Venture Capital Research in China: Data and Institutional Details

Abstract

Although the history of China's venture capital (VC) market is relatively short, it has already become the second largest VC market in the world and produced the second largest number of "unicorns" (startups with a valuation over $1 billion) after the US. Despite the remarkable growth of both China's tech sector and venture capital market, academic research in this area remains sparse. Two broad issues hinder the efforts of researchers studying this market: choosing the right data sources and understanding evolving institutional details. To address these two issues, I first describe available data sources, accompanied with filters aimed at improving the quality of the data. I then review institutional details unique to the Chinese setting and recent regulatory changes that have direct impacts on the Chinese venture capital market. I conclude by listing some open research questions.

Keywords: Venture capital, Chinese venture capital, Government guidance funds, Limited partnership, IPO, Institutions

JEL Classification: G23, G24, G28, K22, L22, L26