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 a driver of innovation for Zhenfund and its portfolio companies.
In this article, we will explore the team of Zhenfund, its leadership, and investments.
Overview of ZhenFund
ZhenFund is an early-stage venture capital firm established and led by four seasoned 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 to the challenges that face Chinese startups.
The ZhenFund team has a clear passion for helping entrepreneurs succeed at the early stages of startup funding in China. They are committed to helping founders realise 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 that range from finance and legal support to local marketing and business mentoring services.
Through the investment process, ZhenFund looks for ambitious entrepreneurs who understand the promise of technology in solving hard problems and creating a large impact with global implications. While these investments may not always be with startups strictly located in China, each target company needs to have a China angle – from access to potential customers or resources – that sets it apart from other global players. The fund also demands its portfolio companies reach significant milestones ahead of any subsequent financing rounds by providing much-needed supporting resources and access to its extensive network of industry contacts.
Anna Fang
Anna Fang is the Partner and CEO at ZhenFund, a Chinese venture capital firm specialising in early-stage tech investments. She has been with the firm since 2011 and is a key figure when it comes to driving the success of the firm.
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. She grew up in the U.S., attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for her undergraduate political science and economics degree, followed by an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.
With a passion for education and technology, Anna has gone on to pursue careers in the fields of venture capital and software engineering. She was formerly at Sequoia Capital China where she was part of their investments team focusing on early stage investments in technology companies, from both Chinese and global markets. Before that she specialised in artificial intelligence research at Samsung Research America working on data mining projects for decentralised business processes.
Currently at ZhenFund, Anna plays a key role within the ZhenFund Investment Team as lead investor for some of the firm’s largest public markets investments globally and is actively involved in all aspects of portfolio management including analysis of current portfolio companies as well as sourcing new investment opportunities.
In her spare time Anna enjoys bicycle touring around China’s various cities looking to immerse herself into local cultures while admiring its ancient architecture.
Professional Experience
Anna Fang is a Partner of ZhenFund, where she has led venture and strategic investments since 2014. Before joining ZhenFund, Anna worked with Matrix Partners China and Temasek Holdings in China private equity investments, focusing on 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 businesses across technology and non-technology domains such as B2C information services and manufacturing/distribution companies undergoing digital innovation or participating in the “consuming China” story. Her investments include:
- Chunyu Doctor (listed on Hong Kong SE), marketplaces such as Moxian (NASDAQ listed) and Olepa, Techivi (acquired by Microsoft), shops selling traditional Chinese handicrafts Dangshan, goHellospot (Chigz Tech) for virtual city exploration.
- Food-related products such as EatPurely for healthy meal delivery.
- Kids’ play venue Babo Kids.
- Online cookware supplier Ubamarket.
- Hotel marketing platform Dycode.
- Data-driven travel agency MyLeadHound.
- AI consultation company Adcoil.
Anna Fang Partner And CEO, ZhenFund
Anna Fang is a Partner at ZhenFund. She has succeeded 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.
Before joining ZhenFund, Anna was the CEO of FutureFamily and a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners where she sourced investments in consumer mobile apps such as Tinder, Venmo and Postmates. She has also led investments and ventures such as Moderator Tech – a consumer training platform, Brighten Health – a telemedicine provider for seniors and Giraffe – an offline medical centre network in India.
Anna was selected by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology as one of “China’s Future Innovators” in 2011. Other organisations, including Network World Magazine (“Big Data 100 Innovation Award”), have recognized her. Additionally she won the “Appointed TEDx Taperilla Prize” in 2012 for her contribution to TEDx talks held in Shanghai, received the UNAIDS Leadership Award for helping victims affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa with AI tools created for early detection of disease.
Anna also served on the Board of Directors at Affirm from 2016-2018 where she helped steer strategic exploration with investors from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures Partners & Khosla Ventures. Other awards include being named “Woman To Watch Out For” in 2017 by Inc magazine, plus 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 catalyse China’s leading entrepreneurs and global innovation.
Anna Fang is the Partner and CEO of ZhenFund, and has been credited as a major driving force behind the firm’s success. This article will discuss the history of ZhenFund, its current operations, and the leadership of Anna Fang.
Company Overview
Founded in 2013, ZhenFund was created to create a better way to fund and support entrepreneurs. Since then, ZhenFund has become one of China’s leading venture capital firms, investing in over 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 from our people’s cumulative experiences and innovative investment approaches, we provide more than just capital — we provide access to our global resources and connection to high-calibre founders and entrepreneurs as partners of their journeys.
ZhenFund currently has four offices across Asia (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong), each populated by hundreds of passionate professionals supporting China’s best new companies. Our team applies proven strategies that foster success regardless of a company’s size or stage — early-stage investments are rooted in guidance and foresight; later-stage investments leverage existing knowledge and infrastructure; growth investments emphasise experience enhancing operations; while late stage opportunities require ambition yet flexibility focused on long-term sustainability.
Our investment philosophy is rooted around providing an upper hand so founders are given the resources necessary for disruptive growth — throughout time-honoured market cycles and unconventional paths ahead — all designed to address some of society’s most difficult challenges through entrepreneurial means.
Investment Strategies
ZhenFund is a venture capital firm focusing on early-stage investments in Greater China. Our investment strategies are based on the long-term value generation taken over the entire startup life cycle.
Our investment strategy covers Seed Stage, Series A, Series B and Series C+ within various industries. We prioritise sectors with robust growth prospects and invest in companies with good business models, innovative technology, and engaged founders. We also believe that our experience in corporate development can offer valuable support to our portfolio companies and help them utilise resources efficiently in two crucial stages: (1) scale to reach millions of users; (2) increase operational efficiency amidst rapid growth.
Therefore, we seek opportunities with entrepreneurs who share our vision for a strong execution capability and positive social impact. In addition, we focus on complementary investments, where our partners may form part of a rigid deal syndication process or be invited as individual investors for follow-on investments from Seed up to Pre-IPO stage.
Portfolio Companies
At ZhenFund, we invest in unbelievably talented teams working on ambitious projects that promise to significantly impact the world. We are fortunate enough to work with some of the brightest entrepreneurs, who have created or lead some of the most innovative and interesting companies across different industries including technology, media/entertainment, healthcare, energy, consumer and social impact.
We believe that great businesses are built from more than just 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 stage of establishment to maturity and growth parameters. Our concept-driven venture 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)
- Lightbulb Technologies (smart home technology)
- Yivr (virtual reality media platform)
- Kangaroo Care Technologies (maternal healthcare)
- Glow Up (social beauty community)
- Prudent Dynamics (enterprise AI solutions)
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