The Chinese city of Shanghai’s Baoshan district government has formed a RMB400m ($48m) venture capital fund in partnership with three corporates, Shanghai Daily reported on Saturday.
Industrial product manufacturer General Electric, electronics producer Samsung and diversified manufacturing conglomerate Sabic will join the district in backing the fund, which will invest in startups focused on advanced materials, and in particular graphene.
The fund will form part of the district’s aim to build a graphene-related research hub in the area it hopes will attract investors from around the world. Shanghai has named new materials as one of the elements of its industrial development strategy through 2020.