Venture Capital in China with Gary Rieschel

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Gary Rieschel to discuss his two decades-plus working in venture capital in China, his experience starting his own firm, Qiming Venture Partners, in the country, and the evolution of the business and entrepreneurial space in the 21st century. Rieschel illustrates the early challenges in the VC sector, from a lack of infrastructure and difficulty in finding reliable partners to being part of a successful VC landscape that boomed in China during the late 2000s and 2010s. Economy and Rieschel then touch on the involvement of the government in the industry; from the problem with using State Owned Enterprises, how the government issues directives to shape the technology used in the business, and the eventual crackdown on private enterprise in China under Xi Jinping. The two conclude with a discussion of the current landscape of US-China relations and what the United States can best do to compete in a new era.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Gary Rieschel is the Founding Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, a firm he launched in Shanghai in 2006. Qiming invests in Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare and has over 100 staffs in China and the U.S. Qiming has $9.5 billion USD in capital raised with many of their portfolio companies being some of today’s most influential firms in their respective sectors. 

Prior to founding Qiming, Mr. Rieschel was a senior executive at Intel, Sequent Computer, Cisco Systems, and Softbank Corporation. Gary started his VC career by creating Softbank’s U.S. venture group in 1995 (SBVC), and while at Softbank he invested in twelve companies which grew to over $1B USD in market capitalization and served on Softbank’s board of directors. Gary was early in the emergence of venture capital in China, through sponsoring and founding several of China’s early VC firms, including Softbank China Ventures (2000), SAIF Partners (2001), and Ceyuan Ventures (2004), before moving to China to create Qiming.

Elizabeth Economy is the Hargrove Senior Fellow and co-director of the Program on the US, China, and the World at the Hoover Institution. From 2021-2023, she took leave from Hoover to serve as the senior advisor for China to the US Secretary of Commerce. Before joining Hoover, she was the C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and director, Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of four books on China, including most recently The World According to China (Polity, 2021), and the co-editor of two volumes. She serves on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and the National Committee on US-China Relations. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and Council on Foreign Relations and serves as a book reviewer for Foreign Affairs.  

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ABOUT THE SERIES

China Considered with Elizabeth Economy is a Hoover Institution podcast series that features in-depth conversations with leading political figures, scholars, and activists from around the world. The series explores the ideas, events, and forces shaping China’s future and its global relationships, offering high-level expertise, clear-eyed analysis, and valuable insights to demystify China’s evolving dynamics and what they may mean for ordinary citizens and key decision makers across societies, governments, and the private sector.