① Reporters from Star Daily contacted Country Garden Venture Capital, but as of press time, there was no response. ② In three years, Country Garden Venture Capital obtained a 3.5 times increase in equity value for Changxin Technology. ③ In addition to Changxin Technology, Country Garden Venture Capital also holds equity in multiple semiconductor companies such as Ziguang Zhanrui, Birui Technology, BYD Company Limited, and SMI.
On June 6th, the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily (Reporter Chen Mei) reported that Country Garden Venture Capital is considering selling its equity in Changxin Storage, a memory chip manufacturer, to raise approximately RMB 2 billion. The Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily contacted Country Garden Venture Capital for comment, but they did not respond at the time of publication.
An insider familiar with Country Garden Venture Capital told the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, "Currently, Country Garden's venture capital department is still active and, like most institutions, is also doing post-investment management, but its investment pace is slower."
According to data from Cailian Press's Chuangtou Tong-Zhizhong, Country Garden Venture Capital was established in 2019 with a registered capital of RMB 500 million. In 2021, it participated in the C-round financing of Changxin Technology's parent company, Changxin Storage. At that time, Changxin Technology raised RMB 500 million, and Country Garden Venture Capital, along with Gigadevice Semiconductor Inc., the National Development Fund, Yan Yuan Venture Capital, and Cloud Alpha Capital, participated in the financing. After this round of financing, Changxin Technology's valuation was close to RMB 40 billion.
According to an announcement by Gigadevice Semiconductor Inc., when Changxin Technology conducted a new round of financing in March of this year, its pre-investment valuation was approximately RMB 140 billion, and the fundraising amount was RMB 10.8 billion. Based on this calculation, Country Garden Venture Capital has gained approximately a 3.5-fold increase in equity value in Changxin Technology over three years.
In addition to Changxin Technology, the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily noticed that Country Garden Venture Capital also holds equity in multiple semiconductor companies, including UNISOC, Birtech, BYD Semiconductor, and Shenghe Microelectronics.
According to financing information, Country Garden Venture Capital participated in two rounds of financing for UNISOC in 2020 and 2021, with total financing amounts of nearly RMB 7.4 billion and RMB 5.4 billion, respectively. In Birtech's B-round financing in 2021, which was worth several hundred million yuan, Country Garden Venture Capital also successfully invested as one of the investors. This round of financing attracted more than 20 venture capital firms.
BYD Semiconductor is also an important investment project for Country Garden Venture Capital. In BYD Semiconductor's A+ round of financing worth RMB 800 million in 2020, Country Garden Venture Capital held one share.
Country Garden Venture Capital also participated in the C-round financing of Shenghe Microelectronics for US$300 million in 2021.
Currently, all of these semiconductor companies are unicorn companies. Available information shows that Birtech's valuation is RMB 14.5 billion, Shenghe Microelectronics' valuation is nearly US$2 billion, and BYD Semiconductor's valuation is RMB 30 billion.
These investments once earned Country Garden Venture Capital the reputation of having a "deep pocket" in the industry. However, with changes in the market environment and its parent company Country Garden, since 2023, this "deep pocket" has greatly reduced its involvement in the market. According to data, Country Garden Venture Capital made only 7 investments in 2023, significantly lower than the 20 and 34 investments during the peak years of 2020 and 2021, respectively. By 2024, Country Garden Venture Capital had only made one investment, participating in the financing of artificial intelligence company TongEn Intelligent Technology. In addition to Country Garden Venture Capital, JiaYu Capital, Gaohe Capital, and other institutions also participated in this round of financing.
A private equity investor told the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that, due to its previously "deep pocket", Country Garden Venture Capital has always had a complete layout across the entire industry chain. "Taking the semiconductor industry as an example, Country Garden Venture Capital first invested in chip design company UNISOC, and then invested in Birtech, BYD Semiconductor, and in the manufacturing sector, it chose Changxin Storage, and in the testing and packaging sector, it bet on SMIC (now renamed Shenghe Microelectronics)."
However, under current market conditions, this CVC capital can only help relieve the burden on its parent company. Responding to rumors of the sale of Changxin Storage's equity, an insider from Country Garden recently stated that the company is committed to actively exploring various strategies to optimize its asset-liability structure, including careful evaluation of its asset portfolio and potential asset disposal opportunities.