The number of VC deals in China were relatively stable at 79 in Q2 (86 deals in Q1), however VC investment in startups hit USD10.7 billion, compared to USD3.5 billion the previous quarter. The strong performance was largely bolstered by two megarounds, including ridesharing platform Didi Chuxing which raised USD5.5 billion - the largest private venture funding round to-date for a technology company, and a USD1 billion VC investment raised by news aggregator Toutiao.

Globally, VC funding in Q2 totalled USD40.1 billion, 55.3 percent higher than Q1, due to the global resurgence in mega-deals and a robust performance in China. The number of deals continued to decline for a fifth straight quarter to 2,985, however the biotech and autotech sectors saw continued interest. These technologies, together with AI, analytics, virtual reality technologies and blockchain are expected to remain on investors’ radars in Q3.

The Asian region saw a different investment focus; the hottest areas were AI, robotics, fintech, edtech and healthtech, although cloud and infrastructure services saw increased interest. The report highlights that venture capital activity in Asia is poised to remain strong, with deep tech, autotech and healthtech continuing to be major sectors of interest, while China is expected to see the momentum continue in Q3.