(Yicai Global) Jan. 21 -- Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings has invested in 160 companies that have since become unicorns, according to its President Lau Chiping.

The firm has invested in more than 800 companies to date and 70 of them have gone public, Lau said yesterday at the company's 2020 Insight & Forecast Conference. It pumped cash into 100 firms in 2019, adding 38 unicorns to its portfolio and seven to its list of listed firms.

Some 15 of the 800 have generated returns of at least USD1 billion, six have made Tencent USD5 billion and one of them has brought in USD10 billion, Lau added.

The Shenzhen-based company plans to start steering its investment toward smart retail, the Industrial Internet and overseas companies, he continued. Tencent has typically invested in gaming content and cutting-edge technologies.

It set up its investment and acquisition division in 2008 and in 2011 announced that it had formed a CNY5 billion (USD728 million) fund called the Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund that has since invested in retail titans JD.Com and Pinduoduo and internet search provider Sogou.

Editor: James Boynton