The road to Hong Kong is becoming exceptionally crowded.
The Hong Kong government has optimized the ITVF scheme and opened the window for cooperation with mainland institutions. Driven by favorable policy support, heading for Hong Kong has long become the collective choice of primary market investors.
VCs/PEs holding the "admission tickets" to go south are launching a white-hot capital competition in Hong Kong.
It is in this fierce competition that the Victoria Harbour Link Technology Innovation Fund, the first landmark Shanghai-Hong Kong cooperation fund, was born.
"Victoria Harbour Link Technology Innovation Fund" Officially Signed
60 competing for 9! The response is extremely enthusiastic.
On July 30, the signing and launching ceremony of the "Victoria Harbour Link Technology Innovation Fund" was held in Hong Kong. This is the first fund established through cooperation and signing between the Hong Kong SAR Government and mainland institutions under the optimized scheme of the Hong Kong SAR Government's "Innovation and Technology Venture Fund" (ITVF).
It is reported that the fund has a total size of HK$600 million, with Shanghai State-owned Investment Co., Ltd. as the cornerstone investor, CITIC Capital as the manager, BOCOM International and Taiping Asset Management (Hong Kong) as co-managers, Fullton Capital under Shanghai State-owned Investment Co., Ltd. and BOC International Investment as industry advisors, Epoch International participating in the investment together, and the Hong Kong SAR Government's Innovation and Technology Venture Fund participating in the investment as a limited partner.
In terms of investment orientation, the fund focuses on three core sectors: artificial intelligence and big data, advanced manufacturing and new energy, life health technology. The first batch of 9 reserve projects were unveiled simultaneously, mostly from Hong Kong universities and science and innovation incubation carriers: Maizhi Technology incubated by the University of Hong Kong, Xihe Micro and Starrui Cloud Intelligence from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Xili Optoelectronics and Jingzhun Medical from the City University of Hong Kong, Zhiren Pharmaceutical from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, etc.
Behind the seemingly smooth landing is a rare high-intensity competition in the primary market. Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the Hong Kong SAR Government, said that the optimized scheme of the Innovation and Technology Venture Fund matches and contributes capital with market institutions at a ratio of 1:3. After its launch, it received more than 60 fund applications, reflecting a very enthusiastic response.
He believes that the optimized scheme has three layers of significance: it realizes the organic combination of proactive government guidance and efficient market, leverages more market forces, develops patient capital, and cultivates new quality productive forces; it supports start-ups in the three strategic industries to grow bigger and stronger, so as to accelerate the commercialization process; it joins forces with strong capital to help start-ups "go global", link domestic and overseas capital, and help Hong Kong enterprises expand into broader markets through their extensive networks.
The landing of the Victoria Harbour Link Fund is not an isolated case. Over the past year or more, Hong Kong has continuously increased its capital supply in the primary market. In addition to the optimized scheme of the "Innovation and Technology Venture Fund" (ITVF), Hong Kong has at least two other high-profile funds being advanced simultaneously.
One is the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme Investment Portfolio, with a total capital size of at least HK$3 billion in 2025. The management institution is Hong Kong Investment Management Limited, namely the Hong Kong Investment Corporation. The other is the Innovation and Technology Accelerator Pilot Scheme prepared for launch in 2025, with a size of HK$180 million. At a 1:2 matching ratio, it provides a maximum grant of HK$30 million to each professional start-up service provider.
In February this year, Hong Kong announced the launch of the HK$10 billion "Innovation and Technology Industry Guiding Fund" to guide market capital to invest in strategic emerging sectors such as life health, AI and robotics, and future industries.
Of course, greater imagination space comes from offshore RMB venture capital funds. Chan Mo-po, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Government, revealed that the Hong Kong SAR Government is actively advancing the capital injection into the Hong Kong Investment Corporation and actively considering launching a new offshore RMB venture capital fund. From the perspective of capital foundation, this layout has clear practical support. According to statistics from the People's Bank of China, Hong Kong has the largest RMB capital pool outside mainland China, with a scale of about RMB 1 trillion. This huge amount of capital is a rare opportunity for GPs.
