China is flooding Silicon Valley with cash, as 26 percent of U.S. unicorns are currently backed by investors from Greater China, while venture capital investment in U.S. companies is down, according to a report.
Among the 32 investors that have backed U.S. startups, Chinese internet giants like Alibaba and Tencent, as well as Chinese venture capitalists, are dominant, noted CB Insights, a New York-based investment research firm. Chinese investors have participated in over 40 American tech deals per quarter since 2014, and joined in major 2015 financing deals with the likes of Uber, Lyft and AirBnB among others, involving nearly $10 billion in U.S. tech funding for 2015 alone.
"Start-up fundraising in Silicon Valley wouldn't function without Chinese money. It has changed the landscape," said Chris Nicholson, the CEO of Skymind, a deep learning startup, in an interview with the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, venture capital investors in the U.S. have taken a more cautious approach as overall investment deal levels drop. What's more, the flood of crossover investment from mutual funds and hedge funds into private technology startups in the U.S. has fallen drastically.
According to the report, the global ambitions of Chinese internet giants, the rise of wealth creation and a dearth of investment opportunities in China are the primary motivations for Chinese investors looking to the U.S.
