Ningbo Deqi Investment

Chen Dejun, the founder and chairman of STO Express, is the ultimate beneficial owner and decision-maker. Public records identify him as the key principal, though operational investment leads are not publicly named. His sister, Chen Xiaoying, co-founded STO and manages her own separate investment vehicles, suggesting the siblings run distinct books rather than a shared family-office committee.

The Chen family fortune originates from STO Express, the parcel-delivery giant founded by Chen Dejun and his brother in 1993. STO went public via a reverse merger on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2016 at a valuation near $2.6 billion. The major liquidity event came in 2019 when Alibaba Group acquired a 49% equity stake for about $1.4 billion, giving the Chens significant cash to deploy through Ningbo Deqi Investment while retaining a minority interest.

It is legally a single-family investment vehicle but behaves like a passive venture co-investor. It does not seek outside capital or charge management fees. However, its activity — writing seed-to-growth checks into Chinese tech startups — looks more like a family-run venture portfolio than a traditional multi-asset family office. There is no evidence the firm leads rounds, builds board seats, or operates like a full-time venture capital manager.

Alibaba is STO Express's largest strategic shareholder, with options to acquire the remaining Chen family stake under the 2019 deal framework. Cainiao Network, Alibaba's logistics arm, maintains a co-investment and operational partnership with STO. For Ningbo Deqi, this relationship functions as a proprietary sourcing channel — startups in its portfolio may gain access to Cainiao's logistics infrastructure and Alibaba's e-commerce ecosystem, creating a strategic halo around what are otherwise purely financial investments.

Available evidence points to direct co-investments rather than fund-of-funds activity. The firm's strategy description emphasizes venture-stage direct deals, and no public records link Ningbo Deqi to LP commitments in third-party funds. This direct approach is consistent with Chinese first-generation founders who prefer controlling their own deal flow rather than delegating to external managers.

Ningbo Deqi appears to function primarily as a co-investor rather than a lead investor. Its main value-add for external venture firms and startups is the potential integration with the STO Express logistics network and the broader Alibaba ecosystem. This passive, relationship-driven posture allows the family to write modest checks into rounds led by top-tier Chinese venture firms without building a large internal investment team.

Yes, the Chen family controls two notable real estate assets: the STO Express headquarters in Shanghai and a separate Shanghai residential portfolio. These are held outside the Ningbo Deqi venture mandate, but they underscore a broader family-office architecture where operating-company real estate and venture investing coexist under the same beneficial ownership.