From hundreds of millions to tens of billions, the intensive capital contribution of Hong Kong LPs has ignited the enthusiasm of mainland GPs to expand southward, and also made Hong Kong's venture capital track extremely crowded.
Central is a prime location with high rent, VCs/PEs are pouring in in droves
A massive southward expansion layout is sweeping both sides of Victoria Harbour.
The Hong Kong venture capital circle in 2026 has ushered in an unprecedentedly bustling scene. On the one hand, the number of Hong Kong stock IPO filings has repeatedly hit new highs, and large-scale IPO projects have emerged frequently, providing valuable exit channels for investment institutions. In the first half of 2026, the Hong Kong IPO market hit a new high for the same period in nearly five years. Wind data shows that as of July 28, a total of 100 IPOs have been completed on the Hong Kong stock market this year, raising a total of about HK$272.339 billion. On the other hand, Hong Kong LPs have also begun to take action intensively, and the window for cooperation with mainland institutions is continuously opening.
Facing the clear signals and real capital support released by the Hong Kong market, more and more VC/PE institutions have included Hong Kong in their key layout lists in the past two years.
On February 23, 2026, S.I.T. Group, together with Cathay and Haitong, launched the Shanghai-Hong Kong Emerging Industry Cornerstone Fund, with a target size of HK$3 billion (first phase of HK$1 billion), focusing on the integrated circuit, biomedicine and artificial intelligence tracks, to specifically support enterprises to list in Hong Kong and deepen the industrial and capital synergy between Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In March, hard-tech VC CAS Star joined hands with the University of Hong Kong to launch the "FutureTech Stars - HKU Venture LPF Venture Capital Fund", with a target total size of HK$300 million, the first closing amount has reached HK$150 million, and the first batch of investments have been completed.
Almost at the same time, Gobi Partners also joined the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Investment Corporation to complete the establishment of Gobi-HKU Fund I, with the first round of fundraising of HK$120 million and a total size of HK$240 million. It operates in the form of a fund of funds, focusing on investing in high-potential start-ups derived from scientific research achievements of the University of Hong Kong.
At the same time, many institutions have directly set up offices in Hong Kong to take root in the local market. Fullton Capital under Shanghai State-owned Investment Co., Ltd. has established a wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary Fullton International; Chenyi Fund, which excels in mergers and acquisitions, has also set up an office in Hong Kong and started raising US dollar funds; CAS Star, an early-stage hard-tech VC, has also settled in Hong Kong to improve its investment network in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The heat of Hong Kong is coming head-on. It is normal to run into fellow investors on flights heading for Hong Kong; science and innovation forums, industry matchmaking meetings, and fundraising roadshows are held one after another; even the rent of shared office workstations in Hong Kong Landmark in Central has risen accordingly.
However, for all the bustle, only a few can really get the admission ticket. First of all, there are strict compliance thresholds. Hong Kong official cooperative funds require institutions to hold a Type 9 asset management license and establish a real local operating entity. The regulatory authorities strictly investigate shell affiliation and address hosting, put an end to the "shell company arbitrage" model, and raise the entry cost for small and medium-sized GPs. At the same time, strict return investment and landing requirements are also a major test.
The market has subsequently formed a clear differentiation. Investment institutions follow the trend to expand southward and crowd in to seize positions, but only a few leading institutions with industrial resources, cross-border capabilities and compliance strength can obtain admission tickets.
Conclusion
Flights heading south remain crowded, the heat in Central is still rising, but the Hong Kong battle belonging to the venture capital circle has long entered a white-hot competition stage.
In the future, only institutions that truly connect cross-border industrial resources and have sustainable local operation capabilities can gain a firm foothold in the crowded Hong Kong track.
The wind is rising over Victoria Harbour, and the story of GPs seizing the Hong Kong market has just entered its most intense stage.
This article is from the WeChat official account "FOFWEEKLY", author: Huang Rong, published with authorization from 36Kr.