Silicon Valley Sierra Ventures Partners with Shanghai-based Gobi Partners

Filed in archive Venture Capital on October 26, 2005

Sierra Ventures, a US $1 billion Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, today announced that it has entered into a strategic relationship with Shanghai-based Gobi Partners. Gobi's first fund is now capitalized at approximately US $50 million and focuses on early stage technology related investments in China.

Gobi has three general partners, Wai Kit Lau, Thomas Tsao, and Lawrence Tse, all possessing substantial investing experience and increasing quanxi with new tech companies in China.

In an earlier interview conducted with ChinaVentureNews, Lawrence Tse, confirmed the fund's confidence in China's Internet future. "We have always been focusing on digital media and we believe China is in the early stages of the digital media evolution." Private equity investors regard China as one of the world's largest media markets, with an advanced broadband infrastructure, over 300 million mobile users, favourable demographics, and a surging economic growth.

Ben Yu, a partner at Sierra Ventures, who began examining investments with Gobi almost a year ago, comments on the co-investment relationship. "Different than many of the small, early stage Chinese venture funds, Gobi is building its firm using money from a power-packed group of global limited partners who have a great ability to help small Chinese companies be successful -- IBM, the world's largest information technology company; NTT DoCoMo, one of Asia's largest mobile communications companies; and McGraw-Hill, the US $5 billion information services company with 280 offices in 37 countries."

With Sierra's financial clout confidently placed in the Gobi Fund, it appears that Gobi's capital structure is well in place to cherry pick top tier innovative China tech investments and fuel more Chinese entrepreneurship.