Danqing Hu has been a senior associate at Alibaba since 2010, where he oversees minority investments and mergers and acquisitions in internet, wireless technologies, and e-commerce businesses.
Alibaba has become one of the most ambitious corporate venturing units since Hu arrived. In November 2015 alone, Alibaba and Alphabet were among the investors in US-based online commerce company Jet.com. Its financing round raised $350m at a $1bn pre-money valuation, with verbal commitments for a further $150m. Language learning platform TutorGroup also raised $200m in its series C round backed by Alibaba and CyberAgent.
Its returns have also been good. In November 2015, Alibaba sought $1bn in an exit from its minority stake in Dianping-Meituan as part of its $15bn merger.
This has encouraged Alibaba to set up specific regional funds. In November, it committed $307m to a Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund. It has set aside a pot of $129m for an Entrepreneurs Fund in Hong Kong, which will invest in companies using Alibaba’s technology ecosystem to develop products.
Before joining Alibaba, the HEC Paris graduate was an associate for Japan Asia Investment for two years. Earlier in his career, he was an analyst for Axa Private Equity.