GGV Capital Asia has officially rebranded itself to Granite Global Venture, it announced in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement comes months after GGV Capital, a global venture capital firm with portfolio firms across the US, China, India, Southeast Asia and others, was forced to spin off its Asian arm due to growing pressure in the US to limit investments in Chinese technology.
Granite Global Venture will be led by GGV’s longtime partners – Jenny Lee and Jixun Foo. The firm will continue to manage its existing $5-billion portfolio in Southeast Asia, China and India. It has invested in 48 companies with valuations exceeding $1 billion and has facilitated 29 IPOs.
GGV Capital founding partner Thomas Ng, former GIC president for Special Investments Teh Kok Peng and the former Chairman of Singapore’s National Science and Technology Board Teo Ming Kian will form the advisory council.
Moving forward, Granite will enter new asset classes and markets in the Asia Pacific to gradually transform itself into a multi-asset investment firm.
According to Granite’s official website, the investor will look into the following themes: consumer growth & transformation, enterprise workflow and supply chain, food systems and sustainability, health innovation & wellness, and energy transition and automation. It currently lists 3 Asian offices – Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing.
“The landscape for investing has never been more complex or exciting. Born and bred in Asia, we are committed to creating win-win-wins for our investors, businesses we invest in and the region at large,” shared Jenny Lee, senior managing partner of Granite Asia.
GGV Capital’s decision to spin off its businesses in September came shortly after Sequoia Capital made a similar move to split its US, Chinese and Southeast Asia/India arms into three distinct brands and funds. They are now known as Sequoia Capital (US); Hong Shan (formerly Sequoia Capital China); and Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia).
Last year, GGV Capital was named as one of several companies under review by the US Congress aimed at investigating investment firms over their financial backing of sensitive Chinese technology, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The others said to be under investigation included GSR Ventures, Walden International and Qualcomm Ventures.
Before the split, GGV Capital managed about $9.2 billion in assets. It has backed some of the world’s largest tech names including Alibaba Group, ByteDance, Xiaomi, Didi Global, Airbnb and Grab.
