Yunqi Partners

What Yunqi Partners does

Yunqi Partners (云启资本) is a Shanghai-headquartered early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2014 that invests primarily in Chinese AI and frontier-technology startups. The firm focuses on AI infrastructure, embodied intelligence, autonomous driving, commercial aerospace, semiconductors, quantum computing, brain-computer interfaces, nuclear fusion, and intelligent robotics, serving both technical founders seeking early-stage capital and limited partners seeking exposure to China's deep-tech ecosystem.

The firm operates three core fund vehicles: the Yunqi Main Fund for primary investments, the SJTU-Yunqi AI Angel Fund (a partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University) for university-linked deal flow, and the Y Transformers program for early-career technical talent. Yunqi maintains offices in Shanghai and Beijing with 11-50 employees, including at least 12 named investment professionals drawn from backgrounds at IDG Capital, GIC, Google, and PwC. The firm has been recognized on the Forbes China Best Venture Capitalist list for nine consecutive years and ranked #4 among Chinese early-stage VC firms in 2025, and it publishes proprietary frontier-tech research including its Frontier Insights industry reports.

Revenue is generated through standard VC fund economics — management fees (typically ~2% of AUM annually) and carried interest (typically ~20% of fund profits above a hurdle rate). Its 'customers' are dual: limited partners that commit capital to its funds and portfolio companies receiving capital and operational support. The firm reported two portfolio IPOs in early 2026 (MiniMax on January 9 and Manycore Technology on April 17), demonstrating exit realization and proof of investment thesis.

Name

Yunqi Partners

Legal name

Yunqi Partners (云启资本)

Website

https://yunqi.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Yunqi Partners is a Shanghai-headquartered Chinese early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2014, investing in AI, embodied intelligence, autonomous driving, semiconductors, and other frontier technologies through three fund vehicles.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital / Private Equity

NAICS

Other Financial Vehicles (52599), All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSANAAAI

Micro-VC & Angel Funds

Financial & Insurance/Private Equity & Venture Capital/Venture Capital Firms

SECONDARYFSANAAAL

Venture Debt Providers

Financial & Insurance/Private Equity & Venture Capital/Venture Capital Firms

Keywords

• Early-stage venture capital
• AI technology investing
• Frontier tech investment
• Angel fund management
• Hard tech venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Shanghai

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Venture capital fund management: Operates Yunqi Main Fund, SJTU-Yunqi AI Angel Fund, and Y Transformers program; revenue generated through standard venture capital fund economics (management fees on assets under management and carried interest on successful exits). Long-dated commitment from Day 1 to IPO.
2. Investment returns (carried interest) on portfolio exits: Realized and unrealized gains on portfolio investments; recent liquidity events include MiniMax HKEX listing (Jan 9, 2026), Manycore Tech HKEX listing (Apr 17, 2026), and Neolix's US$600M+ Series D (Oct 2025).

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Yunqi Partners is a China-based early- to mid-stage venture capital firm that invests in AI infrastructure, AI applications, embodied intelligence, autonomous driving, and frontier technology (semiconductors, quantum computing, brain-computer interface, commercial aerospace, energy, nuclear fusion). It manages the Yunqi Main Fund for long-term capital from seed through IPO, the co-sponsored SJTU-Yunqi AI Angel Fund with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the Y Transformers community program for next-generation AI-native entrepreneurs.

Product overview

Yunqi Partners is not a single-product SaaS company but a venture capital platform composed of multiple investment vehicles and entrepreneur programs that together form its offering. The Yunqi Main Fund (云启主基金) is the core long-term early-stage technology fund, while the Jiao Tong-Yunqi AI Angel Fund (交大-云启AI天使基金) is a sub-vehicle co-run with Shanghai Jiao Tong University that focuses specifically on angel-stage AI and frontier-tech opportunities sourced from academia. Y Transformers is a complementary community/program layer aimed at attracting and supporting a new generation of AI-native entrepreneurs earlier than the main fund's coverage. The firm has been active in AI infrastructure, embodied intelligence, autonomous driving, semiconductors, commercial space, and other frontier technology sectors since 2014.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Yunqi Main Fund (云启主基金): Core primary fund that long-term supports early-stage technology companies through to listing on industry and capital markets.
• Jiaotong University–Yunqi AI Angel Fund (交大-云启AI天使基金)
• Y Transformers

Products and services

• Yunqi Main Fund (云启主基金) Yunqi Partners' flagship early-stage technology investment vehicle that provides long-term equity capital and operational support to AI, embodied intelligence, and frontier tech enterprises from seed/angel through pre-IPO stages. Active since the firm's founding in 2014.
• Jiao Tong-Yunqi AI Angel Fund (交大-云启AI天使基金) An angel-stage investment vehicle co-initiated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, focused on technology sourced from universities and the research system. Targets AI and adjacent frontier technologies at their earliest commercialization stages through a deep academic deal-flow pipeline.
• Y Transformers Entrepreneur Program A Yunqi Partners program aimed at connecting with and supporting a new generation of AI-native entrepreneurs, providing community, resources, and pipeline access for founders earlier than the firm's core fund mandate. Recruits 25 next-generation founders per cohort.

