Cross Boundary Story Of VC / PE Cross The "Stage" River

On February 24 last year, Hillhouse officially launched its independent VC brand Hillhead venture capital. It is reported that on the first anniversary of its establishment, GL ventures has completed an independent fund-raising of more than 10 billion yuan in US dollar and RMB. The composition of the fund-raising investors include university endowment fund, pension fund, sovereign fund, master fund, family office and other mainstream institutional investors.

A year ago, Hillhead issued a letter to entrepreneurs on its official public account, announcing the establishment of Hillhead venture capital, which focuses on investing in early-stage start-ups. According to the reporter of the 21st century economic report, over 200 investments have been completed by Hillhead venture capital in the past year, which has become a force that can not be ignored in China's early venture capital market.

Hillhead venture capital said that in the future, it will continue to increase the number of outstanding early start-ups in the fields of Technology (software and hard technology), medical (Biomedical and medical devices) and consumption (new consumption and consumer Internet). "We are looking for all entrepreneurs who love technology and believe in innovation. We hope to be the first call when entrepreneurs seek financing, and we also expect to accompany entrepreneurs on their entrepreneurial journey for a long time."

In 2020, more than 200 investment projects will be completed, focusing on scientific and technological innovation

In 2020, the "cold winter of capital" superimposed on the sudden epidemic situation has disrupted the rhythm of many entrepreneurs. According to statistics, the domestic venture capital market investment and financing events in 2020 will decrease by 25% compared with that in 2019, and the accumulated financing amount will be reduced by 16% compared with that in 2019; the number of financing events and the amount of financing are both the lowest in recent six years.

In this atmosphere, the launch of Hillhead venture capital during the epidemic last year has brought some warmth to the chilly market. Since its launch in February 2020, Hillhead venture capital has launched more than 200 times so far, with 13 new investment projects announced this week alone. Zhang Lei, founder of Hillhouse, once revealed that 2020 is the busiest year since its founding, and has made many fire-fighting investments.

Behind the intensive efforts is the boundless optimism and long-term optimism of China's development, especially the huge opportunities brought by primary science and technology. In a dialogue with Mr. Su Shimin, chairman of Blackstone Group, last year, Zhang Lei said, "the biggest investment opportunity is in China. Right now, it's the best opportunity to invest heavily in China."

At the same time, Zhang Lei also mentioned that since its establishment, Hillhouse has always regarded scientific and technological innovation as a very important investment field. The launch of Hillhouse venture capital is just to continue its gene of continuous innovation, focus on the direction of technology and industrial innovation, and encourage entrepreneurs in this field.

According to this logic, Hillhouse made a rapid layout last year, and more than 80% of its projects were concentrated in the two "high tech content" fields of science and technology and medical treatment: in the field of science and technology, it has made a systematic layout of hard technologies, including chip semiconductors, quantum and aerospace, as well as basic and application software; and in the medical and health field where Hillhouse is good at, it has invested more than 80 times More than 100 projects.

So far, Hillhead has invested nearly 200 billion yuan in the field of medical and health care. Among the 27 IPOs obtained by Hillhouse in 2020, more than half of the projects in the medical field reached 16.

Yi nuoqing, CO chief investment officer of Hillhouse and head of Hillhouse venture capital biomedicine and medical devices, believes that: the biomedical industry is a demand driven industry, and there are huge unmet patient needs in this field. Moreover, China has ushered in a huge dividend era of outstanding scientists and engineers. Hillhouse will still firmly focus on health and medical care.

In the field of consumption (new consumer brands and consumer Internet), Hillhead venture capital is also most concerned about "the unmet needs of new people under the technological change".

In the past year, Hillhead venture capital has invested in numerous typical projects. There are not only early-stage companies with the strongest technological innovation in different fields, but also enterprise level applications that serve China's original scene and have technology originality. There are also leading innovative pharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical device companies.

In the field of big consumption, perfect diary, tea loving, plum blossom, Wang satin, Baijia food, programming cat, opening bar, walnut programming, good diagnosis, moody, cloud whale robot and so on are typical representatives. Among them, perfect diary has completed its IPO in November 2020, with a market value of more than 14 billion US dollars. Hillard venture capital, which has entered the early stage and invested for five consecutive rounds, is its largest institutional shareholder.

In 2020, Hillhouse venture capital's IPO companies also include: jiakesi, Deqi pharmaceutical, Peijia medical, Yunding Xinyao, etc. Just two months after 2021, Hillhead venture capital has obtained two IPOs of Xintong medical and Beikang medical.

Go against the current: accelerate the whole cycle investment layout of entrepreneurs' mentality in the early stage

In fact, Hillhouse did not start its early investment from the launch of Hillhouse venture capital. Since its establishment in 2005, Hillhead has taken the road of full stage investment strategy, spanning the primary and secondary markets, covering VC, PE, buyout and other different stages. It has entered the early investment field many years ago. Star projects such as blue moon, Baiji Shenzhou, zoom, little Freddie and jiangxiaobai are investors before round B, and they will accompany and continuously raise in the medium and long-term development after the enterprise.

In terms of the 23 projects disclosed by Hillhead venture capital since 2021, more than half of them have been in round a and round B.

In his book value published last year, Zhang Lei analyzed the thinking of making investment from a strategic perspective. He said, "we should establish an all-stage, cross regional investment model, and be an investment institution with all-weather and full life cycle. Once the research finds that the best business model and the corresponding entrepreneurs, as long as the values are consistent, they can invest in any stage of the enterprise development, including in the early stage of the company's development, the stage of growth and transformation, and even after listing We should not rigidly adhere to various forms of early seed investment, venture capital, growth stage investment, listed company investment, company merger and acquisition, and maintain investment flexibility. "

Since its launch, Hillhouse venture capital has improved its whole cycle and chain layout through systematic investment in the early stage; on the other hand, Hillhouse venture capital has also benefited from Hillhouse's long-term capital and rich post investment management resources, as well as the ecological scenes of more than 800 invested enterprises covering the Internet, medical treatment, retail and traditional manufacturing industries, which are more attractive to early entrepreneurs.

With the advantages of long-term capital, Hillhead venture capital has sufficient patience for early entrepreneurs, and is not limited by the stage, so it can continue to add. When Hillhouse launched Hillhouse venture capital last year, it emphasized that Hillhouse venture capital would share Hillhouse's post investment management resources and provide enterprises with multi-dimensional support in terms of talents, technology, management and brand.

"If you don't know what (companies) need right now, look for answers with entrepreneurs from a full cycle perspective." This is also Zhang Lei's emphasis that strategic investment should be made in an entrepreneur's mind. "We are entrepreneurs, and we happen to be investors" (Editor: Lin Kun)