Venture capital quietly coming of age in China

AFP, May, 2008

SHANGHAI (AFP) — China is flush with entrepreneurs boasting newly acquired riches, but young investor Chen Hao believes a key ingredient is still missing from the country's modernising economy: more venture capitalists.

"We have loads of home-grown entrepreneurs but no real capitalists," Chen told AFP. The 25-year-old is one of the few independent investors working in China's fledgling venture capital market.

"China is 50 years behind the US in this area... and my generation is going to have to fill this gap," Chen said at his somewhat rundown office bordering Shanghai's financial district.

Figures show some of the most active venture capital firms in China come from the US, but Chen said he believes it is only a matter of time before Chinese venture capital...