Photo/Shetuwang

Feb. 24 (NBD) -- Hillhouse Capital, a global Asia-focused private equity firm, on Monday announced the establishment of GL Ventures which will concentrate on venture investing in early-stage startups.

The new venture capital (VC), with a size of 10 billion yuan (1.4 billion U.S. dollars), will operate in a dual currency model of China Renminbi and U.S. Dollar.

GL Ventures will adopt an independent decision-making mechanism and focus mainly on venture investment in four areas: biomedical and medical devices; software services and original technological innovation; consumer-oriented Internet and technology; and emerging consumer brands and services.

Zhang Lei, founder of Hillhouse Capital, said in a statement that the set-up of GL Ventures intends to deliver a message to entrepreneurs and society – "We always stay optimistic about development of China and the world at large."

It's noticed that GL Ventures will have access to post-investment management resources of Hillhouse Capital, in a bid to provide enterprises with multidimensional supports in talents, technology, brands and other aspects.

Founded in 2005, Hillhouse Capital currently manages assets worth over 65 billion U.S. dollars and is one of Asia's largest investment institutions. At present, the company's business spectrum has covered the primary and secondary markets, from seed investments to buyouts.

Email: limenglin@nbd.com.cn