Venture capital (VC) funding activity in China witnessed a considerable year-on-year (YoY) decline in terms of deal volume as well as value during the first half (H1) of 2023. A total of 1,622 VC funding deals of worth $18.6 billion were announced in China during H1 2023. This represents a YoY decline of 15.8% in terms of VC funding deals volume and 36.3% in value, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database revealed that a total of 1,926 VC funding deals were announced in China during H1 2022 while the corresponding disclosed value of these deals stood at $29.2 billion.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Akin to other key markets, although China’s startup ecosystem is experiencing funding crunch due to the challenging economic conditions, the impact seems to be relatively lesser compared to its peers. The decline registered in markets such as the US, the UK, and India far surpassed that of China.”

For instance, VC funding deal volume in the US, the UK, and India dropped YoY by 34.7%, 28.6%, and 43.3%, respectively, in H1 2023. The decline in corresponding value for these markets was even relatively higher at 49.2%, 54.7% and 76.4%, respectively.

Bose adds: “Resultantly, China, which apart from being the top APAC market is also a key global market for VC funding, witnessed a jump in its share of global VC funding deal volume as well as value.”

China accounted for 14.6% share of the total number of VC funding deals announced globally during H1 2023, a jump from 12% share in H1 2022. Meanwhile, its share of the corresponding deal value improved from 11.1% in H1 2022 to 14.8% in H1 2023.

Note: Historic data may change in case some deals get added to previous months because of a delay in disclosure of information in the public domain.