May 14th witnessed the launch of the Luojia Innovation Angel Fund financing 150 million yuan to support innovation and entrepreneurship and the first venture capital investment activity. After the on-site road show, four participating projects received a total investment of more than 10 million yuan.
The Luojia Innovation Angel Fund is jointly established by tripartite parties including the university, university alumni and the local government without restrictions on the fields and regions where the investment is used. This fund aims at providing financial support to the pioneering and innovative projects of the faculty, students and alumni of Wuhan University （WHU）and the commercialization of their research findings. It is also accessible to others as well.
The launching ceremony attracted over 30 WHU alumni. Mr. Han Jin, the chair of the university council, stated that the Angel Fund was a practical way to implement the national “Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation” Initiative. The fund should be people-oriented, or to be more specific, student-oriented. It is significant that the students are the beneficiaries under our educational concept of “Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creation”, so as to make them the contributors of our society under the background of “Economic: the New Normal”.
President Li Xiaohong pointed out that the introduction of this fund was the introduction of capital and intelligence, which dramatically inspired the entrepreneurship and innovation on campus and provided a cradle for excellent entrepreneurs. “I do hope that The Luojia Innovation Angel Fund can help the ‘angels’ living at the foot of Luojia Mountains to make a difference”.
At ceremony, President Li Xiaohong, Entrepreneur Chen Dongsheng and District Mayor Zhang Xingping jointly pressed the button to launch the fund, followed by the signing ceremony with Hubei Provincial High Technology Industry Investment Co., LTD and Jiazhuo Company.
The Luojia Innovation Angel Fund was established after the signing of memorandum among the university, the alumni and the local government in November 2015. This fund received 10 million yuan from Wuhan University and 20 million yuan from Wuchang district government. The remaining part was provided by alumni, a total amount of 91 million yuan. Meanwhile, Hubei Provincial High Technology Industry Investment Co., LTD invested an extra 30 million yuan, with a proportion of 25% in the total capital. By now, the total amount of fund has hit 150 million yuan.
This fund involves a great number of excellent alumni. IT tycoon Tao Chuang is in charge of the capital management; Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi China mobile phone brand, serves as the chairman of its advisory board; Chen Dongsheng, the president of Taikang Life Insurance Company, holds the post of chairman of the partner conference. More than 200 alumni have participated in the investment and management of the fund.
"The Luojia Innovation Angel Fund, with public benefit features is endowed with abundant entrepreneurship experience and resources because so many successful entrepreneurs who graduated from WHU play important roles as investors as well as mentors. This significantly contributes to the successful pioneering work on campus”, says Mr. Ying Weiwei, WHU Vice President (Finance).
（Rewritten by Shen Yuxi，Edited by Jin Yiwen, Wang Mengtian, Mark & Hu Sijia)
