Joy Capital

Liu Erhai is the founding partner and primary decision-maker. He previously worked at Legend Capital, where he led the firm's investment in Didi Chuxing, establishing a track record in mobility before spinning out to form Joy Capital in 2015. The firm maintains a flat partnership structure with investment authority concentrated around his office.

Joy Capital's sourcing model leverages Liu Erhai's operator relationships in China's automotive and manufacturing supply chains, built over two decades. The firm typically leads or co-leads early rounds in companies with substantial hardware and production requirements, where its willingness to deploy patient, concentrated capital distinguishes it from syndication-focused venture managers who may seek faster exits.

Joy Capital operates as a venture capital firm, raising capital from external limited partners, not as a family office. The firm closes conventional fund vehicles and has explored continuation-fund structures to extend hold periods for later-stage portfolio companies, reflecting an institutional rather than proprietary capital base (per The Wall Street Journal, 2023).

Joy Capital's strategy centers on direct equity investments. The firm does not market itself as a fund-of-funds investor nor does it maintain a separate LP commitment program. Its investment activity involves taking board positions and concentrated stakes in portfolio companies from seed through pre-IPO rounds.

The firm invests from seed and early-stage rounds through late-stage growth, adopting a stage-agnostic approach that allows it to maintain ownership across a company's lifecycle. This flexibility is critical in its core sectors — smart mobility and advanced manufacturing — where capital needs shift from R&D burns to production-line financing over long development cycles.

Joy Capital does not publicly enumerate excluded sectors. However, its investment history — dominated by smart electric vehicles, industrial AI, and robotics — demonstrates a consistent avoidance of sectors without physical production or supply-chain complexity, such as consumer internet, content platforms, and pure enterprise SaaS.

Joy Capital regularly co-invests alongside domestic and global venture firms, particularly in late-stage rounds of its portfolio companies that require consortium-scale capital. However, the firm's concentrated portfolio model means it typically seeks lead-investor rights and board representation rather than passive co-investor positions, maintaining influence through production-scale milestones.