(Yicai Global) May 20 -- The Yangtze River Delta Collaborative Advantage Industry Fund, which was set up at the end of last year, has completed CNY7.7 billion (USD1.1 billion) in first-round financing, it announced today, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The companies involved in this set include China Pacific Insurance Group, Shanghai International Group, Anhui Provincial Investment Group Holding, Shanghai Lingang Economic Development Group and Shanghai Airport Authority. The fund will total CNY100 billion, with CNY10 billion in the first phase, according to the plan.

This financing will mainly support industrial clustering and integration of artificial intelligence, biotechnology and the Internet of Things in the area, said Yu Beihua, chairman of commercial banking, mutual fund, asset management  and insurance firm Shanghai International Group. It will also create a cooperative platform for  local firms to support them in the fields of information,  entrepreneurship, capital, policy and ecology, he added.

The fund operates in the model of parent and sub fund and is managed by a market-oriented team. It is expected to yield CNY50 billion in investment in the first phase via capital's amplification function and support and gather high-end talents, novel technologies and innovative products in the delta.

The region consists of the city of Shanghai and adjacent Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. It had 220 million permanent residents and a regional gross domestic product of CNY19.5 trillion (USD2.8 trillion) in 2016, for 16 percent and 24 percent of the respective national totals of these.

Editor: Ben Armour