Zero2ipo, an advisory venture capital service in Beijing, has been tracking the increasing number of US venture capitalists storming into China since 1999. Gavin Ni, the young energetic chairman and CEO, coming off this summer's successful semi-annual China Venture Capital event held in July in Beijing, agrees that most of the foreign capital and investments are driven by largely by market opportunity and not new technology.

"Domestic VCs are still below the waterline," reveals Ni. "It's still a difficult time for them. They made a lot of investments over the last five years, and for some, only 10 percent of their portfolio companies have seen an exit."

Zero2ipo itself is a classic entrepreneurial case study. Established in 1999 by Gavin Ni, a Tsinghua University graduate, and several other Chinese graduates, the company now has more than 60 professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, investment banking and market research. Their advisory venture service is the company's core business, including private placement, IPO [initial public offering], M&A [merger and acquisition], and venture-capital training and education.




Ni first established, with support from fellow Beijing classmates, the Tsinghua Entrepreneurs Club (TEC) in 1998. It is not surprising that China's Tsinghua University is the country's recognized premier school for science geeks and is the Chinese equivalent of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In those pioneering years, TEC boasted a membership of more than 500, most of them zealous graduate students pursuing master of business administration (MBA) and PhD degrees. Since many to these bright graduates migrate to Silicon Valley, there's even a San Francisco Bay area alumni association.

Zero2ipo knows perfectly well that China as a nation has a long way to go to foster a new generation that embraces innovation. However, as a consultancy, they are recognized leaders in showcasing and identifying new talent to buttress the government's initiative of "rejuvenating China with science and technology."

For sure, the government's intentions to improve the domestic Capital market environment will benefit domestic VCs.

Zero2ipo's spirited and professional leadership championing the development of China's venture capital industry has already given impetus to at least four more competing China venture capital conferences scheduled before year- end. Read more about those future events here.