Sinovation Fund III (IFC-37897)

Regions
  • East Asia and Pacific
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • China
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
FI
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
SINOVATION FUND III LP
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 25.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 25.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Aug 26, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Jan 13, 2016

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

Sinovation Fund III L.P. is a venture capital fund that is broadly focused on the full gamut of early stage TMT companies in China. The fund is headed by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, who was the founding President of Google China from 2005 to 2009.

The Fund has a target size of USD 250 million. IFC will be investing in Sinovation III along with other established institutional investors.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The project sponsor is Sinovation III L.P. The Fund is headed by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee. An alumni of Columbia University (BS. Computer Science) and Carnegie Mellon University (Ph.D. Computer Science), Mr. Lee has worked at Apple Computer (1990 – 1996), Silicon Graphics (1996 – 1998), Microsoft (1998 – 2005), and Google (2005 – 2009) in both U.S. and China. At Microsoft, he established the Microsoft Research division in Beijing. At Google, he was the founding President of Google China, and established Google in the Chinese market and oversaw its growth.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

The project sponsor is Sinovation III L.P. The Fund is headed by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee. An alumni of Columbia University (BS. Computer Science) and Carnegie Mellon University (Ph.D. Computer Science), Mr. Lee has worked at Apple Computer (1990 – 1996), Silicon Graphics (1996 – 1998), Microsoft (1998 – 2005), and Google (2005 – 2009) in both U.S. and China. At Microsoft, he established the Microsoft Research division in Beijing. At Google, he was the founding President of Google China, and established Google in the Chinese market and oversaw its growth.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Mr. Kai-Fu Lee
Chairman and CEO
+86 (10) 5752-5200
A-10F,Dinghao Building,No.3 Haidian Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100080,China
ir@chuangxin.com

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

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