GGV Capital Is Raising A Giant New Fund

GGV Capital, a 15-year-old, cross-border venture fund that invests in both U.S. and China-based companies, is raising two giant new funds, shows two new SEC filings that list a target of $880 million and $250 million, respectively. Both forms state that the first sale has yet to occur.

The figures represent an enormous increase in the amount of money that GGV is managing; a fast close would also represent a remarkably short turnaround for its investment team. GGV closed its fifth fund with $620 million less than two years ago.

The firm didn’t respond to a request for more information this afternoon. Still, one can imagine why its limited partners might be enthusiastic about plugging more money into its coffers. Among the IPOs in GGV’s portfolio in recent years is the  customer support company Zendesk, which went public in May 2014, and the hybrid array vendor Nimble Storage, which went public in 2013.

GGV also backed the payments company Square, which went public last November, and has seen its shares fall from $13 to $8.50 since. (We sat down with managing director Glenn Solomon a week after the company’s public market debut to talk shop.)

Several of the still-private companies in GGV’s portfolio have been marked up considerably since GGV invested, too, though it’s too soon to predict the outcome for any.

One of its bets is on Wish, a fast-growing mobile e-commerce platform that sells almost everything for $25 or less, and ships those items for next to nothing. (It takes advantage of the U.S. Postal Service’s ePacket program, which cuts shipping costs by processing goods overseas before they’re sent to the U.S.)

Wish has reportedly had “soft” acquisition talks with both Amazon and Alibaba involving a healthy premium over its last post-money valuation. (GGV Capital co-led its $19 million Series B round in the spring of 2014; the company has since raised nearly $600 million, shows CrunchBase, at a reported $3 billion valuation.)

Another of GGV’s privately held portfolio companies is Opendoor, an Internet startup that pays cash to buy people’s homes, then flips them. GGV led its $20 million Series B last February; Opendoor quietly raised $80 million in third round funding last fall.

GGV is also an investor in the Saas business Domo, which has raised nearly $500 million to date. GGV led a $60 million round in the business three years ago.

GGV’s appeal also centers largely on the success it has enjoyed in China, a country to which many VCs flocked more than 10 years ago, then left, while GGV stayed put.

Among its many China-based hits: the online travel information site Qunar (it went public in 2013) and the video sharing site Tudou (it went public in 2011 and was acquired in 2012).

GGV is also very notably an early investor in Didi Kuaidi, (more newly branded Didi Chuxing). The company is the combination of the two largest taxi hailing companies in China.

(Update and disclosure. This original post did not link to a second SEC filing for GGV’s Discovery Fund, for which GGV is raising $250 million. Also worth noting: GGV Capital managing director Hans Tung is interviewing Wish CEO Peter Szulczewski at an event being organized by this editor later this month.)