Chinese startups continue to attract a major chunk of the venture capital (VC) investments in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

A total of 3,012 VC funding deals were announced in China during Q1-Q3 2021; the disclosed funding value stood at US$72bn.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that China accounted for close to 50% of the total VC funding deals announced in the region and around 60% of the corresponding deal value.

August 2021 witnessed improvement in VC funding activity, both in terms of value as well as volume, but the momentum could not be sustained. September witnessed decline in VC funding activity both in terms of value and value compared to the previous month.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The fact that the China startup ecosystem continues to dominate the APAC VC landscape despite the COVID-19 pandemic and regulatory shakeup is a testament to its potential.”

Some of the notable VC funding deals announced during January to September 2021 in China include US$1.6bn raised by SVOLT Energy, US$1.5bn capital raised by Horizon Robotics, US$750m capital raised by Beijing Shihui Technology, US$700m funding raised by Abogen Biosciences, US$700m funding raised by Dingdong Maicai and US$600m raised by Qingju.

Mr Bose concludes: “Despite investors adopting a cautious approach and deal activity remaining volatile for most of the period, China managed to witness the announcement of some big-ticket deals, which helped it register a sizeable cumulative funding value.”