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Helen & Special Partners
Founded by partners Bing Shi and Zhu Li, Helen & Special Partners operates from Shanghai as a multi-family office serving high-net-worth Chinese families.
Helen & Special Partners
Founded by partners Bing Shi and Zhu Li, Helen & Special Partners operates from Shanghai as a multi-family office serving high-net-worth Chinese families. Tony Su, a former Andersen and PwC tax practitioner, handles tax advisory, while partner Ada Huang represents the firm in professional networks including the Million Dollar Round Table's Top of the Table. The firm allocates across a deliberately broad mix: direct startup co-investments, private equity, real estate, venture capital, hedge funds, private credit, and insurance-linked strategies. Its real-asset book includes mixed-use development High Mountain and Flowing Water in Shaanxi, the Changan Yipin residential project, and the Central International commercial portfolio spanning Zhejiang and Inner Mongolia. On the venture side it targets angel and seed through growth-stage opportunities, with a geographic remit that covers Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Deployment is estimated at roughly $1.5B (Altss estimate). The team pursues a concentrated model: founders Bing Shi and Zhu Li anchor the investment committee, while Shanshan Group serves as a strategic asset-management partner through Shanshan Venture. Adjacent holdings include a private aircraft portfolio and a global luxury-lifestyle services arm, complementing the core financial-returns mandate. A genuine structural differentiator is the firm's embedded insurance-planning capability. Ada Huang's Top of the Table qualification at MDRT — a distinction held by a fraction of one percent of global advisors — means in-house insurance solutions and family-trust structures are not outsourced ancillaries but central to the firm's intergenerational wealth-transfer architecture.
General information
Firm type
Multi Family Office
Year founded
—
AUM
$1.5B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
Asia
Country
China
City
Shanghai
Corporate office
Shanghai, China
Principals
Bing Shi
Founder, Partner
Zhu Li
Founder, Partner
Tony Su
Business Partner, Tax
Ada Huang
Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Helen & Special Partners?
Founding partners Bing Shi and Zhu Li anchor the investment function. Bing Shi is an active angel investor with a background in IT and finance startups; Zhu Li specializes in asset allocation. Tax partner Tony Su and partner Ada Huang round out the leadership group, with Shanshan Group contributing as a strategic asset-management partner through Shanshan Venture.
How does Helen & Special Partners source proprietary deal flow?
The firm draws on founder Bing Shi's entrepreneurial network and the Shanshan Venture partnership for startup and growth-stage access. Its real estate pipeline appears tied to ongoing mixed-use and residential projects across Shaanxi, Zhejiang, and Inner Mongolia, suggesting a direct origination capability in select Chinese regions.
Does Helen & Special Partners invest directly or through funds?
It does both. The firm's mandate spans direct co-investments and SPVs, fund-of-funds commitments, and operational real estate projects. Confirmed investment types also include hedge funds, private credit, secondaries, and digital assets.
What investment stages does Helen & Special Partners target?
Coverage runs from seed and angel through early-stage venture to growth equity and private equity. The firm also participates in more established asset classes such as infrastructure, natural resources, and real estate, making it a flexible capital provider across the lifecycle spectrum.
How is Helen & Special Partners' insurance advisory integrated with its investment management?
Insurance is not outsourced. Partner Ada Huang is a Top of the Table qualifier in the Million Dollar Round Table, placing her among an elite tier of global insurance professionals. This allows the firm to design family-trust and insurance solutions internally, aligning risk transfer directly with its asset-allocations and intergenerational planning work.
What is Helen & Special Partners' known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
The firm explicitly lists direct co-investments and SPVs among its execution methods, indicating it will commit alongside external GPs when the opportunity meets its return thresholds. Its venture-stage activity is supplemented by Shanshan Venture's deal sourcing, which likely generates co-investment inventory.
Where does Helen & Special Partners' underlying client capital originate?
The firm has not publicly disclosed the specific wealth origins of its client families. It positions itself as serving high-net-worth families in China, with a clear emphasis on first-generation wealth preservation, succession planning, and cross-border asset management.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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