Year in Review: China attracts almost a quarter of world’s venture capital

China has come a long way as a venture capital center.

Just slightly less than a quarter of worldwide venture capital dollars have targeted companies in the nation over the past two years, a record level. By comparison, investing in India is about one-fifth as large.

It is a big change for the world’s second largest economy.

This year, China is on course for its second best year ever. Through late November, China has received $24.6 billion in venture capital investments, or 22 percent of the worldwide total, according to data from Thomson Reuters. It is surpassed only by 2014, when $29.7 billion went to Chinese companies, or about 27 percent of the world’s total, according to the data.

The United States, the largest market for venture capital, has attracted 52 percent of venture capital so far this year, a slightly greater share than last year. But China is well ahead of Europe, where $15.5 billion has been invested so far this year, according to Thomson Reuters.

India, while behind China, looks like it will set a record this year. Already 4.5 percent of global venture capital has gone to Indian companies, or $5.1 billion, the data show. It is a slightly higher percentage than last year.

In 2000, the peak year of the dot-com bubble, 0.8 percent of venture capital when to India and China. International investing has risen substantially in recent years.

To download an Excel table: Venture investing in China

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