Venturous Group breaks funding records with $131-million round

Venturous Group founder Benson Tam

Venturous Group, raised $131 million in its Series A funding round, surpassing its target of $80 million thanks to strong investor demand.

Investors include Venturous founder Benson Tam, Fidelity China Special Situations, and several high-profile tech family offices, such as that of former Alibaba COO Savio Kwan.

Tam himself accounted the largest chip in for the round, with $50 million.

“Smart Citytech is the biggest emerging market opportunity we have ever seen,” said Tam.

In China, urbanization is forecast to increase from 64% to 80%, adding 230 million residents to city mega-clusters over the next two decades. To meet this and other city-related challenges, China is piloting Smart City development programs in more than 800 cities – more than half of the total smart cities around the world.

Smart Citytech is expected to be critical in creating metropolitan areas that are more liveable, sustainable and productive. 

“From smart energy, smart buildings, smart automation, smart health, smart finance and beyond, applying Deep Tech — like artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and big data — will truly transform the future of city living,” said Tam.