China’s Lingjun Secures at Least $300 Million Offshore

China’s Lingjun Investment has secured at least $300 million through its Hong Kong unit from a US institutional investor and several Southeast Asian clients, marking its return to overseas fundraising after a two-year pause following regulatory action.

Founder and chairwoman Cai Meijie disclosed the fundraising to Reuters, according to an October 22 report carried by Economic Times Markets. Lingjun Capital, the offshore unit, is also in advanced talks for a $150 million allocation from a Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund. That prospective investment is separate from the money already secured.

The Beijing-based quantitative investment firm is also pitching its strategies to Middle Eastern investors. Its renewed capital-raising effort follows changes to internal oversight and strong reported returns from its flagship equity fund.

Return follows trading restrictions and falling assets

In early 2024, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges barred Lingjun from trading for three days over trading-rule violations. Its assets subsequently fell to roughly 50 billion yuan, compared with about 100 billion yuan at its peak, when it ranked among China’s four largest quantitative funds.

The action came during a wider regulatory crackdown on quantitative funds. Authorities were examining whether algorithm-driven trading had intensified a stock-market selloff; that concern does not, by itself, establish how much such strategies contributed to the decline.

Cai said Lingjun paused fundraising for two years to review its operations and improve internal controls. It restarted domestic fundraising in March 2026 and has more recently returned to seeking overseas capital.

Risk controls become central to the rebuild

The changes described by Cai include doubling the risk-management team, embedding risk checks in trading systems and creating a five-member investment committee to bring greater consistency to investment decisions. She acknowledged that the firm’s governance arrangements had been insufficient before the regulatory action.

Quantitative funds use statistical models, data analysis and automated algorithms to guide investment decisions. Their expansion in China has brought closer scrutiny as regulators seek to safeguard retail investors and preserve orderly markets.

Reported returns strengthen the fundraising pitch

Lingjun’s flagship equity fund returned more than 70% in 2025 and more than 10% during the first nine months of 2026, according to fund distributor Simuwang.com data cited by Reuters. The 2025 result placed it among China’s strongest-performing hedge funds.

The reported benchmark comparison was substantially weaker: the CSI 300 rose 18% in 2025 and fell 6% through September 2026. These are historical performance figures, not projections of future returns.

Cai points to an AI-led reassessment

Cai linked renewed overseas interest partly to the success of DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial-intelligence startup incubated by quantitative investment firm High-Flyer. In her assessment, it encouraged investors to reconsider Chinese assets and the capabilities of the country’s quantitative managers.

She said attention was moving towards AI’s role in investment management, rather than focusing only on algorithmic trading advantages. That explanation represents Cai’s view of investor sentiment; the reported fundraising does not establish how much of the inflow was driven by AI.