Space Star Venture Investment Management

Founding Partner Ouyang Xiangyu is the firm's key decision-maker and investment committee anchor. Before founding Space Star in 2015, Ouyang built a career spanning engineering roles and technology investment in China. The firm operates with a lean, founder-led structure where all material capital-allocation calls run through Ouyang and a small team of partners with technical degrees in aerospace, electronics, and materials science.

Space Star's sourcing model relies on deep institutional ties to China's research-academy system, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and major engineering universities. The firm also accesses military-civilian fusion projects — defense technologies being commercialized for private markets — and maintains relationships with provincial aerospace development zones. This gives Space Star line-of-sight to spinouts and early-stage teams that generalist venture funds rarely see before a Series A round.

Space Star's investment mandate is overwhelmingly domestic, with portfolio companies concentrated in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, and Chengdu — China's core aerospace and advanced-manufacturing hubs. The firm has not publicly disclosed a dedicated cross-border investment program, though it monitors dual-use technologies with export potential. Its LP base and regulatory posture keep capital deployment firmly within mainland China.

Space Star writes initial checks at seed and Series A stages, typically ranging from RMB 5 million to RMB 50 million. The firm reserves significant follow-on reserves for portfolio companies that pass technical de-risking milestones, such as a first satellite launch or a successful prototype qualification. Space Star will occasionally participate in growth-stage PIPEs or pre-IPO rounds for its highest-conviction companies, but the core strategy is early, concentrated, and technically gated.

The firm does not invest in consumer internet, retail, social media, or business-model-innovation plays that dominated Chinese venture capital through the 2010s. It also avoids therapeutics and clinical-stage biotech, maintaining strict focus on engineering-driven categories: propulsion, satellite subsystems, industrial robotics, lidar and sensors, semiconductor tooling, and AI infrastructure. Space Star is effectively a negative screen against anything that does not require a physics or electrical-engineering PhD to diligence.

Space Star raises capital from a mix of institutional investors, including Chinese government guidance funds tied to strategic-technology mandates — particularly in aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and semiconductors. The firm also counts corporate investors and domestic family offices among its LPs. The exact LP roster and fund sizes are not systematically disclosed, consistent with the private posture of most yuan-denominated venture managers.

Space Star frequently leads or co-leads early rounds and will syndicate later-stage follow-ons with state-affiliated funds such as CAS Star and CICC Capital. The firm runs a collaborative co-investing model with other deep-tech and industrial investors rather than operating an exclusive proprietary-deal structure. Institutional allocators considering co-investment sidecars should expect Space Star to offer selective access on a deal-by-deal basis across its largest industrialization-stage rounds.