HSG's Neil Shen Raised $9B From US Before the Door Slammed Shut
The former Sequoia China chief built a $9B war chest from American investors before US restrictions kicked in.
Neil Shen played both sides of the Pacific better than almost anyone in venture capital. And he got the timing right.
HSG — the firm formerly known as Sequoia China — raised a staggering $9 billion from US investors before American restrictions on China-bound capital made that kind of fundraising effectively impossible. Now that money is fueling a new generation of Chinese startups, including Manus, the AI agent company that's been turning heads.
Shen's path made the cross-border play almost inevitable. Yale-educated, he cut his teeth at Sequoia before eventually spinning out his own operation. The split from Sequoia's global brand didn't slow him down.
The $9B figure is remarkable. That's a massive pool of American capital now deployed exclusively into China's tech ecosystem — with zero US oversight on where it lands next.