First, the big impression: the "carnival" of China's venture capital system construction
Taking stock every year, we were all uneasy in 2004-2005, and we characterized the venture capital industry in China as "a bright future"; In 2005-2006, I boldly characterized it as "reversible change". However, in the annual report of 2006-2007, our mood is gratified and gratified. Not only those data show that my comfort is true, but more importantly, we have seen the influx of international venture capital funds and the long-lost busyness and happiness of domestic venture capitalists. If it is summed up in one sentence, I prefer to use the "clouds disperse" at the beginning of the article.
Thick "clouds" have always been the main weather condition for the development of venture capital in China. However, all this changed greatly in 2006-2007.
From the perspective of national policies, a series of policy inclinations have provided an unprecedented relaxed environment for the development of venture capital industry. The convening of the national science and technology conference in early 2006 opened the curtain of the "favorable" policy of venture capital.
The Outline of China Science and Technology Development Plan for 2006-2020 and its supporting policies clearly state that developing China's venture capital is one of the most important policy tools for independent innovation. We should not only make directional regulations on market access and market exit, but also encourage banks, securities institutions, insurance institutions, enterprises and private individuals to participate in the establishment and management of venture capital.
In order to implement these policies, the relevant departments soon introduced a series of measures.
-The newly revised Limited Partnership Enterprise Law adds the form of partnership between legal persons, which provides the most important legal basis for venture capitalists and venture capital managers to set up partnership funds, and completely solves the problem of double taxation of venture capital.
-Notice on Promoting the Development of Tax Policies for Venture Capital Enterprises issued by the Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China, which gives the same tax treatment to high-tech enterprises to venture capital institutions with corporate system and greatly reduces the tax burden.
The successful establishment of venture capital guidance funds in Suzhou, Zhongguancun and Zhangjiang, Shanghai has accumulated valuable experience for the national venture capital guidance fund to be established soon, found an effective way for the government to support venture capital, and provided a new "engine" for attracting more investors to participate in venture capital.
—— The successful experiment of the stock agency system of Zhongguancun unlisted companies has provided a successful template for the large-scale opening of the OTC market and a more convenient channel for the diversified exit of venture capital.
The success of the share-trading reform has cleared the institutional obstacles of China stock market, and made many pre-investment projects begin to stage wealth myths on the IPO stage, while the proposed GEM will invest China's venture capital in the rich "pasture".
―― Private equity funds have gone from "violation" in the past to "shyness" in 2006, and then to "popularity" in 2007, indicating that China's financial regulatory authorities are changing from passive control to active innovation. Some small and medium investors will also share the happiness of the growth of China enterprises and the risks of these entrepreneurs through private equity funds.
-Collective trust plan is a long-term arrangement system of trust law, which provides a legal basis for the establishment of funds. But before 2006, few investors used it, and now the situation has changed a lot. This method is becoming a convenient channel for "unincorporated venture capital institutions" to enter.
-The "special financing account" launched by The Export-Import Bank of China has broken through the barriers of credit funds and equity investment at the level of policy banks for the first time, and played a pioneering role in exploring banks' large-scale participation in venture capital.
-China Development Bank has implemented the strategy of full coverage of venture capital guidance funds in all provinces and cities across the country, laying a solid foundation for the future trend of venture capital.
In a word, these fresh and practical venture capital initiatives are pushing open doors one after another for the venture capital industry in China, and they are also the unremitting efforts of venture capital workers in China for many years, which finally makes China the most valuable hot spot for investment. In fact, due to the continuous improvement and innovation of China's venture capital system, China in 2006 really became a carnival for international and domestic venture capitalists.
Second, great progress: China venture capital began to harvest "the fruits of summer"
Numbers are boring, but they are also the most attractive. The national venture capital survey in 2006 shows that venture capital in China is reaping "the fruits of summer".
1. Venture capital institutions and venture capital both climbed to the second highest point in history. In 2006, the total number of venture capital institutions in China was 345, only lower than 366 in 2002 (1994). Among them, the original investment institution 1 1 has expired or closed down. In the whole year, 37 venture capital institutions were actually registered (newly established), 26 more than in 2005, with an increase rate of 8.2%, and the growth rate was obviously improved.
In 2006, the total amount of venture capital management funds reached 66.38 billion yuan, which was only lower than that in 2002 since the statistics of 1995. The growth rate of total managed capital is lower than that of the number of institutions, but higher than that of 2005, with an increase of 5. 1%. In 2006, the registered capital of venture capital institutions in China was 40.58 billion yuan, and the average registered capital of each venture capital institution was 65.438+0.2 billion yuan.
2. The sources of venture capital are more diversified, and domestic capital, especially enterprises and individual capital, has increased substantially. In 2006, the total investment of venture capital in China was 33.9% by the government and wholly state-owned investment institutions, 30.5% by other enterprises and 2.4% by trust and securities companies. Overall, the proportion of government and state-owned investment institutions decreased by 3 percentage points, but the proportion of government investment decreased by 4 percentage points, while the proportion of state-owned investment institutions increased by 1 percentage point, which shows that the trend of government funds for venture capital classified as operating assets of state-owned assets management departments continues. However, the proportion of other enterprises entering the venture capital field increased by 3 percentage points, and the proportion of individuals also increased by 2 percentage points. Because some "funds" expired, the total share of foreign investment dropped by 5 percentage points.
