By Kate Yuan

(JW Insights) Jul 18 -- James Shen, former vice president of Qualcomm, has joined Qiming Venture Partners (启明创投) as venture partner, the firm announced on July 17. He will focus on investing in cutting-edge technologies including AI, autonomous driving, robotics, smart manufacturing, semiconductors, and XR/metaverse.

James Shen held multiple leadership positions at Qualcomm for 20 years. As vice president of Qualcomm and managing director of Qualcomm Ventures, James led a team in China to complete investments in over 70 deep tech startups, among which more than 11 became unicorns including Xiaomi, ThunderSoft, SenseTime, Mobike, Huaqin Technology, Unisound, Viewtrix Technology, Zongmu, Haomo, SJSemi and so forth, according to Qiming’s website.

Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading Chinese venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

It has invested in early and growth-stage outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and healthcare industries. The firm has backed over 530 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 200 have successfully gone public or exited through M&As. Over 70 have become industry-recognized unicorns and super unicorns. Currently, the firm manages funds with $9.5 billion in capital raised.