Anna Fang, Partner and CEO of Zhenfund is a prominent figure in the venture capital and technology industry. She has proven to be a powerful leader and driver of innovation for Zhenfund and its portfolio companies.
In this article, we’ll explore Zhenfund’s team, leadership, and investments.
ZhenFund Overview
ZhenFund is an early-stage venture capital firm established and led by four experienced entrepreneurs. The team focuses on identifying, funding and accelerating exceptional entrepreneurs in China. Through their deep experience as founders of companies and platforms, they bring a unique understanding of the challenges facing Chinese startups.
The ZhenFund team has a clear passion for helping entrepreneurs succeed in early stage business financing in China. They are committed to helping founders realize their ideas, regardless of their background or industry. Focusing on building relationships rather than just making investments, they strive to provide creative solutions tailored to each entrepreneur’s needs ranging from financing and legal support to local marketing and business mentoring services.
Through the investment process, ZhenFund seeks ambitious entrepreneurs who understand the promise of technology to solve tough problems and create big impact with global implications. While these investments may not always be with startups located strictly in China, each target company must have a China angle, from access to potential customers or resources, that sets it apart from other global players. The fund also requires its portfolio companies to achieve significant milestones before any subsequent funding rounds by providing much-needed support resources and access to its extensive network of industry contacts.
Anna Fang
Anna Fang is the partner and CEO of ZhenFund, a Chinese venture capital firm specializing in early-stage technology investments. He has been part of the firm since 2011 and is a key figure in driving the firm’s success.
Let’s take a closer look at Anna and her role at ZhenFund.
Background and Education
Anna Fang has a unique background with experiences spanning technology, venture capital and finance. He grew up in the United States, attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics, followed by an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.
With a passion for education and technology, Anna has continued to work in the fields of venture capital and software engineering. He was previously at Sequoia Capital China, where he was part of its investment team focusing on early stage investments in technology companies, both in the Chinese and global markets. He previously specialized in artificial intelligence research at Samsung Research America working on data mining projects for decentralized business processes.
Currently at ZhenFund, Anna plays a key role within ZhenFund’s investment team as a lead investor in some of the firm’s largest public markets investments globally and actively participates in all aspects of portfolio management, including analyzing current portfolio companies and sourcing new investment opportunities. .
In her free time, Anna enjoys cycling around the different cities of China looking to immerse herself in the local cultures while admiring their ancient architecture.
Professional experience
Anna Fang is a partner at ZhenFund, where she has led venture investments and strategies since 2014. Prior to joining ZhenFund, Anna worked with Matrix Partners China and Temasek Holdings private equity investments in China, focusing on se in consumer products, mobile and Internet sectors. She began her career as an investment banker at Credit Suisse Hong Kong.
At ZhenFund, Anna focuses on early stage investments in consumer products/services and hospitality-related companies in technology and non-technology domains, such as B2C information services and manufacturing/distribution companies experiencing digital innovation or participate in the history of “consumer China”. Its investments include:
- Chunyu Doctor (listed on Hong Kong SE), marketplaces such as Moxian (listed on NASDAQ) and Olepa, Techivi (acquired by Microsoft), shops selling traditional Chinese crafts Dangshan, goHellospot (Chigz Tech) for virtual city exploration.
- Food-related products like EatPurely for healthy meal delivery.
- Children’s play area Babo Kids.
- Online kitchenware supplier Ubamarket.
- Dycode hotel marketing platform.
- MyLeadHound data-driven travel agency.
- Adcoil AI Consulting Company.
Anna Fang Partner and CEO, ZhenFund
Anna Fang is a partner at ZhenFund. She has been successful as an investor, entrepreneur and business leader, as evidenced by her numerous awards, including being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2018 and 2019.
Prior to joining ZhenFund, Anna was the CEO of FutureFamily and a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, where she raised investments in consumer mobile apps such as Tinder, Venmo and Postmates. He has also led investments and ventures such as Moderator Tech, a consumer education platform, Brighten Health, a telemedicine provider for the elderly, and Giraffe, a network of offline medical centers in India.