3. The capital scale of venture capital institutions continues to expand, and the fund scale effect gradually appears. In 2006, 32% of venture capital institutions were below 50 million yuan, which was about 5 percentage points lower than that in 2005. Institutions with management funds ranging from 50 million yuan to 654.38 billion yuan accounted for 27.9%, institutions with management funds ranging from 654.38 billion yuan to 200 million yuan accounted for 654.38+08.5%, and institutions with management funds ranging from 200 million yuan to 300 million yuan accounted for 654.38+03.5%. Institutions with management funds above 500 million yuan accounted for 7.7%, which was roughly the same as that in 2005. In 2006, the distribution of funds managed by institutions of different sizes was that institutions with management funds below 50 million yuan held 4.7% of the total venture capital in China, and institutions with management funds between 50 million yuan and 654.38+0.2% held 654.38+065.438+0.2%. Institutions with a capital scale of1-200 million yuan have mastered 13.7%, institutions with a capital scale of 200-500 million yuan account for 20.7%, and institutions with a capital scale of more than 500 million yuan still account for 49.6%.
High-tech enterprise projects are still the favorite of venture capital, which shows that venture capital still plays an important role in supporting high-tech industrialization. By the end of 2005, venture capital institutions in China had invested 4,592 projects and 2,453 projects invested by high-tech enterprises, accounting for 57% of the total investment. The total investment reached 410.80 billion yuan, of which the investment of high-tech enterprises reached 210.59 billion yuan, accounting for about 53%. Compared with 2005, venture capital in China was quite active in 2006. Although the proportion of investment in high-tech enterprises has decreased, the investment quota has increased compared with 2005.
According to the distribution characteristics of venture capital in high-tech industries and traditional industries, in 2006, China's venture capital industry continued to invest heavily in high-tech industries (more than 60%), while its support for venture capital in traditional industries was significantly enhanced, both the investment amount and the number of investment projects reached an unprecedented high proportion, close to 40%.
5. The stage of venture capital has moved forward obviously, and the ability of risk identification and risk tolerance has been enhanced. A significant difference from previous years is that in 2006, the trend of "stage forward" of venture capital increased, that is, the middle and early stages replaced the middle and late stages, becoming a region where a large number of venture capital were concentrated. Although in terms of investment amount, the amount of venture capital obtained in the growth period or expansion period is the largest, which is close to 40%, in terms of the proportion of investment projects, the seed period accounts for the highest proportion, reaching an unprecedented 37.4%. This shows that after years of policy guidance, the basic role of venture capital in supporting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the development of start-ups is more significant.
6. The proportion of venture capital shares has increased, and the intention of gradually returning to financial investors is obvious. Generally speaking, the equity structure of venture capital has not changed fundamentally. Equity participation and relative holding are the main investment methods of venture capital institutions, and the proportion of projects with equity below 30% is as high as 80%. However, the proportion of projects with shareholding ratios below 65,438+00% and 20-30% has increased significantly, while other shareholding ranges have declined to varying degrees. Among them, the proportion of projects holding more than 30% shares decreased by 65,438+03.2% compared with the previous year. This shows that the trend of holding shares of venture capital institutions is obviously weakened, which is related to the number and amount of investment projects.
7. The forms of venture capital are diversified, and the market between venture capital institutions and venture capital projects is gradually formed. In 2006, the distribution of exit income of venture capital showed the characteristics of "big at both ends and small in the middle", that is, the proportion of projects with exit income of less than 5 million yuan and more than 20 million yuan for a single project was significantly higher than that of other interval projects, accounting for 77.8%, which was the first in the past years. Among them, projects with an outbound income of more than 20 million yuan were particularly active, up 8.2 percentage points over the previous year.
The proportion of repurchase, including entrepreneurs and managers, exceeds the proportion of mergers and acquisitions (including domestic and foreign enterprise acquisitions, agreement transfer, equity transfer, transfer, etc.). ) and became the main channel of venture capital projects in 2006, accounting for 38.8%. This trend shows that with the improvement of the capital market, the trend of insider control in enterprises is strengthened. Therefore, how to design an effective corporate governance structure may be the key factor to determine the future development of such enterprises. Another feature of venture capital withdrawing from the project in 2006 is that the proportion of "liquidation projects" is obviously reduced, which shows that the overall operation of venture capital projects is getting better and better.
8. Government departments still play the role of the largest project recommender, and the efficiency of the docking of national scientific and technological investment and venture capital is also constantly improving. The survey shows that the sources of venture capital institutions' projects are very stable and have not changed much in recent years. "Government recommendation" and "project owner" are still the two main sources for venture capital institutions to obtain project information, accounting for 27.9% and 18.5% respectively, which are slightly higher or lower than 25.6% and 20.3% in 2005, but the change is not significant. "Project Agent", "Friend Introduction" and "Shareholder Recommendation" are three relatively concentrated information sources, accounting for 17.2%, 12.9% and 13. 1% respectively, among which "Shareholder Recommendation" accounts for a relatively large proportion.
