Chinese startups secured $6.4 billion in venture capital (VC) funding in the first two months of 2024, down 4.9% year-on-year (YoY), UK-based GlobalData said.

The combined total of VC deals for January and February fell by 18.9% YoY to 416.

 Chinese startups raised $6.7 billion worth of venture funding through 513 deals during the same period in 2023.
 
“The YoY decline in terms of funding value is relatively lesser compared to the decline in deal volume during January-February 2024. This could be attributed to the month-on-month (MoM) growth in funding value experienced in February,” said Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData.
 
China witnessed a 12.8% month-on-month growth in funding value in February.  
 
Big-ticket VC funding deals announced last month included $1 billion raised by Moonshot AI, $933 million secured by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, and $140 million obtained by Shenzhen Jinming Industrial.
 
“China’s attractiveness can also be understood from the fact that apart from being the top Asia-Pacific market, it also continues to be a key global market for VC funding activity and stands just next to the US in terms of both deal volume and value,” Bose added.
 
China accounted for 18% of the total global VC deals during January-February 2024 and 18.9% of the disclosed funding value.  

Moreover, China witnessed the creation of five unicorns within the country during the first two months of 2024, Globaldata said.

(Editing by Brinda Darasha; brinda.darasha@lseg.com)