John Li
Partner
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- Full Name
- Maoxiang Li (John) — Chinese: 李贸祥
- Title
- Partner, China
- Firm
- Cathay Innovation / Cathay Capital
- Firm Type
- Venture capital & private equity (global multi-stage firm; not an independent angel). John leads the Cathay CarTech & Mobility Fund.
- Investment Stage
- Early to growth stage
- Check Size
- Initial investments of ~RMB 30–100M (≈ $4–14M USD)
- Target Company Profile
- Startups building new technologies and business models in the Chinese automotive and new-mobility sector
- Sector Focus
- Auto-tech & connectivity, autonomous vehicles, new mobility, digitalization, smart manufacturing, aftermarket, and car e-commerce
- Geographic Focus
- China (Cathay operates cross-border across China, Europe, and the US)
- Location
- Shanghai, China
Background
Maoxiang "John" Li is a Partner at Cathay Innovation (the venture arm of Cathay Capital), based in the firm's Shanghai office, where he is responsible for the Cathay CarTech & Mobility Fund. He joined Cathay Capital in 2017, the same year the firm launched its dedicated CarTech vehicle with cornerstone backers Valeo and the Yangtze River Industry Fund.
Before moving into investing, John spent close to 15 years in the automotive industry across both OEMs and component suppliers. He was most recently Executive Director of Corporate Development at Lear Asia, and over his career held roles in M&A, business development, strategic planning, and partnership & alliances. He represented Lear, Valeo, General Motors, and TRW, and closed 15-plus transactions structured as joint ventures, strategic cooperations, acquisitions, and buyouts — including restructuring work at BAI/BHAP and Lear, shareholding projects at Valeo, and the GM China restructuring (the GM–SAIC India project and the FAW-GM commercial-vehicle joint venture).
John holds a bachelor's degree in Finance and International Business from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and an MBA in Finance from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). His deep automotive operating and corporate-development background is the through-line for his current focus on mobility and CarTech investing at Cathay.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests through the Cathay CarTech & Mobility Fund: "We invest in early to growth-stage startups developing new technologies and business models in the Chinese automotive and new mobility sector."
- Stage: early to growth; check size: ~RMB 30–100M ($4–14M) initial.
- Sectors: auto-tech & connectivity, autonomous driving, new mobility, digitalization/smart manufacturing, automotive aftermarket, and car e-commerce.
- Leans on an industrial/strategic-value angle — Cathay's CarTech fund is backed by corporate partners like Valeo, and John's own OEM/supplier network (Lear, Valeo, GM, TRW) supports cross-border, deep-tech automotive bets rather than pure consumer plays.
Notable Investments
- Waytous — Unmanned/autonomous intelligent mining transportation technology.
- Benewake — LiDAR and depth-sensing solutions for autonomous systems.
- FUTURUS — Automotive augmented-reality head-up display (AR-HUD) technology.
- ABUP — OTA (over-the-air) upgrade technology and services for automotive/IoV.
- Uphoton (Reinlight) — Optical/photonics technology.
- JOYNEXT — Automotive infotainment, connectivity, and telematics systems supplier.
- Youcheku — Vehicle asset-management platform (residual-value consulting, used-car trading, and derivative products).
- Intplog — Automotive/logistics technology.
- Bochuang and YiQi Exchange — additional CarTech & Mobility portfolio holdings.
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