Data source: 1135 financing events from 36Kr Pitchhub, spanning 2026-01 to 2026-05.Note: Excludes early-stage private PE deals, undisclosed financings, and community partner investments not covered by 36Kr, so this represents the "reported market", not the entire market.
In one sentence: Where the money is
- 355 + 210 + 188 = 753 events(66%) are concentrated in Advanced Manufacturing + Healthcare + Frontier Technology the three sectors.
- 154 Series B events the most,early-stage (Series A and earlier) total 373 events(33%) remain the mainstream, but all single large-ticket deals are in IPO / M&A.
- 5 deals above RMB 6 billion are all listings or M&As: Silicon Labs China US$7.5 billion acquisition / Terns Pharmaceuticals US$6 billion acquisition / Moonton US$6+ billion acquisition / Shenghong Technology HK$20.1 billion IPO / Muyuan HK$10.6 billion IPO.
- 2026-03 is the monthly peak(329 events); May is not yet over (102 events as of the 19th).
Monthly rhythm
| Month | Number of events | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-01 | 283 | Rush of announcements before Spring Festival |
| 2026-02 | 165 | Spring Festival off-season (Spring Festival on February 17) |
| 2026-03 | 329 | Post-holiday peak, concentrated in healthcare/tech |
| 2026-04 | 256 | Flat, Q1 close |
| 2026-05 (as of the 19th) | 102 | As of crawl date |
Why: Q1 is the intensive period for public financing announcements (around annual reports + performance push around Spring Festival); March alone had 329 events = 29% of the full-year-to-date total.
Industry Distribution (Top 20)
| Industry | Number of events | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Manufacturing | 355 | 31% |
| Healthcare | 210 | 19% |
| Frontier Technology | 188 | 17% |
| Enterprise Services | 106 | 9% |
| Traditional Manufacturing | 85 | 7% |
| Smart Hardware | 82 | 7% |
| Auto & Mobility | 46 | 4% |
| Telecommunications/Semiconductors | 46 | 4% |
| Energy & Environmental Protection | 35 | 3% |
| Industrial Upgrading | 35 | 3% |
| Consumer & E-commerce | 34 | 3% |
| Culture & Entertainment | 19 | 1.7% |
| Tools & Software | 17 | 1.5% |
| IoT/Hardware | 13 | 1.1% |
| Local Services | 8 | 0.7% |
| Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry & Fishery | 8 | 0.7% |
| Logistics | 7 | 0.6% |
| Finance | 7 | 0.6% |
| Sports & Gaming | 5 | 0.4% |
| Others | 9 | 0.8% |
Why the three sectors absorb 66% of the money:
- Advanced Manufacturing / Semiconductors / Smart Hardware: national strategy + domestic substitution + equipment upgrade cycle
- Healthcare: innovative drug overseas expansion + AI for drug discovery + domestic device localization (see Deep Dive into China Healthcare Financing 2026 H1)
- Frontier Technology (mainly AI): large models + embodied intelligence + quantum (see Deep Dive into China AI / Frontier Technology Financing 2026 H1)
Why consumer/local services are shrinking(34 + 8 = 42 events, 3.7%):
- The internet platform round is basically over
- Early-stage consumer startup capital is receding
- What remains are secondary-market actions by already listed companies (Dongpeng / Mingming Henmang / Dingdong)
Round Distribution
By original round field:
| Round | Number of events |
|---|---|
| Series B | 154 |
| Series A | 138 |
| Series A+ | 94 |
| Series C | 86 |
| Equity Financing | 84 |
| Series B+ | 78 |
| Strategic Financing | 59 |
| IPO | 57 |
| M&A/Merger | 55 |
| Series D | 44 |
| Pre-A | 34 |
| Angel Round | 31 |
| Series C+ | 27 |
| Private Placement | 22 |
| Seed Round | 22 |
| Pre-A+ | 21 |
| Series A++ | 19 |
| Cornerstone Investment Round | 19 |
| Series B++ | 17 |
| Pre-B | 12 |
Aggregated by broad stage:
| Broad stage | Number of events | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Early-stage (Angel/Seed/Pre-A/A/A+/A++) | 373 | 33% |
| Series B family(B/B+/B++/Pre-B) | 251 | 22% |
| Late-stage/Listing(Equity financing/private placement/cornerstone/pre-IPO) | 125 | 11% |
| Series C family | 118 | 10% |
| Series D and beyond | 67 | 6% |
| Strategic Financing | 59 | 5% |
| IPO | 57 | 5% |
| M&A/Merger | 55 | 5% |
| Other/Unknown | 30 | 3% |
Why early-stage 33% + Series B 22% = 55%: The China market in 2026 remains in a "pre-expansion investment" cycle, with a large number of projects at the A–B round PMF validation stage; the month-on-month decrease in C+ rounds reflects "caution in mid- to late-stage capital".