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship academic/government partner, minor / flagship international academic relationship, minor ecosystem partner, flagship ecosystem partner, flagship academic partner and flagship portfolio co-marketing partner.

• Shanghai Jiao Tong University (上海交通大学)flagship academic/government partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-launched the SJTU-Yunqi AI Angel Fund (交大-云启AI天使基金) with Shanghai Jiao Tong University to channel investments into university research output. Yunqi also donated the 'Yuan Qi Development Fund' (源启发展基金) to SJTU and engages with the SJTU AI Institute through dialogue events, including AI Week discussions with SenseTime's Xu Li and MiniMax's Yan Junjie. The partnership provides Yunqi with deep pipeline access to academic spinouts and professor-founded startups.
• MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)minor / flagship international academic relationshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeriodic MIT tech exchanges and MIT entrepreneurship exchanges with Yunqi. Visits MIT campus for founder sourcing and tech exploration. Generates cross-border founder pipeline and international brand awareness.
• SenseTime (商汤)minor ecosystem partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeatured as dialogue partner during SJTU AI Week — SenseTime CEO Xu Li engaged with Yunqi on AI ecosystem topics. Indirect strategic relationship through academic ecosystem.
• Open Atom Foundation (开放原子开源基金会)flagship ecosystem partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-published the 'China Open Source Development Deep Report' (《中国开源发展深度报告》) with Open Atom Foundation, positioning Yunqi in the open-source developer ecosystem.
• Tsinghua University (清华大学)flagship academic partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted 5-person top-tier embodied intelligence panel discussion on Physical AI and implementation. Yunqi partner Sang Yu serves as secretary of Tsinghua Shanghai Alumni Association's Electronics Information Committee, maintaining close academic connection.
• MiniMax (MiniMax)flagship portfolio co-marketing partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint hosting of OpenClaw Meetup with Yunqi as ecosystem partner; collaboration on AI ecosystem events such as the '98后 Hotpot Debug' Y Transformers Beijing retrospective.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Linear Venture (线性资本): Shanghai-based early-stage VC focused on AI, enterprise software, and frontier tech, with comparable thesis around data infrastructure and AI applications. Similar fund size and stage to Yunqi's main fund; strong overlap in deal sourcing circles.
• Source Code Capital (源码资本): Beijing-based early- to growth-stage VC focused on AI, enterprise services, fintech, and frontier tech. Comparable in stage and sector focus, with similar 'technology + industry' investment philosophy and strong portfolio overlap in B2B platforms.
• Sinovation Ventures (创新工场): Kai-Fu Lee-founded early- to growth-stage tech VC with deep AI focus, including AI platforms, embodied intelligence, and AI applications. Comparable Chinese AI/hard tech mandate and 'AI-focused since founding' thesis positioning, with larger AUM and broader stage coverage.
• ZhenFund (真格基金): One of China's most prominent early-stage VC funds, founded 2011, with strong brand among AI-native and student-founder communities. Direct comparable to Yunqi in stage (seed to Series A), sector focus (AI, deep tech), and founder-community-led deal sourcing model.
• Lanchi Ventures (蓝驰创投): China-based early-stage VC with strong AI and frontier tech mandate; existing co-investor with Yunqi in ONERWAY. Directly comparable in stage, sector, and 'patient early-stage' thesis with active follow-on through growth rounds.
• Vision Knight Capital (远镜创投): China-based early-stage VC focused on enterprise services, AI, and frontier tech. Directly comparable in stage, sector, and Chinese early-stage thesis; similar founder-community-driven sourcing model.
• Zhiping Capital (至平资本): Early-stage AI-focused Chinese VC with comparable thesis around foundational models, AI applications, and frontier tech. Similar 'AI-first since founding' positioning to Yunqi; overlap in founder and university ecosystem engagement.

Broad incumbents

• IDG Capital: One of China's largest and oldest venture capital firms with broad early- to late-stage coverage across TMT, AI, healthcare, and consumer. Notable as Yunqi founder Mao Chengyu's former employer; overlaps with Yunqi in AI/enterprise but at much larger AUM and broader stage reach.
• Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (联想之星): CVC arm of Lenovo with early-stage AI, robotics, and core tech focus. Comparable in hard-tech and AI focus but operates as a strategic CVC with longer hold tolerance and corporate synergies; broad incumbent relative to Yunqi's independent fund model.
• Gaorong Ventures (高榕资本): Top-tier Chinese VC with broad early- to growth-stage coverage in TMT, AI, consumer, and frontier tech. Comparable in deal scale and quality but at much larger AUM; frequent co-investor alongside Yunqi in marquee rounds such as Neolix's $600M+ Series D.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yunqi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments253 records

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Frequently asked questions about Yunqi Partners