financial community on December 28, the "11th Annual Conference of Leading China's Fund Industry" hosted by the financial community was successfully held. The annual conference was themed "The Great Era of Equity Investment". At the finale of the annual meeting, "Youth Leading Investors" talked with Ms. Fang Aizhi, founding partner and CEO of ZhenFund, a practical group in the primary market.
" Youth Leading Investors " is the first domestic young investor series video interview program produced by the financial industry and guided by the Beijing Asset Management Association. This column talks to young practitioners in the primary market, aiming to follow the forward-looking perspectives of the backbone and gain a deeper understanding of the exciting entrepreneurial stories of leading "investors" and entrepreneurs.
This issue’s guest is Fang Aizhi, founding partner and CEO of ZhenFund. Fang Aizhi, founding partner and CEO of ZhenFund, is responsible for ZhenFund’s investment, portfolio management and overall fund operations. Born in a family of investment banks, she studied at Columbia University and Stanford University, and started her career at JPMorgan Chase. In the past 11 years, she has led the investment in many unicorn projects such as Xiaohongshu, Yixian E-commerce, Yitu Technology, and Horizon Robotics. Venture Capital Black Knight, Global Youth Leader , Angel Catcher, and Super Butler have also become important labels for her to be recognized by the outside world.
Fang Ai’s golden words
◎ The true investment philosophy: 100% investment
◎ Doing what you should do according to the policy is the easiest choice
◎ Starting a business is beautiful but difficult
◎ Young people should try and persist when making career choices. Fang Aizhi said that in the past eleven years of angel investment, the domestic venture capital environment has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the encouragement of national policies is very important for the development of the industry and the growth of the team of venture capital institutions. She recalled: "When I first started doing angel investment, the VC and venture capital industry was not particularly popular. There were only a few well-known angel investment institutions, and there were not many entrepreneurs. By 2013 and 2014 , the country has introduced many entrepreneurial policies, and it is obvious that the industry as a whole is developing in a more prosperous direction. "
As a founding partner of an early investment institution, Fang Aizhi and Zhenfund have accompanied the growth of many entrepreneurs, of which Green Deep Pupil , which was listed in March this year, is a typical representative. Fang Aizhi recalled that the first team discovered Zhao Yong, the founder of Green Eyes, at Google in Silicon Valley. Fang Aizhi worked with Xu Xiaoping to buy a plane ticket for Zhao Yong and invite him to return to China to start a business.
Fang Aizhi said: "This kind of thing that can really accompany a person from the beginning, help him make the decision to start a business, introduce him to some resources, let him understand the market, help him build a team, and now successfully go public ten years later, is of great significance to us."
In the past eleven years, Fang Aizhi and Zhenfund have spanned several economic cycles. Today, the current capital market environment has put forward new requirements for investment institutions in terms of fundraising, investment, management and exit. Fang Aizhi made a concise summary: "This year, more emphasis will be placed on 'management' and 'exit'. This is indeed very important, because the final assessment of an institution's performance is 'exit'."
As a well-known early investment institution in China, Zhen Fund has outstanding features and advantages. Fang Aizhi said: "ZhenFund's investment philosophy may be different from other funds. Our investment mainly depends on people, and this investment philosophy has not changed in the past 11 years."
Based on the principle of "investing is investing in people", ZhenFund never blindly pursues the hot spots, finds the right people, and becomes the ones who create the hot spots. "We didn't specifically judge what the next trend will be. For example, we started investing in a lot of chip projects in about 2017. At that time, chips were not particularly popular, just because we saw these entrepreneurs starting to build domestic pillar industries, and many innovative chips So I started to invest in them. The industry now recognizes these chip companies. "
Fang Aizhi said: "Although times are changing, for us investors, the investment logic is the same, which is to discover new people doing something new."
Regarding the advantages and investment opportunities of China's current entrepreneurial environment, Fang Aizhi said: "The current entrepreneurial and investment opportunities are very clear. Industries encouraged by the state, such as security, chips, new energy, and digitalization, are all very large fields. Starting a business in these fields is relatively simple, that is, we should do what the state encourages us to do. After the state sets goals from top to bottom, entrepreneurs and investors will implement them. "
Regarding investment opportunities in the next five years, Fang Aizhi said: "We can see opportunities in many industries, such as automatic content generation (AIGC), or there are many opportunities in fields related to the metaverse, automobiles, and new energy technologies. There are still some people who continue to consume, and we will also consider whether they have more unique ideas. As angel investor , we continue to support outstanding entrepreneurs. "
This article comes from the financial world
