ShanghaiMay 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On May 27, 2026, Forbes officially released the 2026 Midas List, its annual ranking of the world’s top venture capitalists. Zhou Zhifeng, Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, made his debut on the list as a Chinese investor specializing in technology, particularly AI, ranking 80th.
The Midas List, hailed as the “Oscars of the investment world,” is the most influential ranking for venture capital investors globally. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the list, and competition was especially fierce—the surging valuations of SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic propelled 25 new investors onto the list.
Zhou Zhifeng joined Qiming Venture Partners in 2014 and was promoted to Managing Partner in May 2024. With over 20 years of combined experience in industry, entrepreneurship, and investment, he has long focused on cutting-edge technology sectors and is one of the most active investors in transformative fields such as artificial intelligence and robotics.
Since the start of 2026, within just five months, four companies invested in by Zhou Zhifeng—Biren Technology, Zhipu AI, Axera Semiconductor, and Vimicro Technology—have successively entered the capital markets.
In the technology and AI investment space, Zhou Zhifeng consistently adheres to the methodology of “staying half a step ahead”—in areas where he has built a “circle of competence,” he keenly captures key industry signals, anticipates trends, and positions early, rather than following the crowd when market hype arrives. He believes that in the face of paradigm-shifting waves, this is the optimal investment approach for achieving excess returns.
At the end of 2019, when the domestic GPU track had few players and AI computing power demand was not yet widely recognized, Zhou Zhifeng, as a founding investor, entered Biren Technology at its inception with a forward-looking investment, leading its initial funding round and continuously increasing his stake, supporting its growth into the first GPU stock on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In early 2022, when the prospects for artificial intelligence were still unclear, the market had not yet proposed the concept of large models, and few investors had even observed signals of technological change, Zhou Zhifeng invested in Zhipu AI. That round of funding supported Zhipu AI in developing the initial GLM model.
In the field of embodied intelligence, in addition to investing in Ubtech Robotics 11 years ago, Zhou Zhifeng led his team to invest in full-stack companies integrating models and hardware—such as Tashi Zhihang, Yuanli Lingji, Galaxy General, and Daxiao Robotics—during the early stages of the recent wave of development.
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners now manages 11 USD-denominated funds and 7 RMB-denominated funds, with assets under management reaching $9.5 billion. Since its inception, Qiming has focused on two core sectors: technology and healthcare innovation, forming a unique “dual-engine” model.
In the technology sector, Qiming has been deeply involved in AI for over a decade—since 2013, it has invested in deep learning, with cumulative investments in over 100 AI projects totaling RMB 12 billion. Its portfolio covers the entire AI industry chain, making it one of the most active and influential investment institutions in AI in China and Asia. From large models to multimodal AI and embodied intelligence, Qiming’s investment decisions are always guided by the technology development curve, rather than blindly chasing short-term market trends.
In the healthcare innovation sector, Qiming is one of the earliest teams in China to fully engage in venture capital in this field. Over the past two decades, Qiming’s healthcare innovation team has invested in nearly 200 companies, currently focusing on innovative drugs, innovative medical devices, and AI healthcare applications. Qiming’s deep involvement in this field has not only driven innovation in China’s healthcare industry but also brought tangible clinical value to patients worldwide.
The two sectors empower each other. The industry knowledge Qiming has accumulated in healthcare innovation provides unique insights for investments in AI healthcare applications. Meanwhile, the cutting-edge technology judgments from the tech sector also empower the healthcare team to identify technology-driven companies with disruptive potential. This cross-sector synergy is a systemic advantage for Qiming Venture Partners.
On the Midas List, the world’s premier ranking of investors, Qiming’s investors have consistently received global recognition across different years and fields—from technology to healthcare innovation and artificial intelligence. This is underpinned by the systemic capabilities Qiming has built over nearly two decades: long-term focus on two core sectors, systematic deployment “half a step ahead,” and full-chain expertise covering early to growth stages.
Whether in technology or healthcare innovation, Qiming begins systematic deployment years before market consensus forms, accompanying companies with a long-termist approach, ultimately reaping rewards at the exit stage.
Qiming Venture Partners’ Founding Managing Partner, Duane Kuang, once stated: “In the next 20 years, investing in AI is the greatest certainty for Chinese investment.” Today, this judgment is being validated by the team’s positive cycle in fundraising, investing, managing, and exiting.