Today, Jiangsu Fund signed contracts worth a total of 18.5 billion yuan.

Today (August 19), the promotion meeting for management institutions of industrial sub-funds of Jiangsu Provincial Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund (referred to as Provincial Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund) was held in Nanjing.

Investment Circle learned on site that 17 industrial sub-funds were signed collectively, with a total scale of 185.45 billion yuan. The list includes institutions such as Suzhou Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund, Yida Capital, Kunlun Capital, Nanjing Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund, CITIC Juxin, Gp Investment, Guoyuan Equity, Yuanhe Chongyuan, Wuxi Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund, etc.

Up to now, the Provincial Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund has successively set up 47 special industrial funds with a total scale of 186 billion yuan, covering 13 prefecture-level cities across the province, 7 provincial state-owned enterprises and 2 central SOEs. Against this backdrop, the venture capital circle is witnessing the "Jiangsu Speed".

Jiangsu Makes Strides, Signs 17 GPs At One Go

Back in June 2024, Jiangsu Provincial Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund was officially launched, with a total scale of 500 billion yuan, managed and operated by Jiangsu Hi-Tech Investment Group. The fund is not for profit, with an ultra-long duration of 20 years. Through the three-tier structure of "provincial mother fund - special industrial fund - industrial sub-fund", it focuses on tackling "bottleneck" technologies and cultivating emerging and future industries.

Two years on, the effects are emerging. Investment Circle obtained a set of data: as of now, this provincial mother fund with a total scale of 500 billion yuan has joined forces with capital at all levels to form a fund cluster of 2982 billion yuan, with a total of 398 invested projects, an investment amount of 104.34 billion yuan, driving direct equity investment of 681.31 billion yuan.

At the level of industrial sub-funds, the Provincial Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund has completed the selection and decision of 67 sub-funds with a total scale of 651 billion yuan, of which 48 have completed industrial and commercial registration with a scale of 488 billion yuan, 31 have completed the filing with the Asset Management Association of China with a scale of 318 billion yuan, and are ready for investment and operation. The three-tier fund structure is accelerating to move towards the "investment and operation" stage.

Guiding 13 prefecture-level cities to independently develop industries based on their respective endowments is a major feature of the Provincial Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund.

Nanjing focuses on smart grid, Wuxi forges integrated circuits, Changzhou concentrates on new energy, and Suzhou deeply develops biomedicine; Nantong develops marine engineering towards the sea, Yangzhou lays out aerospace, and Taizhou strengthens the big health industry; Xuzhou expands intelligent manufacturing, Yancheng anchors green and low-carbon development, and Suqian deeply cultivates new material industry... Under the "unified planning" of the whole province, the 13 prefecture-level cities give full play to their own advantages and achieve differentiated development.

Not long ago, the "Guidelines for the Application and Operation of Special Funds for Strategic Emerging Industries in Jiangsu Province (2026 Version)" was officially released. This revision focuses on responding to market-concerned issues such as the selection of management institutions, investment geographical requirements and fund establishment methods, and the core idea can be summed up in two words — "liberalization".

The specific adjustments include: the scope of management scale recognition is extended to the controlling shareholders and their controlled subsidiaries, and the paid-in scale alternative standard is newly added; projects that have been listed and not reduced can be converted as deemed exit, and differentiated selection arrangements are newly added for funds that invest in early-stage and small-sized enterprises; if the market-oriented private management institution contributes no less than 10% of its own funds and the core management team makes mandatory follow-up investment, the list ranking requirements may not be applied, etc.

The latest development is that the management institutions of 17 industrial sub-funds held a centralized signing ceremony in Nanjing, with a signed scale of about 185 billion yuan.

Investment Circle learned that the 17 sub-funds signed this time focus on strategic emerging industry tracks such as new generation information technology, biomedicine, high-end equipment, new energy and new materials, and the cooperation entities cover a wide range of entities including leading market-oriented investment institutions, central SOE investment platforms and industrial capital. Among them, there are not only industrial chain upstream and downstream funds led by central SOE industrial capital, but also professional funds deeply cultivated in segmented tracks, with diverse entities gathering at an accelerated pace.

"The industrial sub-fund is the key link in the three-tier structure of the Provincial Strategic Emerging Industries Mother Fund that connects government guiding funds, market-oriented capital and industrial projects," said Chen Ning, Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman and General Manager of Jiangsu Hi-Tech Investment Group in his speech. He expressed the hope that taking the release of the new version of the guidelines and this promotion meeting as an opportunity, more professional institutions will be attracted to participate, and the gathering of high-quality capital, projects and talents in Jiangsu will be accelerated.

Local State-owned Capitals Are Going All Out

Fundraising is picking up.

Right before Jiangsu, Zhejiang Social Security Science and Innovation Fund just held a centralized signing ceremony for its sub-funds. Six sub-funds including Matrix Partners China, CDH Investments, Inno Sci-Tech, Hua Capital, Oriental Wealth Capital, and Rongyi Investment signed on site. Together with the 2 sub-funds signed earlier, the total number has reached 8, with a total scale of 276 billion yuan.

In October last year, Zhejiang Social Security Science and Innovation Fund took the lead in landing across the country, with an initial scale of 500 billion yuan, under which are set up strategic emerging industry funds, future industry funds, M&A mother funds and direct investment funds for major projects. Since its launch, it has attracted more than 200 institutions to negotiate for cooperation intentions, and the sci-tech innovation investment fund matrix is taking shape at an accelerated pace.

Shanghai has also taken frequent actions. Since August, Shanghai State-owned Investment Pilot Fund has successively announced three batches of capital contribution publicity: its artificial intelligence mother fund plans to participate in the investment of 6 sub-funds, and the selected institutions are: CAS Star, Cornerstone Capital, 5Y Capital, Yunqi Capital, Houxue Capital, Puyao Xinyue; the biomedical mother fund plans to contribute to Qiming Venture Partners, Xinyi Capital, Cathay Capital, Kangjun Capital, Xingze Capital; the integrated circuit mother fund plans to participate in the investment of Kunqiao Capital, Zhiwei Capital.

In 12 days, Shanghai's three major pilot industrial mother funds announced that they would contribute to 13 sub-funds. Such a pace is rare in the current fundraising environment.

Guangdong is also making efforts. Guangdong Provincial Strategic Emerging Industry Investment Guiding Fund recently released 6 selection announcements at one go, to select management institutions for the new energy, smart home, marine emerging industry, new material, medical device and innovative drug industry investment funds respectively.

Such abundant capital flow is extremely precious. The underlying logic is not difficult to understand — the prosperity of the mother fund leads to the prosperity of the industry; the prosperity of the industry leads to the prosperity of the city.

Not long ago, Changxin Technology was listed on the STAR Market, with a market value exceeding 3 trillion yuan, becoming the new king of A-shares. This is a brilliant industrial tough battle in the venture capital circle, and Hefei State-owned Capital, which stuck to the end, also reaped the biggest return in its history. According to the prospectus, the total shareholding ratio of Hefei state-owned capital system before the issuance of Changxin Technology is about 36.79%. Calculated based on the market value of 3 trillion yuan, the corresponding market value of its shares exceeds 1 trillion yuan.

The story of Changxin and Hefei once again verifies a simple truth: one enterprise can change an industry, and one industry is enough to change a city. When a city is willing to nurture and wait for the growth of an industry with patience, those seemingly distant futures will gradually become reality.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Decoding LP", author: Zhou Jiali, authorized for release by 36Kr.