New | Xiaomi backer invests in killer instinct

Richard Ji, whose little-known fund was the biggest investor in the mainland's leading smartphone maker Xiaomi's US$1.1 billion fundraising last month, is a numbers man looking to spot "category killers" - start-ups with the power to disrupt.

Ji, a former Morgan Stanley technology analyst, co-founded All-Stars Investment in Hong Kong in April last year with half a dozen colleagues from the Wall Street bank.

The fund swiftly raised about US$750 million to target the mainland's vast internet sector, Ji said in his office. A Xiaomi-branded television hangs on the wall.

"As a fund, we focus on late-stage opportunities or companies that are two to three years away from a potential [initial public offering]," he said. "If you focus on growth-stage companies, chances are you'll pick the wrong horse."

Last year's record US$25 billion listing from Alibaba Group Holding injected new life into the mainland's technology hopefuls. Alibaba and other mainland companies raised a combined US$29.3 billion through US listings last year alone, minting millionaires and fuelling a rush to fund technology start-ups. Ji reckons only one in every 60,000 internet start-ups on the mainland makes it to a public listing.

Ji, whose 11 years as an industry analyst helped him build close ties with the mainland's technology entrepreneurs including Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun, says he targets what he calls "category leaders" and "category killers".

Xiaomi fits that bill.