Deutsche Bank's tech fund takes stake in China eLabs

Oct 31, 2000

The investment gives Deutsche on-the-ground access to e-business initiatives in China.

Deutsche Bank's technology fund, the e-millennium 2 Fund, has taken a 20% stake in technology incubator China eLabs.

China eLabs, a joint venture between The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Shanghai New Margin Venture Capital (SNMVC), makes strategic investments in new venture companies. It is an incubator that focuses on technology that either originates in the United States, or has a cross border feature. In addition to providing seed capital, the company also aims to facilitate new venture requirements from basic infrastructure consulting, to business strategy and fund raising.

Harrison Wang, Deutsche Bank's Asian head of e-Business, says the investment is consistent with the bank's focus. "We chose to invest in China eLabs because it will provide us with on-the-ground access in China to some of the most exciting and revolutionary e-business initiatives this country has to offer," he says.

Deutsche Bank has invested $150 million in the e-millennium 2 Fund, which was launched in July this year. The fund typically invests between $5 million and $10 million in validated business models and technologies. Though Wang declined to reveal the exact amount of its investment in China eLabs, he expects a return within two to three years.

So far, China eLabs has invested in YourImporter.com, a United States based import and export portal with a buyer-focused strategy. Another recent strategic investment is in InfOncall, a China-based technology team that has developed a voice-access interconnected system llinking traditional HTML web pages with voice through an extended mark-up language platform.

Shanghai New Margin Venture Capital's portfolio consisting of about 70% early-stage companies and 30% late-stage companies. Of its investments, 80% of companies are in the information technology field, 10% in healthcare and biotechnology and the remaining 10% in materials and environmental protection. SNMVC tends to make equity investments of between 10% to 50% in early-stage companies and 1% and 5% in late stage companies.

The e-millennium fund is looking to announce further investments about once a month, according to Wang. "We are rolling forwards nicely," he says.