Pacven Walden Management Co., Ltd. (doing business asWalden International) is an Americanventure capital firm based inSan Francisco,California. It mainly focuses on investments in Asia and is one of the earliest venture capital firms to invest in the region.

Pacven Walden Management Co., Ltd.

Trade name	Walden International
Company type	Private
Industry	Venture Capital
Predecessor	Walden Group
Founded	1987; 38 years ago (1987)
Founders	Lip-Bu Tan Peter Liu
Headquarters	One California,San Francisco,California, U.S.
Key people	Lip-Bu Tan (Chairman)
AUM	$5 billion (2024)[1]
Website	www.waldenintl.com.sg

The firm is known for playing a significant role in helping China's technology development.

The origins of Walden International can be traced back to Walden Group (now known as Walden Venture Capital), one of the earliest San Francisco venture capital firms that was founded in 1974 by Art Berliner and George Sarlo.^[2][3] The firm's name comes from the bookWalden byHenry David Thoreau which espoused challenging thestatus quo.^[3]

In 1983, when the U.S. venture capital market got overheated, the firm began exploring how to export the venture capital model overseas. During that year it hiredLip-Bu Tan to open up business in the Asian Market. Shortly after, Tan became an senior partner at the firm.^[2][4][5]

In 1987, in response toLi Kwoh-ting's invitation to invest inTaiwan, Tan and his colleague, Peter Liu founded Walden International as the Asian branch of Walden Group.^{[3][6][7][8][9]} Initial investors included development finance institutions, government agencies and local banks.^[9] It was able to raise capital for Taiwanese funds with relative ease from the network ofChinese Americans inSilicon Valley who were familiar with venture capital.^[6] The first two investments were in Northern California.^[7] Walden International helpedPowerchip go public on theTaipei Exchange.^[10] Walden’s Chinese name,huádēng, translates roughly to ‘ascendant China. The Chinese name came from Tan's father hoping it would contribute to China's rise.^[11]

Singapore followed suit, offeringtax incentives to attract Walden International. The firm invested inCreative Technology which listed on theNasdaq in 1992.^[8][10]

In 1994, Walden Israel was founded as an affiliate of Walden International that would leverage its international connections.^[12] During the same year Walden International launched its first China focused fund. An early investment it made was inMindray.^[9] The fund received $7.5 million from theWorld Bank.^[11]

In 1995, Liu left Walden International to focus on his own firm, WI Harper which used the branding of Walden.^[6][7][13]

By 2000, both Walden International and Walden Israel had been spun out from Walden Group to become independent.^[3]

At the beginning, Walden International focused on computerperipherals and electronics but later expanded its scope to cover more areas of technology. In addition the firm expanded its coverage to include countries such as China, India, Japan and Malaysia.^[9][10] It was the lead investor forSina Corporation and helped structure the deal for it to become listed on theNasdaq in 2000.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} This would become one of the most notable deals in the history of venture capital and set the stage for Walden International to gain access to the highest levels in theChinese government.^[11] Other notable investments it had made at this point includeAriba,Check Point,Mindtree andJobstreet.^[9][10]

By 2004, Walden International was significantly focused on thesemiconductor industry. This differed from its peers who avoided semiconductors due to their long timeframes and risky technology. Investments includedInphi Corporation andAptina.^[11]

In 2008, Walden Israel shut down due to fundraising issues.^[14]

In 2009, Tan became CEO ofCadence Design Systems but still remained chairman of Walden International. He had to balance duties between both of them. Many of the companies Walden International invested in were also customers of Cadence.^[11]

In October 2017, Walden International andChina Everbright Limited launched a $500 million Chinese semiconductor fund named Walden CEL Global Fund I.^[15]

According to the Rhodium Group, during the 2017-20 period, Walden International made 25 investments in Chinese chip companies accounting for more than 40% of the Chinese semiconductor deals involving U.S. venture investors during that period. It came third place in terms of number of China chip investments made since 2020 which was behindSequoia China andMatrix Partners China.^[16]

In November 2021, Waldern International launched Walden Catalyst, a $550 million fund that will invest in early-stagedeep tech companies in U.S., Europe and Israel.^[17]

In July 2023, theUnited States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party notified several American venture capital firms that they were being investigated over their funding of Chinese tech companies. Walden International was included due to its investment inSemiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's largest chip maker.^[18] In February 2024, the committee released a report of its findings that stated five American venture capital firms (GGV Capital,GSR Ventures,Qualcomm Ventures,Sequoia Capital and Walden International) invested more than $1 billion in China's semiconductor industry since 2001, a sector considered a national security threat according to theU.S. government. Much of the report focused on Walden International which created various funds for the chip sector in partnership with the Chinese government and Chinese state-owned companies. Walden International gave $52 million to SMIC over several decades as well as tens of millions of dollars to SMIC affiliates such asAdvanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment.^[19] Walden exited its investment in SMIC in January 2021.^[20]

According toReuters in April 2025, Tan through Walden International and other investment partners had control over 40 Chinese companies as well as minority stakes in 600. This includedChina Electronics Corporation which is linked to thePeople's Liberation Army.^[20]

• Walden International Singapore
• Archived global official website at theWayback Machine (archived 2010-11-30)