Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), a corporate venture capital (CVC) vehicle for media group Bertelsmann, has made three promotions, DealStreetAsia reported today, as the unit gradually pivots to a multi-limited partner (LP) structure.
William (Penglan) Zhao has been appointed partner, having joined BAI in 2015 as a senior investment manager focusing on financial, enterprise and industrial technologies before adding a vice-president (VP) role two years later.
Global Corporate Venturing included Zhao in its inaugural Emerging Leaders roster in 2020, and his deals have included e-commerce platform operator Yixin Group, supply chain finance provider Linklogis and bicycle rental service HelloBike, all of which have led to exits for the unit.
Will Wang, another new partner at BAI, was hired in 2012 and also served as a VP before his promotion. He specialised in internet, consumer, retail, cross-border commerce and digital technology developers.
Wang helped the unit lead investments in e-learning platform developer Xiaozhan Education, women’s health app operator Dayima and digital recruitment service Lagou, and was ranked 14th on the GCV Rising Stars 2016 list when he was an investment manager at the unit.
Zhao and Wang have respectively been tasked to lead BAI’s investment teams in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
Christine Sun, who was legal and corporate communications director for BAI in charge of maintaining key relationships with the government and industry peers, has taken up a chief operating officer (COO) role. She will continue overseeing legal affairs while managing human resources for the unit.
BAI has been raising capital from external LPs to transform from a pure CVC unit to a more traditional VC model which will entail the fund rebranding itself to BAI Capital, 36Kr reported in early 2021.
BAI Capital reportedly began its fundraising efforts in mid-2020 and reached a $700m first close in January the following year. Its LPs include multiple unnamed entities such as national sovereign funds, insurance firms and internet groups.
Image courtesy of BAI Capital.