9. Market and team are the most important factors that affect the decision-making of venture capital in China, which indicates that the investment concept of venture capital institutions in China is basically in line with international standards. Among all the factors that affect the investment decision of venture capital institutions, market prospect and management team are considered to be the most important factors, accounting for 365,438+0.8% and 22.7% respectively. Secondly, technical factors accounted for 16.8%, which was higher than 13.0% in 2005. The investigation for five consecutive years shows that venture capital institutions in China pay little attention to investment location, credit status, competitors, intermediary service quality and corporate governance when making investment decisions. Market prospect, management team and technical factors are the main factors affecting decision-making, followed by profit model and financial situation. Market prospect and the value of management team have always been the two most valued factors. For entrepreneurs seeking capital, he is not managing specific profits, but "prospects". For investors who choose projects, he prefers "people" to "projects", that is, good teams.
10. The withdrawal period of foreign venture capital projects is shortened, especially by increasing the proportion of liquidation stop loss, which shows that foreign capital has strong risk control ability. By the end of 2006, among the enterprises invested by overseas venture capital institutions, in addition to continuing to operate, acquisition by other institutions, liquidation and preparation for listing were the three main modes of operation, accounting for 10.7%, 8.4% and 7% respectively. For domestic venture capital institutions, acquisition by other institutions, preparation for listing and repurchase by original shareholders have become the three main modes of operation, accounting for 7.8%, 5.0% and 4.9% respectively. It can be seen that foreign venture capital institutions generally withdraw and recover funds more quickly through listing, mergers and acquisitions, and the efficiency of capital use is higher than that of Chinese-funded institutions. Therefore, in the use of venture capital funds, foreign institutions are more efficient, which is worth learning from Chinese institutions. In other respects, the proportion of original shareholder (entrepreneur) repurchase and management buyout is similar. However, the proportion of foreign capital withdrawing through liquidation is much higher than that of Chinese-funded institutions, which shows that once the project is unsuccessful, foreign capital dares to recover the cost as soon as possible through liquidation. In addition, for Chinese and foreign venture capital institutions, listing is also an important mode of operation, of which foreign-funded institutions account for 6.9%, and they are mainly listed overseas. For venture capital institutions in China, the proportion of listed companies is 4%, and they are mainly listed in China.
Third, great expectations: the "future image" of venture capital in China.
The initial development of venture capital industry in China can only be described as "the bud of Xiao He". In the survey, we also deeply felt the greater expectations of entrepreneurs. If these expectations are described by "future images", the following points are undoubtedly the most important.
1. Diversified market access system. Because different capital has different requirements, the industry has always expected to establish a venture capital access system that meets all kinds of capital needs. Diversified market access systems include: liability companies and venture capital joint-stock companies established according to the Company Law; Venture capital partnership established in accordance with the Limited Partnership Enterprise Law, venture capital collective trust plan established in accordance with the Trust Law, parallel fund established in accordance with the Law on Chinese-foreign Cooperative Enterprises, venture capital guiding fund established in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Venture Capital Enterprises, etc.
2. Diversified sources of funds. Based on the huge spillover effect of venture capital on entrepreneurial innovation activities, it is necessary to establish investment channels suitable for all kinds of funds. These channels include enterprise funds, personal funds, bank funds and insurance funds, and give corresponding tax credits to different types of funds to form a pooling mechanism of venture capital sources.
3. More open project sources. The quality of venture capital project sources determines the success or failure of the final investment. The industry expects the relevant state departments to open all kinds of science and technology project libraries, so that the early government support and the late venture capital intervention can form a good connection. For example, the government opened the 863 Program, the high-tech industrialization program, the support program, the torch program, the innovation fund, and the SME fund, so that venture capital institutions can enjoy these project resources, improve the investment success rate, and reduce the investment cost.
4. Diversified project incubation methods. Venture capital is only a link to meet the capital demand of investment projects, and diversified incubation methods are needed to support the success of investment projects. Therefore, the industry expects to establish a capital supply chain to meet the demand of project growth. For example, the government should increase direct financial support for seed-stage projects that conform to the national industrial policy and innovation policy, so that these projects can cross the "death valley" more and provide more projects for venture capital intervention; For projects that venture capital has entered, banks and other financial institutions should give priority to credit funds to support their rapid expansion; For enterprises that have completed the expansion period, the capital market should be given an appropriate "green channel" when entering.
5. Diversified project exit paths. Venture capital is a multi-stage investment process, and accordingly, diversified project exit paths are needed. It is generally believed in the industry that China needs diversified exit paths, including at least: exit market among venture capital institutions, repurchase market of investment projects, merger and acquisition market of strategic investors, OTC market, Growth Enterprise Market, main board market and overseas market. In particular, the demand for OTC market and Growth Enterprise Market is particularly urgent. In addition, corporate funds should also be allowed to conduct IPO.