Before it was 5Y Capital, it was Morningside Venture Capital — the firm that backed Xiaomi and Kuaishou early and became one of the defining venture names of China's internet era. Founded in 2008 during the financial crisis by Richard Liu, Ken Shi and Gerald Chan under the auspices of Morningside Group, the Shanghai-headquartered firm rebranded in October 2020. The name "5Y" comes from Wuyuan Road — wu means five in Chinese — the Shanghai street where the team has been headquartered since its inception.

5Y Capital is a multi-stage investment firm, backing founders from angel and seed through growth across technology, life sciences and consumer innovation. At the time of its rebrand, the firm said it managed approximately US$3 billion in dual-currency funds in USD and RMB; it operates from offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and is a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).

Its portfolio reads like a history of Chinese tech: Xiaomi, Kuaishou, Joyy (YY), Kingsoft Office, Agora, Xpeng Motors, Pony.ai, Trip.com, WeDoctor, Horizon Robotics, DiDi, Bigo, Musical.ly, Sensetime, ShareChat, Moore Threads, Bambu Lab, Xiaoice and Halara, among others. Bloomberg has reported that the firm delivered a US$30 billion return on its investment in Kuaishou — one of venture capital's great winning bets.

The firm's stated philosophy is to identify exceptional entrepreneurs with unique talents, often overlooked by others, and to partner with them for the long term: the team backed Xiaomi's Jun Lei at Series A in 2010, Kuaishou's Su Hua at angel stage in 2011, and Xpeng's Xiaopeng He at Series A+ in 2017 — relationships measured in decades, not funding cycles.

5Y Capital's co-founders remain central to its identity: Richard Liu and Ken Shi previously worked as investment professionals at Morningside Group, the Hong Kong family-office founded by the Chan family, which authorised the use of the Morningside brand and remains one of the firm's most important investors.

No public accelerator programme or startup credits scheme was found; the firm's founder proposition is patient, multi-stage capital and a track record of staying with category-defining companies from their earliest rounds.

Why it matters for founders

5Y Capital is the archetype of the long-game investor: it backed Xiaomi, Kuaishou and Xpeng at their earliest stages and stayed the course. If you are building in technology, life sciences or consumer innovation with ambitions measured in decades, few firms on the planet have a deeper record of turning early conviction into generational outcomes.