BlueRun Ventures China, the Chinese affiliate of Silicon Valley-based venture capital house BlueRun Ventures (BRV), has given up the English name it shares with its US counterpart, in a fresh sign of the bifurcation of venture capital in the world’s two largest economies, reports the South China Morning Post. BRV China, which manages over RMB 15 billion ($2 billion) in assets, has changed its English brand to Lanchi Ventures, the Beijing-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. Lanchi is the romanisation of the firm’s Chinese name.
The move comes as the US under President Joe Biden has ramped up scrutiny of American investment in China’s technology sector, including in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced semiconductors. Beijing has likewise grown more suspicious of US capital flowing into the sector.
The China affiliates of US venture capital houses, which have been an important source of US funds for Chinese start-ups, have been playing down their ties with American institutions. Sequoia Capital, one of the largest VC investors in China, said in June that it was spinning off its Chinese arm into an independent operation called HongShan as part of a global restructuring.
