(Yicai) March 7 -- Shenzhen plans to establish a state-owned fund worth at least CNY50 billion (USD6.9 billion) to invest in cutting-edge tech fields, including artificial intelligence and robotics, as the Chinese hi-tech hub moves to align itself with this year’s Government Work Report which called for the accelerated development of future industries.

The fund will support tech companies throughout their lifecycle. At least 40 percent of the funds will go towards Series A and other early-stage projects, while a minimum of 20 percent will be allocated to B investment rounds and also to C investment rounds, according to a statement released today by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shenzhen.

Shenzhen also plans to extend the lifespan of venture capital funds to 15 years and adopt differentiated assessment criteria. The city in southern Guangdong province will not give negative evaluations based on a single project losing money to encourage investment firms to make bolder long-term investments, Shenzhen SASAC said.

By the end of last year, Shenzhen had already built up a state-owned fund ecosystem comprising parent funds, venture capital funds, angel funds, and seed funds. Altogether there are more than 500 funds with a combined value exceeding CNY700 billion (USD96.6 billion). More than 90 percent of this capital is being directed toward strategic emerging and future-oriented industries, it said.

China plans to ramp up its focus on emerging and future industries this year. The country is looking to establish investment growth mechanisms for fields such as biomanufacturing, quantum technology, embodied AI, and 6G, according to the Government Work Report published on March 5.

It will also create a system to nurture innovative companies at different stages of development so as to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, unicorns, and "gazelles," or fast-growing enterprises, the report said.

As part of this drive, China will launch a national-level venture capital fund that will funnel nearly CNY1 trillion (USD138 billion) in local government and social capital into tech companies, Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the Two Sessions, which are the country’s annual policy setting meetings, yesterday.

Other first-tier cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have already established their own state-owned funds worth CNY100 billion (USD13.8 billion) each to support the development of future industries in their regions.

Editor: Kim Taylor