China-based internet group Baidu has hired Liu Wei to run its nascent corporate venturing unit, Baidu Capital, as chief executive, China Money Network has reported.
Liu was previously a partner at Legend Star, a venture capital subsidiary of conglomerate Legend Holdings. He joined Legend Star in 2011 and in his time at the unit its investments included speech recognition technology developer AI Speech and educational app developer Knowbox.
Baidu formed the $3bn Baidu Capital fund in October 2016 and has since been hiring executives to run the unit.
Wenjie ‘Jenny’ Wu was hired from online travel agency Ctrip in November as a managing partner while Zhang Jinling, a vice-president at smartphone producer Xiaomi, came on board as chief financial officer in January. Robin Li, Baidu’s CEO, is chairman of the fund.
Baidu Capital intends to invest between $50m and $100m at a time in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality technology. Liu’s appointment essentially means the unit’s core team is in place and it is working to close its first deals, according to China Money Network.