Chinese tech companies are delaying initial public offerings and accepting lower valuations as a combination of tensions with the US and waning investor appetite chills the sector.
The amount of private equity invested in Chinese tech in the year to date has fallen to $6.3bn, down from $16.3bn in the same period last year, according to data from Refinitiv. By contrast, private equity deal flow in south-east Asian tech has risen tenfold in the period, to $5.85bn.
The subsiding interest in China comes after a three-year period in which “the market was really crazy, with bubbles everywhere”, said Wei Zhou, managing partner at China Creation Ventures, a venture capital firm.