Why IPO + M&A account for 10%: The Hong Kong stock market sees an IPO window in 2026 (signal: HKEX Chapter 18C attracts unprofitable tech companies), while M&As are concentrated in cross-border deals (Silicon Labs China / Moonton / Terns) and local state-owned asset restructurings (Huayu / Jingyi Expressway).
Top 15 Mega Deals
| Date | Project | Round | Amount | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-02-09 | Silicon Labs China | M&A/Merger | Approx. US$7.5 billion | Advanced Manufacturing |
| 2026-03-25 | Terns Pharmaceuticals | M&A/Merger | US$6 billion | Healthcare |
| 2026-03-20 | Moonton Games | M&A/Merger | Over US$6 billion | Sports & Gaming |
| 2026-04-21 | Shenghong Technology | IPO | HK$20.117 billion (≈ US$2.6 billion) | Traditional Manufacturing |
| 2026-05-06 | Moonshot AI | Series D | US$2 billion | Frontier Technology |
| 2026-02-06 | Muyuan Foods | IPO | HK$10.684 billion | Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry & Fishery |
| 2026-02-03 | Dongpeng Beverage | IPO | HK$10.141 billion | Consumer & E-commerce |
| 2026-03-31 | TCL CSOT | Equity Financing | RMB 9.325 billion | Advanced Manufacturing |
| 2026-03-30 | Guangzhou CSOT Semiconductor | Equity Financing | RMB 9.325 billion (same deal) | Frontier Technology |
| 2026-02-09 | Montage Technology | IPO | HK$7.043 billion | Advanced Manufacturing |
| 2026-04-13 | Shenghong Technology | Cornerstone Investment Round | US$997 million | Traditional Manufacturing |
| 2026-03-25 | Huashen Zhiyao | Series B | US$787 million | Healthcare |
| 2026-04-21 | SJ Semiconductor | IPO | RMB 5.028 billion | Advanced Manufacturing |
| 2026-02-06 | Dingdong Maicai | M&A/Merger | US$717 million | Consumer & E-commerce |
| 2026-01-26 | StepFun | Series B+ | Over RMB 5 billion | Frontier Technology |
Interpretation of 5 landmark RMB 6-billion+ events:
- Silicon Labs China US$7.5 billion: Carve-out of the China business of a multinational semiconductor company (February 9, the largest deal in the past 24 months)
- Terns Pharmaceuticals acquired for US$6 billion: Pharma M&A (acquired by an overseas MNC), a new exit model for Chinese-founded pharma companies
- Moonton Games US$6+ billion: Tencent-backed overseas gaming company acquired by ByteDance-affiliated party? Or vice versa — verification needed;the only mega deal in the sports & gaming category
- Shenghong Technology HK$20.1 billion IPO: PCB manufacturing, core advanced manufacturing theme
- Moonshot AI US$2 billion Series D: The only US$2-billion-level deal in large models (see Deep Dive into China AI / Frontier Technology Financing 2026 H1)
Top 25 Leading Investors (by frequency)
| Institution | Number of appearances | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yida Capital | 23 | Jiangsu state-owned system, mainly invests in advanced manufacturing |
| Shenzhen Venture Capital Group (SCGC) | 19 | Shenzhen state-owned system |
| HongShan (Sequoia China) | 18 | Top-tier VC |
| Individual investors | 16 | Non-institutional capital injection |
| Qiming Venture Partners | 15 | Healthcare + tech |
| Shunwei Capital | 13 | Xiaomi-affiliated |
| Yuanhe Holdings | 11 | Suzhou state-owned |
| Hillhouse Ventures | 11 | |
| Legend Capital | 11 | Lenovo-affiliated |
| Cornerstone Capital | 11 | |
| Songhe Capital | 10 | Shenzhen |
| CAS Star | 10 | Chinese Academy of Sciences system, hard tech |
| Guotai Junan Venture Capital | 10 | Securities firm-affiliated |
| CICC Capital | 10 | CICC system |
| Hillhouse Capital | 10 | |
