The Phase II of the National SME Development Fund is here.
This latest rollout of state-backed national funds is injecting a rare sense of certainty into the primary market.
On September 14, at the regular policy briefing held by the State Council Information Office, relevant work on strengthening governance to address the difficulty of payment collection for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was introduced.
During the meeting, it was proposed that the second phase of the National SME Development Fund will be established, to inject long-term capital and patient capital into the transformation and high-quality development of SMEs.
Another State-Backed Mother Fund Makes Its Debut
In fact, as early as September 3 not long ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance and seven other departments, jointly issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for Promoting the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan").
The Plan proposes to encourage the establishment of SMEs. Make efficient use of government investment funds at all levels in the innovation and entrepreneurship sector to drive more patient capital to invest in seed-stage and start-up SMEs. Focusing on emerging industries such as new energy, new materials and robotics, as well as future industries including quantum technology, brain-computer interface and embodied intelligence, explore typical application scenarios and feasible business models.
Increase direct financing support. Strengthen the cultivation of SMEs for listing, establish a high-quality SME listing cultivation library, and promote the normalized docking of equity financing. Deepen the construction of the "Specialized, Refined, Differential and Innovative (SRDI)" special board on the regional equity trading market. Build a high-quality "Sci-Tech Board" in the bond market to support eligible SMEs in bond financing. Vigorously develop venture capital and establish the second phase of the National SME Development Fund.
Frequently mentioned in recently introduced policies, the developments of this national-level mother fund have drawn much attention in the primary market.
In fact, the fund was first revealed as early as last year. In November last year, at the 2025 SRDI Little Giant SMEs Development Conference, Li Lecheng, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the establishment plan for the second phase of the National SME Development Fund has been approved by the State Council, which will guide more social capital to support the growth of start-up SMEs.
Data released at the conference shows that China has cumulatively cultivated more than 17,600 national-level SRDI "Little Giant" enterprises. Accounting for only 3.5% of the total number of industrial SMEs above designated size nationwide, these "Little Giant" enterprises contribute 9.6% of the operating revenue and 13.7% of the total profits of the sector.
According to the Plan document released on September 3, by 2030, the per capita operating revenue of SMEs above designated size will increase by about 15% on a cumulative basis; the internal R&D expenditure of industrial SMEs above designated size will grow by more than 8% annually on average; the number of SRDI "Little Giant" enterprises will reach 22,000.
It is worth noting that the first-phase fund of this fund, National SME Development Fund Co., Ltd., was inaugurated in Pudong, Shanghai in July 2020, with a registered capital of 35.75 billion yuan, and its limited partners (LPs) include the Ministry of Finance, Shanghai Guosheng Group, China Life Insurance, China Tobacco and other institutions, forming a very strong lineup.
As of March 2026, the first-phase fund has set up 46 sub-funds with a total size of more than 1200 billion yuan, and its invested projects include Songyan Power, Galaxy General, Zhipingfang, Star Era, Lingchu Intelligence, Qianxun Intelligence and others.
The accelerated implementation of the second-phase fund means the inflow of another sum of patient long-term capital for the primary market.
State-Backed Funds Enter the Market Intensively
Taking a broader view, it can be found that over the past year up to now, "patient capital" represented by state-backed institutions, central SOEs and social security funds has shown an unprecedented level of activity.
In May 2025, Chengtong Science and Technology Innovation Investment Fund, guided by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and led by China Chengtong Holdings Group, completed industrial and commercial registration in Beijing. The total size of the fund is 300 billion yuan, with an initial phase of 100 billion yuan. At the end of 2025, the second venture capital fund with a total size of 100 billion yuan initiated by China Chengtong under the guidance of the SASAC, namely Chengtong Sci-Tech Innovation Jiangsu Fund, completed industrial and commercial registration, forming a synergistic effect of "mother fund + direct investment fund" with the Beijing-based fund.
In addition, after the National Council for Social Security Fund successively launched social security funds with a total size of about 1600 billion yuan in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Hubei, Sichuan and other regions, it has launched another 100 billion yuan social security sci-tech innovation fund in Shaanxi.
At the same time, over the past six months, state-backed mother funds have successively released the latest progress, accelerating the implementation of the strategic layout of "investing in early-stage, small-sized, long-term and hard technology projects".
In March 2026, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Fund completed the arrival of its first batch of capital contributions. Its investors include National Venture Capital Fund Co., Ltd., China Investment Corporation and its subsidiaries, Bank of China, as well as the capital contribution representatives of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, especially the Beijing Municipal Government Guidance Fund and Yizhuang State Investment.
The first sub-fund of the Yangtze River Delta Fund also landed in Jiangsu in May this year, completing its capital contribution to Nanjing Yaotu Phase IV Venture Capital Fund (Limited Partnership) (referred to as "Yaotu Fund"). The total target size of Yaotu Fund is no more than 20 billion yuan, with a first closing size of 13.2 billion yuan and a total duration of 10 years. The fund focuses on investment in the new generation of information technology sector.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Fund managed by Venture Capital of China (Shenzhen) (SCGC) has made the fastest progress. Of its total size of 504.5 billion yuan, the initial 201 billion yuan has been fully in place. Up to now, its cumulative investment has exceeded 2.7 billion yuan, with 15 sub-funds approved for project initiation and 8 direct investment projects decided.
What is more noteworthy is that the term of guidance funds has been extended. For the strategic emerging industry sector, the duration has been extended to 15-20 years, and some regions do not even set a duration limit. The state-owned capital's fault tolerance rate has been increased, and the return investment requirement has become more flexible. Government investment funds are transforming from "scale expansion" to "mechanism reshaping".
An industry insider commented on this: "The next few years will be an important window period for national-level fund capital contributions, which is expected to cover 20%–30% of the market-oriented capital gap for GPs. This may even promote the emergence of a group of new-generation GPs."
Conclusion
This latest round of intensive advancement of state-backed national funds is injecting a rare sense of certainty into the primary market.
With the support of favorable policies superimposed on technological changes, the market is regaining vitality, and the industry ecosystem is also evolving dynamically. As more and more long-term capital starts to make real-money investments, the underlying logic of the venture capital circle is quietly changing.
This article is from the WeChat official account "FOFWEEKLY", and is republished by 36Kr with authorization.