London startup investor Future Planet Capital promises up to £30m for spinouts from China’s Tsinghua University X-lab

Future Planet Capital (FPC), a London-based investor which funds innovative startups, has announced it will invest up to £30m in businesses spinning out from China’s Tsinghua University.

Tsinghua University’s X-lab is a platform which supports and facilitates startups founded by Tsinghua alumni, students or faculties. Since its launch in 2013, it has worked with more than 1190 project teams and incorporated over 480 companies.

FPC’s investments will be focused on the ideas working to profitably tackle global challenges such as climate change, education, health and security.

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The firm already has partnerships with institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Stamford Universities, and works with investment partners such as US venture capital firms G2VP, Owl Ventures, 500 and Xfund, and the UK’s Oxford Sciences Innovation.

HM Treasury welcomed the announcement, saying it reinforced the partnership between the UK and China.

The announcement also came as the Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima), a London-based representative of the alternative investment industry, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Insurance Asset Management Association of China.

This outlined areas of cooperation and collaboration between the two bodies, and said it would strengthen relationships with China’s regulators and policymakers.

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