April 25, 2007 – Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), a longtime fixture on the investment landscape of Silicon Valley, is acquiring Shanghai-based TDF Capital, and is committing $360 million to fund investments there, notes the San Jose Mercury News.

Areas of interest include high-growth industries such as technology, Internet, media and wireless communications, with possible investments in other areas including healthcare and “green” technologies. The business will be led by three TDF execs joined by Joe Zhou, formerly with Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund.

Many US VC firms (including KPCB) typically travel to China to identify and locate possible investment opportunities, and often end up investing in domestic VC firms as a less-risky alternative to startups, the paper noted.

With the new China-based arm, KPCB will “see where technology and consumer markets are going in China, and […]where trends are heading in the US. As venture capital becomes global, we see these relationships as being very important,” noted KPCB partner Ellen Pao, quoted by the SJMN.