In 2011, Anna was selected by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China as one of the “Future Innovators of China”. Other organizations, such as Network World magazine (“Big Data 100 Innovation Award”), have recognized it. In addition, he won the “TEDx Tapestry Award” in 2012 for his contribution to the TEDx talks held in Shanghai, he received the UNAIDS Leadership Award for helping victims affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa with tools of AIs created for the early detection of diseases.
Anna also served on Affirmar’s Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018, where she helped lead strategic exploration with investors from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures Partners and Khosla Ventures. Other accolades include being named a 2017 “Woman to Watch” by Inc magazine, as well as the Forbes 30 Under 30 China list.
ZhenFund
ZhenFund is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Beijing, China. Founded in 2013, they aim to catalyze China’s top entrepreneurs and global innovation.
Anna Fang is the partner and CEO of ZhenFund, and has been credited as one of the main driving forces behind the company’s success. This article will cover the history of ZhenFund, its current operations and Anna Fang’s leadership.
Company overview
Founded in 2013, ZhenFund was created to create a better way to finance and support entrepreneurs. Since then, ZhenFund has grown into one of China’s leading venture capital firms, investing in more than 200 early-stage companies spanning many industries and geographies.
At ZhenFund, we believe in empowering founders to focus on what’s important: building great companies. Drawing on the accumulated experiences of our people and innovative investment approaches, we offer more than just capital: we provide access to our global resources and connection to high-caliber founders and entrepreneurs as partners in their journeys.
ZhenFund currently has four offices across Asia (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong), each populated by hundreds of passionate professionals supporting China’s top startups. Our team applies proven strategies that foster success regardless of company size or stage: early-stage investments are based on guidance and foresight; later-stage investments leverage existing knowledge and infrastructure; growth investments emphasize experience-enhancing operations; while late-stage opportunities require ambition but flexibility focused on long-term sustainability.
Our investment philosophy is based on providing an edge for founders to have the resources needed for disruptive growth, across traditional market cycles and unconventional paths ahead, all designed to address some of the toughest challenges in the society through entrepreneurial means.
Investment strategies
ZhenFund is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments in Greater China. Our investment strategies are based on long-term value generation taken throughout the startup’s life cycle.
Our investment strategy covers Seed Stage, Series A, Series B and Series C+ within various industries. We prioritize sectors with strong growth prospects and invest in companies with good business models, innovative technology and committed founders. We also believe that our corporate development expertise can provide valuable support to our portfolio companies and help them use resources efficiently in two crucial stages: (1) scale to reach millions of users; (2) increase operational efficiency amid rapid growth.
Therefore, we seek opportunities with entrepreneurs who share our vision of strong execution capability and positive social impact. In addition, we focus on complementary investments, where our partners can be part of a rigid deal syndication process or be invited as individual investors for subsequent investments from seed to pre-exit stage on the stock market
Portfolio companies
At ZhenFund, we invest in incredibly talented teams working on ambitious projects that promise to significantly impact the world. We are fortunate to work with some of the brightest entrepreneurs, who have created or led some of the most innovative and exciting companies across industries including technology, media/entertainment, healthcare, energy, consumer and social impact.
We believe that great companies are built on more than ideas; it’s also about a team that can execute and achieve success. That’s why we take an integrated approach when selecting our portfolio companies, from the establishment stage to maturity and growth parameters. Our concept-driven business style looks at the whole picture of a company before committing resources and enthusiasm.
Here is a selection of our portfolio companies:
- Mojitime (Mobile App Development)
- Light Bulb Technologies (Smart Home Technology)
- Yivr (virtual reality media platform)
- Kangaroo Care Technologies (maternal health care)
- Glow Up (social beauty community)
- Prudent Dynamics (Business AI Solutions)