In early 2018, VC Mike Moritz wrote in the FT that “Silicon Valley would be wise to follow China’s lead,” noting the pace of work at tech companies was “furious” and that China offered “investment opportunities in the best companies.” 

Soon after, it all imploded. Worse, as the FT notes in a new piece, between the pandemic, the bursting of a real estate bubble, tensions between the U.S. and China and, most of all, a sweeping government crackdown on tech companies, China may never fully rebound, even as the government claims to be done with its alleged clean-up efforts. It’s just not worth it to entrepreneurs to rebuild what they’ve lost. 

Entrepreneurs believe that “their money is the country’s money,” says one former mogul to the FT about the state of China today. As for the VCs and PE execs who fueled the earlier boom, another source tells the outlet: “Now they’re depressed. You don’t see them anymore.”