Since venture capital investment firstly appeared in China a decade ago, the investment focuses of venture investors have periodically shifted from one sector to another. From the outset, most of venture investors invested in Internet industry. Now, the focuses are extended to new materials, new media, and clean tech sectors.

Apart from the technology-based growth companies, companies capable of generating lucrative and steady returns also become favorite targets of venture investors. In general, these companies come from such sectors as food, medical, and education. Meanwhile, the emergence of segments, like job-seeking, test & training, vocational education, friends-making, love & marriage, infant education, leads to a new wave of venture capital investment. These segments seem separate, but on second thoughts we find that they are closely linked because they all have something with a special age group (hereinafter referred to as "special 30s"): They provide services for this group. Born in 1975-1982, they are approaching their thirties or in their thirties, approximately accounting for 6.21% of the total Chinese population according to China's National Bureau of Statistics. After these educated people graduate, they will seek jobs, build families and bear babies. In every phrase of their lives, they will become a major consumption force in China. This is why the above segments become hot for the time being.  

Special 30s

The "special 30s" have experienced different social reforms and social and living conditions from other groups of people. Their unique characters have inevitably marked by the era. At least five factors led to the unique characters belonging to the "special 30s" group. First, the "special 30s" are mostly born in the late 1970s and early 1980s when there was a birth boom, a result of relatively high birth rate. After they were born, they have begun to face unique social changes.
 
Second, the "special 30s" can be considered the first generation since China began its opening up and reform policy. During the course of the reform, China heavily absorbed in foreign capital and exported goods in exchange for foreign currencies. The strategy of making China the global manufacture base has greatly contributed to the high growth of Chinese economy for 30 years in a row, however, it has also resulted in the huge waste of Chinese talents. Such a business development model has caused the structural contradiction of the labor's supply and demand, which will exist for long in China. 

Third, the reform of China's higher education system has imposed great impacts on the "special 30s". It will further affect their employment. The expanded enrollment in higher education led to bigger employment pressure. Meanwhile, a market-oriented employment mechanism has been currently established in China, which facilitates the cross-regional liquidity for talents.

Fourthly, the reform of China's housing started in 1998. Since then China has permitted banks to provide house mortgage loans to citizens to promote the housing commercialization.
 
Lastly, with the accelerating urbanization process in China, more people have thronged into urban cities. The fallout is the fast pace of modern life and increasingly high competition.

Since the "special 30s" left the ivory tower, they have begun to live an independent live. Besides marriage and family issues, they will also face tense social competition, greater pressure of getting further education and employment and buying house. Currently, professional enterprises serving the "special 30s" have emerged, helping them design and plan life. Over 2-3 years, some of these enterprises have evolved as mature enterprises. In the future, some of them will become stars of tomorrow. 

Relevant Investment Sectors

Over the last five years, enterprises targeting the "special 30s" as main consumer groups have grown bigger, and some of them have developed into Chinese business stars. These enterprises as well as their industries have grown up together with the "special 30s". We made a list of relevant VC-backed enterprises in three categories: Family, Career and Leisure.

Future Investment Fields

New investment fields will appear with the age increasing and consumption level improvement of the "special 30s".

¡¾Health Industry¡¿In general, people in their 30s will spend more money on health care. Likewise, the "special 30s" will increase their health output year after year, most of which will be used for health check-up, health products, and anti-aging products. Accordingly, the expenditure will lead to the boom of a batch of healthcare enterprises.

¡¾Body-building & Outdoor¡¿This type of investment is just sprouting in China. The appearance of body-building & outdoor services enterprises may have little with the consumption of the "special 30s" at the beginning. Investors favor their "alliance plus chain operation" business model. Nevertheless, no shrewd entrepreneurs will ignore the demands of the "special 30s". Instead, these entrepreneurs will do the utmost to develop recreation & leisure projects tailored for the "special 30s" to satisfy their specific needs.

¡¾Infant Services¡¿A large proportion of the "special 30s" planned to have babies in 2007-2008. Now, the new born babies are just in their infanthood. In two years, they will receive relevant services, and the expenditure of receiving such services will replace the cost of buying milk power to become the largest expenditure for their parents. Meanwhile, the segments of infant training & education, children game websites, children TV programs, children dress chain, and children nutrition products have gained growth momentum.

¡¾Home Decoration¡¿Home decoration is a necessary part of quality life. In a narrow sense, the home decoration here refers to clothing decoration and other family decoration series, excluding traditional housing decoration and furniture industry. The judgment is based on the consumption trends of the "special 30s". They will devote more energy and time to beautifying their home environment and improving life quality and taste after they have built their own families and raised babies. 

¡¾Fashion Industry¡¿Economically independent and socially respected, the "special 30s" have gradually become the major consumer group of high-end fashion styles and products. They are more eager to pursue high-end fashion stuff than ever before. Services providers focusing on high-end brands and fashion will develop dramatically if they catch this trend and meet the demands of international frontier brands penetrating Chinese market. In terms of segments, they include broadcasting media and platform, TV program design, Internet, and fashion magazine.

¡¾Entrepreneurial Themes¡¿The improvement of China's entrepreneurial environment in recent two years benefits from the mature business environment and the expansion of the entrepreneur team. The Chinese saying that "At thirty, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground" does make sense in the modern era where many people in around 30s have built their enterprises. Meanwhile, with various entrepreneur boot camps sprung up, specialized enterprises will be formed to provide the entrepreneurial themes-related events with services, and such business model will become one of hot investments in several years. In terms of segments, they include Internet, panel media, association and entrepreneurial park.