Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese startups raised the highest venture capital (VC) funding amount among the Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries during January to May 2021. A total of 1,303 VC funding deals were announced in China during the period as the disclosed funding value of these deals stood at US$37.4bn, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that only February witnessing growth in VC funding value while March was the only month to witness growth in deal volume. Nevertheless, despite the decline, China held the lion’s share of the APAC VC funding landscape and accounted for close to 50% and 70% of the region’s total deal volume and value, respectively, during the review period.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Despite investors adopting a cautious approach and deal activity remaining subdued for most of the period, China managed to witness the announcement of some big-ticket deals, which helped it register a sizeable cumulative funding value.”

Some of the notable VC funding deals announced during the period in China were US$3bn funding in Xingsheng Optimal, US$750m capital raising by Beijing Shihui Technology, US$700m funding in Dingdong Maicai, US$664.2m capital raising by Leap Motor and US$600m funding in Qingju.