| Chengdu Sci-Tech Innovation Investment Group | 10 | Chengdu state-owned |
| Caitong Capital | 9 | |
| Puhua Capital | 9 | |
| Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG) | 9 | |
| Jinyu Maowu | 8 | |
| Dachen Caizhi | 8 | |
| Tencent Investment | 8 | Strategic investment |
| Primavera Capital | 8 | |
| 5Y Capital | 8 | |
| Qianhai Fund of Funds | 8 |
Why state-owned / semi-state-owned investors account for a high share:
- Yida / SCGC / Yuanhe / Chengdu Sci-Tech Innovation Investment / Qianhai Fund of Funds are all local state-owned LPs, "filling the gap left by receding private capital" in the 2024–2026 cycle
- Traditional USD funds(Sequoia / Hillhouse / Qiming / Shunwei) remain at the top, but are cautious on single-deal amounts
- Tencent / Alibaba not on the list: Internet giants' strategic investment has turned conservative, no longer making large bets across sectors
Domestic vs. Overseas
| Tag | Number of events | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 1131 | Default |
| Overseas | 5 | All are outbound/overseas companies reported domestically by 36Kr |
Strikingly few (0.4%) — 36Kr's focus remains domestic; outbound financings are mostly covered on TechCrunch / The Information / overseas platforms.
Three judgments
1. China VC is shifting toward "hard tech + the exit side"
- Hard tech(advanced manufacturing + semiconductors + healthcare + frontier) totals 883 events / 78%
- Exit side(IPO + M&A + strategic financing) totals 171 events / 15%
The two ends squeeze out consumer / content / internet tracks (less than 5% remaining).
2. Hong Kong IPOs are the biggest window in 2026
Of 57 IPOs, 23 are denominated in Hong Kong dollars(40%), and the largest deals are all on the HKEX:
- Shenghong HK$20.1 billion / Muyuan HK$10.6 billion / Dongpeng HK$10.1 billion / Montage HK$7.043 billion / SJ Semiconductor RMB 5.028 billion
Why Hong Kong: Chapter 18C opens the door for unprofitable tech companies + A-share IPO tightening + the reverse effect of the US delisting wave.
3. AI / large models are concentrated among the top 5 players
Deep Dive into China AI / Frontier Technology Financing 2026 H1 for details:
- Moonshot AI (US$2 billion Series D + US$700 million Series C+, totaling US$2.7 billion in a single year)
- StepFun (RMB 5 billion Series B+)
- MiniMax (HK$4.8 billion IPO)
- Zhipu AI (no large-amount disclosures in 2026 Q1–2 so far)
- Baichuan / 01.AI (same as above)
Why concentration: Training cost thresholds are too high; second-tier companies have basically exited the large-model track and shifted to applications / verticals.
Data limitations
- Excludes undisclosed financings: Many PE / strategic investment / private rounds are not reported by 36Kr
- Excludes debt / usufruct rights: Some "strategic financings" are actually debt instruments
- Amounts are often "undisclosed":For 559/1135 events (49%) the amount is "undisclosed" or specific figures are redacted
- Duplicate registration for the same deal: e.g., TCL CSOT = Guangzhou CSOT Semiconductor (the same RMB 9.325 billion deal, recorded as two projects)
Data access
Full dataset at sources/reference/36kr-pitchhub-2026/ (Local reference material).
- Full list:
_all_events.tsv(Local reference material)(Excel-friendly, 1135 rows) - Industry-classified index:
INDEX.md(Local reference material) - Per-project deep dives:
events/<projectId>/summary.md(available for every project, 1041 in total) - Rerun / crawl for 2027: see 36Kr Pitchhub Crawl Methodology
As of 2026-05-19, May data is incomplete. It is recommended to recrawl full-year data in Q3.