IDG Capital Partners and Breyer Capital launch $1 billion China investment fund

IDG Capital Partners, a China-focused incarnation of San Francisco VC company IDG Ventures, has announced a mammoth $1 billion fund in conjunction with Silicon Valley VC firm Breyer Capital.

Breyer Capital was established in 2006 by prominent investor Jim Breyer, who has a number of notable investments under his belt. Breyer was Accel Partners’ lead in its 2005 investment in Facebook, at a time when the social network had only a handful of employees.

IDG Capital has invested in a number of notable companies since it entered China in 1993, including Tencent, Baidu, and Xiaomi, and Breyer has a long track record of sponsoring investment funds in China, both with Accel and through Breyer Capital.

“I have invested in China with the IDG team for over a decade and have been continually impressed by the caliber, creativity and drive of Chinese entrepreneurs working across a range of industries,” said Breyer. “China continues to represent tremendous long-term investment opportunities, particularly in companies applying machine-learning and artificial intelligence to revolutionize a multitude of industries, including financial services, healthcare, and social media, to name just a few.”

The new IDG Capital Fund III will be focused on multiple “next-generation opportunities” across technology, healthcare, media and telecommunications, energy, and consumer products. Though startups in China will be a major focus for the fund, it will also target foreign companies looking to infiltrate the Chinese market.

Indeed, startups often struggle to gain a foothold in the Chinese market due to legislative and regulatory hurdles, so entering China with a local VC partner on board should appeal to many companies. Today’s news comes seven months after China Equity Group launched a new investment spin-off backed by a $715 million fund — specifically for European startups aiming to enter China.