Tencent
腾讯
Tencent is a Chinese technology conglomerate whose strategic investments have shaped multiple industries, though its approach has evolved significantly over time. In gaming, it has become the dominant corporate investor: after missing out on *Genshin Impact*, Tencent invested in over 30 game companies in 2020 alone, and when backing *Black Myth: Wukong* it pledged not to interfere with creative decisions—a stance that, as 暗涌Waves reported, industry sources generally consider credible . The company acquired Riot Games and Supercell (for $8.6 billion in 2016), with both maintaining unusual degrees of operational independence . More broadly, Tencent pioneered China's internet corporate venture capital model: as early as 2005,马化腾 brought in刘炽平 as chief strategy officer to build what executives eventually identified as one of Tencent's two core capabilities—capital, alongside traffic . However, this investment-driven expansion hit regulatory limits; in January 2022, ByteDance's dissolution of its strategic investment department signaled a broader retreat, with Tencent and other giants forced to recalibrate after antitrust penalties in 2021 .
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Coverage
The First Lobster Batch Deployment Management Tool: How Lobster, Which Raised Millions in Funding, Wants to Help Everyone Build a "Company of One"
Some people are already pulling in tens of thousands a month from this.
暗涌Waves·HETAN Intelligence Closes 50 Million Yuan Funding Round, as Robots Make Real Inroads into Labs
Veteran founders with backgrounds at Alibaba, Tencent, and WuXi AppTec.
暗涌Waves·Using AI for In-Depth User Interviews, Backed by Lanchi Ventures, Hillhouse Capital, and Wang Huiwen
AI may not be great at companionship for a lifetime, but it can nail a one-hour interview.
暗涌Waves·Yungang Huang, Source Code Rhythm: My Aksu
"West Lake is so beautiful, I want to jump right in."
elsewhere别处发生·DeepWisdom Raises $220 Million in One Year, Finally Launches First Product
Not just writing code, but launching a company.
暗涌Waves·Liang Jun's First Year at the Helm: Fangqing Tech Raises Over 500 Million RMB in Three Rounds Within Six Months
A star-studded lineup of shareholders quickly assembled.
暗涌Waves·Exclusive | Airwallex Raises Another $330 Million, Hits $8 Billion Valuation Today
The Saved and the Saved.
暗涌Waves·Starbucks China Sale Enters Final Round | Mega M&A
Far from the end.
暗涌Waves·Interview with Xiaobai Founder Li Yan: AI Is a Brute-Force Aesthetic; Small Can't Be Beautiful
How to engineer and harness emergence is the defining thread of our era.
暗涌Waves·Wang Hua's Latest Prediction: The Biggest Difference Between the AI Era and the Mobile Internet Era Is Fulfillment, Not Connection
The first year is the golden window to capture the first-mover advantage on model dividends — start building now.
暗涌Waves·Before Pop Mart's IPO, an unpublished interview with Wang Ning
Only human nature never changes.
暗涌Waves·72 Hours, Fully Documented: Humanity's First Close Encounter with AI
The stories of seven modern-day Robinson Crusoes.
暗涌Waves·VAST Closes New Funding Round of Tens of Millions of Dollars, Says "Model as Product" Is Not a Real Product
A new path.
暗涌Waves·Exclusive | Luminous Sail Tech Raises 130 Million RMB in Three Months, with CATL Co-founder, Shokz, and Goertek Joining
The age of warring gods is back.
暗涌Waves·A Conversation with Zhiyuan's Chief Scientist: Calling Embodied Intelligence "the Next LLM" Is Its Biggest Misunderstanding
Necessary froth.
暗涌Waves·The Clear Path, Hidden Path, and Rocky Path of AI Fundraising
Where does the money come from?
暗涌Waves·The Overseas Struggle of Five Country Managers | WAVE *Note: "暗涌看世界" is a column/series name from 36Kr (36氪). "暗涌" translates literally as "undercurrent" but the publication uses "WAVE" as the English brand for this series. The vertical bar "｜" is used as a separator in Chinese headlines; in English, a pipe "|" or colon works, though keeping the original separator style is also acceptable.*
Looking back at the bleak path I've come from, I return home — neither storm nor shine.
暗涌Waves·Revisiting Shan Weijian: Plain Water and Financial Storms
Drink the lightest water, close the biggest deals.
