SI: Qiming closes $200m round

"Qiming Venture Partners, a Shanghai-based affiliate of Bellevue's Ignition Partners, said Tuesday it had raised $320 million from global investors aiming for a stake in China's epic boom.

The fund also announced that Ignition partner and Starbucks veteran Robert Headley will join the firm's investment team in Shanghai.

The funding round, Qiming's second, will finance startups in health care, technology, media and consumer-oriented ventures, seen as fertile ground due to the unprecedented affluence of the Chinese middle class.

Among Qiming's ventures there are a dating site, a network of schools and an online jewelry retailer.

When Qiming closed its first $200 million fund in early 2006, it planned to invest mostly in telecommunications, Internet services and computer technology."