Qiming collects Princeton for $1.1bn fund

China-based early-stage venture firm Qiming Venture Partners closed its seventh fund at $1.1bn last week with investors including Princeton University Investment Company (Princo), the manager of the institution’s $26bn endowment.
The fund’s other limited partners include unnamed endowments, foundations, family offices and private pensions.
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners currently has a total of $3.5bn in assets under management.
The firm has backed more than 350 businesses including 30 unicorns, investing from nine US dollar funds in addition to five renminbi-denominated vehicles. It claims to have returned $1bn to its LPs during 2019.
With the latest fund, Qiming will target healthcare sectors such as new drugs, devices and diagnostics as well as opportunities such as artificial intelligence and e-commerce in the technology, media and telecoms space.
Princeton was an anchor investor for Qiming’s inaugural US dollar fund, returning for its fourth $500m vehicle in 2014 alongside others including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
The fourth fund also included medical practice Mayo Clinic in addition to New York University and Utimco – the venturing unit for University of Texas and Texas A&M University. Utimco and NYU both took part as existing investors.
Princeton, MIT and Mayo Clinic joined LPs including Duke University for Qiming’s fifth and sixth US dollar funds, which raised $648m and $945m in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
Qiming’s most recent renminbi-denominated fund closed at $335m in 2018, and the firm has also launched two vehicles focused solely on US healthcare investments.