SAN FRANCISCO: Chinese investors maneuvered around heightened geopolitical tensions to make record-level investments into U.S. startups in 2018, but increasingly hostile conditions will likely lead to a dropoff in Chinese funding for this year, according to a new report.
CFIUS began applying the law in November through a pilot program, and its effect would not be fully captured by the Rhodium report, which covers all of 2018. The government set a deadline to fully implement FIRRMA and clear up a number of ambiguities early next year.
Rhodium estimates that Chinese entities have poured about US$14 billion into U.S. startups since 2000, with 80 percent of the deals occurring since 2014. Also, Chinese venture capitalists have tried to steer clear of the technology CFIUS is closely probing, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics and cyber security. Roughly 40 percent of the Chinese VC deals last year went to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, the report says.