Jetpack backer Kuang-Chi launches US$250 million global fund for innovative firms

Shenzhen-based technology company Kuang-Chi Group announced on Monday the launch of a US$250 million fund to invest in start-ups and early-stage tech companies globally.

The programme, the company’s second Global Community of Innovation (GCI) fund, is open to partners at home and abroad who will work alongside Kuang-Chi, Ruopeng Liu, the chairman of Kuang-Chi said in Shenzhen, with an emphasis on innovative and disruptive companies with big potential.

The fund will invest between US$1 million to US$15 million in emerging technology companies valued at US$5 million to US$200 million, focusing on robotics, aviation, virtual reality/augmented reality, telecommunications, internet of things and digital health.

Founded in 2010, Kuang-Chi started as an electronic materials and communication equipment provider. Its subsidiary KuangChi Science listed in Hong Kong in 2014.

It has invested in several companies in recent years, including Canadian solar-powered aircraft company Solar Ship and New Zealand jetpack maker Martin Aircraft.