Ni Zhengdong, as a student representative, spoke at the orientation meeting of Huda University in 1992. He expressed his determination in public. At the moment he walked down the steps, he said to himself, "A word from a gentleman is a promise that cannot be recalled." The mood soon calmed down, and with a clear goal, the next thing to do was to study with peace of mind.
Ni Zhengdong always sits in the front row in class and cleans the blackboard for the teacher. After the evening self-study, he insisted on listening to English radio and watching English versions of Jane Eyre and Gone with the Wind. At six o'clock in the morning, the iron gate of the dormitory was still locked. He climbed over the wall of Sanshe with the mouthwash cup and towel in his schoolbag. Line up in front of the library, take a seat, then go to the bathroom to clean yourself up and go outside to buy some steamed buns. The small classrooms in the East Building and the North Building can clearly remember the desks that once belonged to him when passing by. That year, he was one of the most diligent students in Hunan University. If 1986 China New Technology Venture Capital Company was founded, the venture capital industry in China has gone through 22 years. It should be said that in the first half of this period, China's venture capital industry developed in the process of exploration, and the government-led is the main feature of this period. 1998, the bankruptcy of venture capital pioneer Chuangchuang seems to indicate the end of an era. During this period, the United States is experiencing a technological revolution-the Internet has become synonymous with this revolution.
It was during this period that Ni Zhengdong began to be influenced by this technological revolution and gradually came into contact with the new term of venture capital. While studying in Tsinghua, he organized a business plan contest in Tsinghua University.
Since 1999, the venture capital industry in China has opened a new chapter dominated by foreign venture capital. It was in this year that Ni Zhengdong and several of his partners in Tsinghua established Zero2IPO. When Zero2IPO was founded, it was catching up with the climax of Internet development. At that time, domestic venture capital was limited, but it also flocked to the IT industry with high growth expectations. Perhaps no one thought that the spring of venture capital industry was so short, and only two years later, the American Internet bubble burst. Global venture capital enterprises have encountered an unprecedented cold wave, and China is naturally not immune.
This year, the Qing Imperial Examination held the first China Venture Capital Forum. Talking about this forum in 200 1 year, Ni Zhengdong said: "At that time, only 150 people attended the forum. At that time, of course, it was unimaginable that the scale of this forum would reach nearly 1000 people in 2007, an increase of more than six times in seven years. " Coincidentally, in 200 1 year, the total amount of funds invested in the venture capital market was only $50180,000, but in 2007 it reached $3.2 billion, an increase of more than six times.
In 200 1 year, Zero2IPO failed to escape the "cold winter" of this industry, and the number of employees in Zero2IPO shrank from 16 at the beginning to 4 in 200 1 year. But Ni Zhengdong, who has always been optimistic about the venture capital market in China, chose to stick to it. It was probably at this time that Ni Zhengdong decided to position Zero2IPO as a service provider in the VC industry.
Ni Zhengdong's judgment is correct. Although the venture capital market has been adjusting and consolidating in the following years, it has laid the foundation for a new round of development. According to some data, the number of venture capital institutions in China expanded rapidly before 2000, reached its peak in 2000, and then began to decline. In 200 1 and 2002, the growth rate slowed down, with about 300 newly established venture capital institutions, and then the absolute value declined. At least, there are less than 200 venture capital institutions.
Since 2005, the venture capital market in China has developed rapidly. This stage is called the second development wave of VC by Ni Zhengdong. He believes that this trend is expected to continue to 20 10. According to the research statistics of Zero2IPO Research Center, the total amount of venture capital in China market in 2007 increased by 82.7% over the previous year, reaching a record $3.247 billion.
In just two years, the amount of venture capital almost doubled, while the total investment increased by 176.8%, and 58 new funds were raised, raising 5.485 billion US dollars. Compared with 2006, the number and amount of new funds increased by 48.7% and 38. 1% respectively. The bursting of the Internet bubble in the United States does not seem to have stopped China's venture capital market from being enthusiastic about TMT, perhaps because this field is the birthplace of venture capital. Over the years, most venture capital funds have gathered in the TMT field.
