China emerges as VC hotspot

Venture capital funding is continuing to pour into Asia, with the year-to-date run rate putting the region’s technology start-ups on track to pull in $56.44bn this year, a 132% annual rise, the Financial Times reports. Leading the charge are China’s big tech giants, who have taken the baton from the more traditional venture capital firms. Tencent outranked Sequoia as the top investor, with 19 unicorns to the venture capital firm’s 13, according to CB Insights, a data intelligence platform. Almost half China’s 46 unicorns were backed by one of the members of China’s BAT tech trinity or e-commerce site JD.com. However, as in other parts of the globe, unicorns are in decline. Just 17 were minted in Asia last year, down 26% from the 2015 and with no major pick-up so far this year. China has stabled some of the world’s biggest unicorns including Xiaomi, once the biggest of all with a value of $40bn.