暗涌Waves·Exclusive | The Full Untold Story Beneath the Surface of "Kimi Yang Zhilin Arbitration Case"
Who saw the sixpence, and who saw the moon.
暗涌Waves·A Chinese-American Company's Mexican Gold Rush | Dark Tide Goes Global
A new specimen rising on a complex new continent.
暗涌Waves·The Alibaba investment executive who bet big on Kimi has left, and she sent off her departure with a rock song
"To be part of the wave can't stop."
暗涌Waves·VAST Closes New Funding Round: Is 3D the Last Ticket for AIGC?
Will 3D Be the Future?
暗涌Waves·The Hype Around *Black Myth: Wukong*, and the Barren Landscape of Game Investment
The world needs *Black Myth*.
暗涌Waves·A VC Lesson from Tian Xuan
Thirty years, a journey of departures and returns.
暗涌Waves·Minimax's Yan Junjie in Conversation with Huang Mingming: AGI, There's Only One Path — the Hardest One
A Conversation on Non-Consensus and Long-Term Optimal Solutions
暗涌Waves·Exclusive | Moonshot AI's valuation reaches $3 billion in new round; Tencent joins after Alibaba
A full list of Moonshot AI's investors to date.
暗涌Waves·Thirteen Years of a Small Firm: Always Struggling on the Brink
Just try to be an atom.
暗涌Waves·ZhenFund's Tianyi Qin: Globalization Will Unfold Cautiously in a New Form
Investing overseas, but not talking about the destination.
暗涌Waves·China's LLM Funding War: The Quick Death of Romance
Do the investors regret it?
暗涌Waves·Goodbye to a Decade of Venture Capital | Waves' Second Anniversary
Keep moving forward. Don't look back.
暗涌Waves·When the Inventor of Unicorns Stops Believing in Unicorns
Using valuation as the benchmark for a unicorn's success is convenient, but far from perfect.
暗涌Waves·Looking Back at 2023: The World Has Really Changed
These people and events reshaped 2023 — and will shape the years ahead.
暗涌Waves·Two Masterstrokes in NIO's Fundraising History
There is no successful fundraising, only fundraising of the times.
暗涌Waves·The Investor Who Made the Most Money Off Pinduoduo
"Though millions may oppose me, I will go."
暗涌Waves·Southeast Asia Investment Finally Has a Success Story
A Resolute Choice
暗涌Waves·Tuhu's Decade: Liu Erhai's Longest IPO
Fast and Slow.
暗涌Waves·China's Corporate Venture Capital: Twenty Years of Love and Strife
This is what industrial investment really looks like.
暗涌Waves·Li Guofei's 10,000-Word Interview: Seeking Wisdom Is About Constantly Breaking the Prison of the Mind
Two worlds that seem to have nothing to do with each other may, at their foundations, arrive at the same destination by different paths.
暗涌Waves·Coatue's 2023 in Detail: Half Sea Water, Half Flame
Could AI become the lifeline of the economy over the next decade?
暗涌Waves·Exclusive | The General-Purpose LLM Startup Wave: The First Battle Is About to End
Contestants, take your positions.
暗涌Waves·"This Is an Ordinary Day" | 2022 in Review
Don't summarize unless necessary.
暗涌Waves·Put some people in the metaverse, send others to space
One is an inward journey of self-discovery; the other, an outward quest for what lies beyond.
暗涌Waves·ChatGPT is the talk of Silicon Valley, but the buzz is theirs.
"Some people laughed. Some people cried. The vast majority fell silent."
暗涌Waves·The Hidden Depths of the Primary Market
If a perfect deal is one where everyone wins, then in an S deal, that may never be possible.
暗涌Waves·3 Billion New Fund First Close: Arthur Yeung on Kairous Capital's Two Major Organizational Restructurings
A New Solution to the Organizational Challenge of Funds.
暗涌Waves·The New Era of Going Global: Chinese Founders Conquering the World
Today, virtually no Chinese company doesn't aspire to go global — or, put another way, to become a truly global company.
暗涌Waves·The Gambler's Mirage in a Downturn: When a Fund Goes All-In on a Single Company
In the investment industry, it's as ubiquitous as air. When markets plunge, it also faces the greatest risk.
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