5Y Capital founders Qin Liu (left) and Ken Shi (right). Credit: 5Y Capital
The Hong Kong-based venture capital firm 5Y Capital has had two major pieces of news in the last year. First, it rebranded from its original name, Morningside Venture Capital, in October. Then in February, it made a reported $30 billion return on its investment in the short-form video app Kuaishou, after the Chinese company listed shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
While Kuaishou may be its most high-profile success so far, 5Y has made other significant investments in its 13-year history, and it is moving fast to make more. Two of the firm’s best-known bets in China were on the electric vehicle startup Xpeng and voice toolkit Agora, which is best known as the technical foundation of social media app Clubhouse. 5Y Capital has already backed 16 companies in 2021, including startups in artificial intelligence, biotech, skincare and chocolate making. Chinese companies account for 90 percent of its more than 200 total investments, according to PitchBook. The early-stage firm has $4
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When China announced it was ending quarantine requirements for incoming travelers, Chinese people collectively picked up their phones to search popular travel apps like Ctrip and Qunar. Owned by travel giant Trip.com, these apps helped Chinese travelers explore the world pre-pandemic and facilitated the human-to-human interactions that drove China's rise. But many of today's travelers seem to be sticking closer to home, and their hesitation to get back to the jetsetting habits of the past 20 years has far-reaching implications — especially for Trip.com.
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