Luminous Ventures has drawn an equivalent of over 5 billion yuan ($733.4 million) in commitments for its latest early-stage US dollar and Chinese yuan funds, marking the biggest dual-currency fundraise in China’s venture capital (VC) market so far in 2026.
Luminous Ventures, which changed its name from Lightspeed China Partners in October 2025, announced the fundraising updates in an April 15 WeChat post.
The updates include the final close of its oversubscribed sixth early-stage USD fund at $460 million, as well as commitments to its third RMB fund. The firm said the third RMB fund already achieved the first close at 1 billion yuan ($146.7 million), targeting a total of 2 billion yuan ($293.4 million).
The announcement came just two days after its counterpart Lanchi Ventures, previously BlueRun Ventures China, showcased about $560 million in new dual-currency fundraise, signalling a return of global limited partners (LPs) to tech investments in China after a USD fundraising lull over the past years.
Monolith Management, Source Code Capital, and its VC platform SCV are the other Chinese VCs that have successfully raised USD dry powder since late 2025.
Luminous Ventures said that the early-stage USD Fund VI roped in a mix of limited partners (LPs) including sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), university endowments, charitable foundations, pension funds, funds of funds (FOFs), family offices, and tech companies from regions like the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It managed to secure new LPs, including five SWFs.
The RMB Fund III, which took just six months to reach the first close, secured commitments from science and innovation-focused government guidance funds, industrial capital, FOFs, university foundations, family offices, as well as founders and entrepreneurs from the Luminous Ventures network.
While both new funds “still far exceed the initial fundraising targets,” James Mi, founding partner of Luminous Ventures, said that the firm “deliberately capped the eventual fund sizes to ensure operational agility.”
The fundraising milestone coincides with a string of initial public offerings (IPOs) by companies from its portfolio. Among its six portfolio IPOs in the past one year were the whopping $596-million STAR Market listing by AI chipmaker MetaX Integrated Circuits in December 2025 and the $558-million Hong Kong stock market debut by AI model developer Zhipu AI in January.
It has a pipeline of almost 10 upcoming IPOs in 2026, including the much-anticipated STAR Market IPO by embodied intelligence leader Unitree Robotics and the Hong Kong listing by AI drugmaker METiS Pharmaceuticals.
Besides its long-term focus on AI, Luminous Ventures is actively investing in thematic opportunities around nuclear fusion and the deep-sea economy.
Founded in 2011, Luminous Ventures saw its assets under management (AUM) reach $3 billion upon the final closes of its early-stage USD Fund V and growth-stage USD Fund II. In late 2021, the firm closed the two predecessor funds at $460 million each, with its $920-million fundraise being the year’s largest in the Chinese VC market.
As of today, it has yet to fully deploy the growth-stage USD Fund II, which still has over $200 million in remaining dry powder, according to the post.
With offices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, Luminous Ventures has built a portfolio of over 100 companies, including the likes of e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, delivery platform Meituan, and TikTok-owner ByteDance, which are champions from China’s mobile Internet era.
