Fundraising by China's startups surges 60% to $80bn

Last year's bandwagon slowed in fourth quarter under economic uncertainty

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ByteDance, developer of the popular Tik Tok video clip app, raised $3 billion last year. © AP

YUSHO CHO, Nikkei staff writer

SHANGHAI -- Privately held companies in China raised big money last year as investors flush with cash from IPOs shopped for the next generation of promising targets. But 2019 may be a different story.

Chinese startups secured about 560 billion yuan ($83 billion) last year, notching up 60% more cash than they did in 2017. The 2018 tally covers some 1,150 deals with funding from known sources. These included venture capitalists, domestic and foreign investment funds and angel investors that were often tech giants hoping to nourish innovative ideas and technologies and help bring them to international markets. The information was based on Chinese database DZH.

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