The 2020 ranking of top venture capitalists worldwide underscores several trends in the market.
It demonstrates that China is rising as a tech superpower, while Silicon Valley remains at the top.
Definitely, China is showing its muscle, innovating faster, working harder and going global. On just about every score -- patents, R&D, number of engineers, unicorns, venture capital investments -- China is catching up to the U.S.
On the annual Midas list, China grabbed 23 of the spots, a record. Silicon Valley maintained a strong lead with 54 VCs on the tally. Of the 23 from China, five were notably from Hong Kong. Other markets that placed well were New York and Boston.
Once again, Neil Shen of Sequoia Capital China aced the list of top-performing 100 venture capitalists in the world -- the third year in a row.
The list also showed the prominence of a core group of VCs in China. Of the China firms on the list, Sequoia placed 3, GGV Capital had 3 and Qiming had two.
Investment in several Chinese companies that went on to become tech titans tipped the scales toward VCs in China. They include social e-commerce startup Pinduoduo, entertainment and news app ByteDance, smartphone maker Xiaomi, delivery superapp Meituan-Dianping, ride hailing service Didi Chuxing, food delivery service Ele.me, video streaming site Bilibili, social commerce platform RED and self-driving car startup Pony.ai.
Let me point out that most of these companies and their venture investors are profiled in-depth in my latest book, Tech Titans of China.
Among the up and comer VCs, China also scored two spots.
In a nod to the newcomer tech hubs in Asia, Singapore counted with one VC.
There were none from India, however. This could change for next year's list, as India picks up as a venture tech hubs.
Overall, the annual ranking has been improved over the years to take into account markets outside the U.S., particularly China, which in some prior had a separate country ranking.
See my list below compiled from the Forbes rankings of the best venture capitalists, with their rank and the company that gave them the edge.
BEST VCs: 23 from China
Neil Shen, Sequoia Capital China (1), ByteDance
Richard Liu, Morningside Ventures (6), Xiaomi
Hans Tung, GGV Capital (10), Peloton
JP Gan, INCE Capital (13), Bilibili
Kathy Xu, Capital Today (14), Meituan-Dianping
Zhen Zhang, Gaorong Capital (18), Pinduoduo
Xiaojun Li, IDG Capital (19), Pinduoduo
James Mi, Lightspeed China Partners, (21), Pinduoduo
Xiaoping Xu, ZhenFund, (24), Meicai
Steven Ji, Sequoia Capital (30), Ele.me
Nisa Leung, Qiming Venture Partners (33), Zai Lab
Jenny Lee, GGV Capital (35), Kingsoft, WPS
Allen Zhu, GSR Ventures (40), Didi Chuxing
Tuck Lye Koh, Shunwei Capital (42), Xiaomi
John Lindfors, DST Global (48), Xiaomi
Liu Erhai, Joy Capital (49), Mobike
Yi Cao, Source Code Capital (51), ByteDance
Xiang Gao, Gaorong Capital (68), Huya
Duane Kuang, Qiming Venture (69), RoboRock
Kui Zhou, Sequoia China (70), Pony.ai
Jixun Foo, GGV Capital (76), Qunar
Young Guo, IDG Capital (85), iQiyi
Anna Fang, ZhenFund (91) RED (XiaoHongShu)
Up and Comers
Yungang Huang, Source Code Capital, Relx Technology, Qimg Hotels
Yutong Zhang, GSR Ventures, RED (XiaoHongShu)
Southeast Asia
Shailendra Singh, Sequoia India, (64), Pine Labs
Hong Kong
Neil Shen, Kathy Zhu, Richard Liu, Nisa Leung, John Lindfors
