24 October, 2019
INCE Capital (“INCE”), today, announced the successful closing of its first fund with US$351.888 million in capital commitments. The Fund will focus on early to expansion stage investment in internet, consumer and intelligent technology sectors in China.
INCE Capital was established on July 1, 2019 by JP Gan (甘剑平) and Steven Hu (胡斌), former partners at Qiming Venture Partners (“Qiming”), and joined by Paul Keung (姜显森), a former venture partner at Qiming, and veteran chief financial officer and equity research analyst. “IN” stands for Internet, intelligence, innovation, and integrity. “CE” comes from the pinyin of the Chinese word for strategy or decision (策). INCE (渶策) highlights the firm’s mission to make INtelligent INvestment decision in the INternet, consumer and INtelligent technology sectors in China.
The total capital commitment in the fund, INCE Capital Partners, LP, is $351,888,000, of which about $328 million is committed by leading global institutional investors. The remaining was contributed by the founding partners and their close friends, of which many are successful entrepreneurs. The fund raising was welcomed by many sophisticated limited partners and was closed in less than four months since its launch. The fund is over-subscribed and final fund size exceeds the initial target of $250 million and hit the hard cap. The investor base includes many leading endowments, foundations, family offices, and fund of funds such as University of Pittsburgh, Duke University, Carnegie Mellon University, C.V. Starr, Kaiser Permanente, Dietrich Foundation, Mayo Clinic, Commonfund, Unicorn Capital, Axiom Asia, and Siguler Guff.
Dorothy Dong, President of Starr International Investment Advisors (Asia) Limited, said, “I have known the INCE team for a long time, and have personally observed their achievements and how they have made investments, worked closely with founders, and generate substantial returns for the investors over the years. We are honored and proud to be an investor in their maiden fund, and look forward to a productive and fruitful partnership for the long run.”
JP Gan, responded, “We appreciate all of our investors’ trust and support. The venture capital industry in China has come a long way. The results, pace of growth, and development of the industry have exceeded my wildest dreams since I first started my VC career twenty years ago. In the current ecosystem, we continue to be very excited about the investment opportunity in China, and strongly believe we can source and partner with talented, hardworking, and ambitious Chinese entrepreneurs to build even more extraordinary world class companies.”
JP Gan, has been named as a top venture capitalist globally four years in a row by Forbes
magazine’s Midas List, and was ranked No.5 in 2019. He has also been listed as a top venture capitalist in China by multiple institutions including ChinaVenture, Zero2IPO, and 36Kr. JP Gan has backed a number of leading Chinese companies including Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP, a director since 2001), BiliBili (NASDAQ: BILI, a director since 2014), Dianping.com (merged with Meituan, HKEX: 03690), Meitu Inc. (HKEX: 01357), Musical.ly (acquired by Toutiao and became Tik Tok), Jiayuan.com, PPS Inc. (acquired by iQiyi), and ATL. JP was a managing partner and member of the investment committee of Qiming, and also worked at The Carlyle Group, KongZhong Corporation, and Merrill Lynch. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
JP Gan and Steven Hu have known each other for 15 years since their working together at KongZhong corporation in 2005 and later being partners at Qiming.
Rui Chen, Chairman and CEO of Bilibili commented, “Both JP and Steven are our early investors before IPO. They combine global perspective with local insight, and have complementary skills in investment, operation, finance, and product development. They make a great team!”
Steven was a pioneer in the Internet industry in China and has 20 years of investment and operational experience. In addition to Qiming, he was the CEO of Ourpalm Ltd (SZ:300315), an A-share listed internet and gaming company, and held senior positions at KongZhong Corporation (NASDAQ: KONG), Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHO), and Sina (NASDAQ: SINA). As an investor, he has been involved with leading internet, media and technology companies such as Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI), Zhihu, Domob, Hortor Games, Unisound, Beva, H&R Century Pictures (SZ: 000892), Unity Technology, Nicetuan. He is a graduate of Peking University with BS degree in Information Science. In addition to the professional career, Steven's personal hobby also makes him unique in the circle. He is well-known as a lead vocal of his rock & roll band “Big Foo”. His band is unique in both the rock music world and in the VC industry.
Steven Hu concluded, “We want to thank all of the entrepreneurs we have worked with in the past. Many of them have not only generated substantial returns for us but also have supported us in the fund-raising process by taking due diligence calls and by investing in our fund. After the fund is closed, our hard work is just getting started. We look forward to working with our founders to innovate and build more great successes together.”
