Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Granite Global Ventures Ups Fund To $600M, Staffs Up In China

Menlo Park-based Granite Global Ventures said this morning that it has upped its Granite Global Ventures III fund to $600M, and also added two new venture partners in China. The venture capital firm said that GGV III has increased to $600M from an original $400M close in October of 2006. The firm said the additional funding will be used for investments in expansion stage companies in U.S. and Chinese companies, with an increased focus on investments in China driven by consumer growth. The amount managed by the firm now total more than $1B. The firm has hired on four partners from SIG Capital in Shanghai, including Zhuo Fumin and Jessie Jin as Managing Partners, and Michael Kuan and Steve Chu as venture partners. Zhuo Fumin has previously served at Vertex China Investment and Shanghai Industrial Holdings Limited; Jim was also previously at Vertex China Investment. Kuan has previously served at Capital Corporation of America, and Chu formerly managed the Asian merger and acquisition business at UBS, among other positions.