Vol.002 | A Conversation with Huadong Wang: Living a Haruki Murakami Life

December 23, 2025

Wang Huadong is an investor I've known for many years.

A few years ago, he was still on lists of "mid-generation investors." His signature deal was still Momo from the mobile era. Even though we could recognize his excellence back then, we didn't realize he could sustain it for this long.

After Momo, this Managing Partner at Matrix Partners China went on to invest in Li Auto, Hithium, MetaX, Unitree, and more. These are among the most representative companies of recent years.

He has repeatedly disproven the notion that "VC is just a product of chance."

From the internet to manufacturing to AI and robotics, from the dollar fund era to the dual-currency fund era — what exactly is the secret to how he has navigated all of these transitions? That's the answer we most wanted from this interview.

Before the interview began, Wang Huadong and elsewhere had a serious conversation about his marathon journey over the past year. I'd suggest not skipping this section — it's crucial to understanding why Wang Huadong is who he is.

🎙️ Voices Wang Huadong | Managing Partner, Matrix Partners China Jing Liu | elsewhere 别处发生

📀 BGM Being Boring - Pet Shop Boys

📱 Socials Same name across all platforms: elsewhere 别处发生

⏱️ Timestamps

Part 1: Six Rounds of Follow-on Investment in MetaX 00:13:32 To talk about MetaX, we first need to talk about why we invest in manufacturing

00:21:12 MetaX's fundraising journey and six rounds of follow-on investment

Part 2: Momo and Li Auto 00:34:27 Some misses: ByteDance and Xiaohongshu

00:39:32 The story of investing in Li Auto

00:45:03 Industries with grand narratives but no winner-take-all dynamics

Part 3: Boring People Do Tech Investing 01:09:44 "Someone called you China's #1 hard tech investor"

01:17:55 China's AI industry has zero bubble

01:21:01 Wang Xingxing and the robotics industry

01:35:18 AI industries beyond robotics

Part 4: People Matter Most in Investing 01:42:34 In VC, which matters more — talent or hard work?

01:50:16 The Matrix brand in the tech era