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BEIJING, Dec. 26 — China on Friday launched the national venture capital guidance fund, as part of efforts to mobilize more patient capital for innovative and future industries.

The fund was jointly initiated by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF), with three regional funds set up in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The fund is designed to leverage central government capital to attract broad participation from local governments, central state-owned enterprises, financial institutions and private investors, increase support for strategic emerging and future industries, and accelerate the cultivation of new quality productive forces, Bai Jingyu, an NDRC official, told a press conference on Friday.

Analysts see the move as a targeted policy tool to align financial capital with China’s long-term development strategy. According to recommendations for formulating China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, the country aims to develop venture capital investment and establish mechanisms to increase funding and share risks in future industries.

“The growth of innovation-driven enterprises is a long-distance marathon that requires patient capital,” Bai said. To this end, the guidance fund has a 20-year lifespan, with extended investment and exit periods designed to provide long-term funding support and greater development space for innovative firms.

Investment decisions will follow the principle of “investing early, investing small, investing long-term and investing in hard technology,” the NDRC official explained, adding that at least 70 percent of the fund’s capital will be directed to seed-stage and early-stage enterprises.

At the launch ceremony, the three regional funds have already reached preliminary investment agreements covering integrated circuits, quantum technology, biomedicine, brain-computer interfaces, aerospace, artificial intelligence, future energy and other strategic sectors.

Guo Fangming, an MOF official, said the fund will act as a risk-sharing mechanism, effectively serving as an “angel investor” by absorbing early-stage risks and encouraging broader social participation in innovation financing.

While guided by policy objectives, the fund will operate on market principles, with the government setting policy direction and professional institutions managing fundraising, investment and exits through competitive selection, without mandatory geographic reinvestment requirements, Bai noted.

Structurally, the guidance fund adopts a three-tier framework comprising a fund company, regional funds and sub-funds, a design intended to amplify the leveraging effect of central government capital, Bai noted.

Beyond capital injection, the fund seeks to strengthen the venture capital ecosystem by anchoring long-term social capital in technology innovation and coordinating with other government guidance funds to support high-level technological self-reliance and new quality productive forces, Guo said.

To address the higher risks associated with early-stage projects, the fund will adopt a management approach combining online monitoring with on-the-ground oversight, enabling integrated and transparent compliance supervision and earlier identification, warning and mitigation of potential risks, Bai said.

Looking ahead, the guidance fund is expected to facilitate the establishment of more than 600 sub-funds across the three regions, supporting the development of strategic emerging and future industries, officials added.