(Yicai Global) April 9 -- Qiming Venture Partners has raised USD1.1 billion, the most bagged by a Chinese venture capital firm so far this year, for a new dollar fund geared toward early-stage investments in healthcare, tech, media and telecoms.

The majority of the money raised came from university endowments and charity, family and pension funds, The Paper reported. Qiming will invest the cash in biomedicine, medical devices, genetic diagnosis, medical services, information technology, artificial intelligence, corporate services, consumer internet and e-commerce.

The fundraiser is a ray of hope for the VC sector in China, which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the report added.

Founded in 2006, Shanghai-based Qiming manages nine dollar funds and five yuan funds worth a total USD5.3 billion with managers in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. It has backed more than 350, of which more than 110 have listed or Qiming has exited through mergers, acquisitions or other means. Some of its targets include Xiaomi, Meituan-Dianping, Bilibili and Schrodinger.

Editor: James Boynton