SHENZHEN, CHINA (August 20, 2021) -- German Specialty Chemicals Company - Evonik Industries AG announced its investment into the Chinese Venture Capital Fund GRC SinoGreen Fund V.

Evonik Industries is a global leading specialty chemicals company with businesses across more than 100 countries and regions and an employee headcount of 33,000 people worldwide. In 2020, Evonik’s revenue reached 12.2 billion Euros with a Gross profit of € 1.9B. Evonik sees the Asia-pacific region as a main driver and source for global economic developments; and “by partnering with funds that have deep understanding on the innovation ecosystem in China and broad networks with local start-ups, Evonik is able to gain rapid access to new technologies, thus identify and secure business opportunities at an early age” said Bernhard Mohr, head of Evonik Venture Capital.

GRC is a Greater China venture capital investment firm established in 2005. The team specializes in identifying bottlenecks in industry value chains and invests in key enabling technologies that can either disrupt the industry or bridge the gap, leveraging the team executives’ extensive cross-border networks from Silicon Valley to the Asia-Pacific region. GRC SinoGreen Fund V targets to pinpoint and solve the inefficiencies that exists amongst the hardcore technology arena in China with specific focus in the fields of Energy Efficiency, New Materials, Smart Manufacturing, and Green & Sustainable Technology.

Evonik’s investment into GRC SinoGreen Fund V is a follow-up investment since its participation in GRC SinoGreen Fund III in 2015. Dr. Eric Wang, Managing Partner of GRC, shared his excitement about cooperating with Evonik; “Evonik has been an important strategic partner to GRC and this follow-on investment is a recognition to our capabilities and performance. We deeply appreciate Evonik’s support and look forward to deepen our cooperation to create a new chapter of mutual successes.”

The investments “demonstrates our commitment to strengthen innovation capabilities and complement our open innovation strategy in China,” commented Fuliang Xia, president of Evonik Greater China. “The focuses of GRC SinoGreen Fund V are highly relevant to our growth drivers in China. It thus provides great opportunities to facilitate local product development and business model innovation.”