But Ni Zhengdong, who has been analyzing data in this market, seems to have found a new trend-venture capital began to favor traditional industries. In 2002, the IT industry invested 65.438+38.3 billion dollars, far ahead of other industries, but the proportion of investment plummeted. The number of investment cases in the IT industry in a broad sense accounts for 45.9% of the total investment, and the investment amount accounts for 42.6%, while these figures have remained above 50% before.
In contrast, the proportion of investment in traditional industries and service industries has increased significantly. Machinery manufacturing, media, education and training, and entertainment industries have become new investment hotspots for venture capital institutions, while agriculture, catering, food and beverage and other industries that have not received much attention in the past have also received certain investments.
The industry distribution of venture capital in China is increasingly diversified. Ni Zhengdong found that before 2005, VC made money in China mainly by investing in IT, such as the success of Shanda and other game software vendors. After 2005, with the success of Suntech and Focus, venture capital is no longer confined to TMT field, but gradually extended to traditional fields.
Ni Zhengdong, who has analyzed the venture capital market for a long time, also found that another trend in the venture capital market is that VC chooses to intervene in the middle and late stages of traditional industries, which is different from the previous practice of VC choosing to intervene in the early stage. "Low investment risk and quick return are the main reasons," he said. In 2007, the venture capital investment of foreign institutions in China market accounted for 79.0% of the whole market, while the venture capital investment of local institutions was only 65,438+06.9%. It can be seen that foreign venture capital institutions are still dominant, and local institutions are in a weak position in terms of investment quantity and amount. Ni Zhengdong predicted that according to the development momentum of local venture capital enterprises, local institutional investment will increase substantially in the next three to five years, but it will take some time to surpass the share of foreign investment, because the foundation of local investment funds is still very weak, but it is certain that the competition in the venture capital market in China is heating up.
In the past two years, the venture capital industry has maintained rapid development. Ni Zhengdong deeply realized that the whole VC industry is in a sub-health state. "With the development of the venture capital market, more funds have been raised and more companies are sharing the market. The competitive pressure has increased sharply and the market is facing a reshuffle. "
Previously, Zeng Qilin, senior vice president of PartnersGroup, had predicted that there would definitely be a bubble in the VC industry due to more and more funds in the market. The reason is that many venture capital companies compete for good projects and even raise prices, which makes the return on investment seriously deviate.
Ni Zhengdong is optimistic about the industry bubble. He believes that a moderate bubble can find out the real gold in the industry, wash away speculators and make the market develop healthily. In fact, even in the venture capital service market, Zero2IPO has already felt the reality of more and more speculators.
Since the Venture Capital Forum was held in 200 1 Zero2IPO Group, various types of venture capital forums have emerged one after another, and similar service providers have blossomed everywhere. Ni Zhengdong believes that the advantages of Zero2IPO lie in the service quality and brand accumulated over the years. Zero2IPO will expand its service field, take customers as the center, and have the confidence to maintain its position as an industry leader.
Although Zero2IPO is currently doing VC, Ni Zhengdong said that Zero2IPO Group is positioned as an SP service provider in the venture capital industry. Because I have been a service platform for a long time, I will also make some follow-up investments with venture capital customers, but only for follow-up. My main business is to provide a service platform for venture capital institutions and enterprises. In 9 years, Zero2IPO has developed from the first venture capital service provider in China to a leading venture capital service and investment institution in China, with more than 400 venture capital club member companies. In 9 years, the Growth Enterprise Market is on the verge of coming out.
"What Zero2IPO and GEM have in common is that they both provide services for SMEs and promote their development." Ni Zhengdong, who witnessed the difficult course of GEM, has a special reputation for GEM.
Referring to the impact of the launch of GEM on VC/PE, Ni Zhengdong believes that GEM will provide more exit channels for VC, and the target enterprises of GEM are also highly coincident with VC; But the impact on PE is not obvious. He believes that large enterprises should be listed on the main board, rather than overqualified on the Growth Enterprise Market.
According to the research report of Zero2IPO, in 2007, the exit activities of venture capital became better and better, and the number of IPO exit transactions supported by venture capital reached 100.
Ni Zhengdong said that before the launch of GEM, the main board had high requirements for the listing of enterprises. With GEM, more small and medium-sized enterprises can obtain the qualification of financing in the capital market, and the venture capital that provides financing support for small and medium-sized enterprises will also withdraw in a shorter time, and the benefit cycle will be greatly shortened.