Nokia spin-out opens second China office

BlueRun Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, has opened a new office in Beijing. The office is the firm’s second in China, and comes less than a month after the firm hired two new directors, William Qu and Mike Ding, for its China team.

The firm has been active in China since 2001, and opened its first office in Shanghai in 2005. BlueRun’s investments in the country include optical equipment maker 3i Systems, Agape Package Manufacturing and mobile television broadcasting systems company Innofidei.

BlueRun formerly operated as the venture unit of Nokia Corp, but spun out in 2005. The firm continues to have close ties with Nokia, which was a limited partner in BlueRun’s first fund.

Many venture firms are looking to increase their presence in China and other emerging markets as the US and Europe become increasingly competitive. Last week New Enterprise Associates’ founder Dick Kramlich said he would move to Shanghai for the entire year of 2008 in order to boost NEA’s profile in China. Redpoint Capital, Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers also have offices in China.

BlueRun also has offices in Helsinki, Finland; Herzelia, Israel; Mumbai, India and Seoul, Korea. Its most recent fund closed on $315 million (€215 million) in 2005.