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US-China tech war
TechPolicy

US VC firm BlueRun’s China arm ditches Silicon Valley brand after Sequoia amid rising US scrutiny on tech investment

  • BlueRun Ventures China is now known as Lanchi Ventures, becoming the second big venture capital firm to distance itself from its US origins
  • The move comes a month after the US moved to restrict US investment into advanced Chinese tech such as AI, chips and quantum computing

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People stand at a shopping mall near the CCTV headquarters and China Zun skyscraper in Beijing’s central business district on September 7, 2023. Beijing-based BlueRun Ventures China is the second major venture capital firm to drop the brand of its US namesake amid geopolitical tensions between the two countries. Photo: Reuters
Xinmei Shen

BlueRun Ventures China, the Chinese affiliate of Silicon Valley-based venture capital house BlueRun Ventures (BRV), has given up the English name it shares with its US counterpart, in a fresh sign of the bifurcation of venture capital in the world’s two largest economies.

BRV China, which manages over 15 billion yuan (US$2 billion) in assets, has changed its English brand to Lanchi Ventures, the Beijing-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. Lanchi is the romanisation of the firm’s Chinese name.

The move comes as the US under President Joe Biden has ramped up scrutiny of American investment in China’s technology sector, including in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced semiconductors. Beijing has likewise grown more suspicious of US capital flowing into the sector.

The China affiliates of US venture capital houses, which have been an important source of US funds for Chinese start-ups, have been playing down their ties with American institutions. Sequoia Capital, one of the largest VC investors in China, said in June that it was spinning off its Chinese arm into an independent operation called HongShan as part of a global restructuring.

Lanchi said in its statement that it has been operating “independently” in China since 2010, but it kept the BlueRun brand until now to reflect its “same investment philosophy” and “profound friendship” with the US firm. Absent from the statement was any mention of the tense geopolitical environment that tech investors in China are now navigating.

The rebrand also came with a new website, which lists two offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

The moves from Sequoia and BRV mark a watershed moment in the VC industry, as the bromance between Silicon Valley and China’s start-up community has fizzled over the past few years amid the US-China tech war.
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