China's venture capital (VC) market more than doubled in the first half of this year, pointing to a significant rebound according to a market analyst.

VC investment in the country hit US$772 million during the first six months of this year, an increase of 128 per cent year-on-year, said Beijing-based professional VC consulting firm Zero2ipo.com Ltd yesterday.

The number of VC deals clinched rose 49 per cent year-on-year to 121 during the period.

"That signals venture capitalists' increasing confidence in the Chinese market," said Garvin Ni, president of Zero2ipo.

"We expect the VC market to grow even stronger in the second half of this year as venture capitalists are usually less active in the first half, focusing on project planning and studying."

China's booming information technology (IT) sector remains the focus for VC investment.

In the first half of this year, about US$562 million of VC investment was absorbed by the country's IT industry, accounting for 73 per cent of the total.

The Internet sector secured US$276 million in VC investment.

More than 13 per cent of VC investment in the country was made in the service industry, while 10 per cent was made in traditional industries.

Foreign companies continued to dominate the VC market, pouring in 70 per cent of the US$772 million in the first half of this year. Domestic companies invested 16 per cent of the total. The rest was jointly invested by foreign and domestic firms.

But the number of domestic VC firms in the market is increasing.

Chen Hao, managing director of Legend Capital Ltd, said his firm had closed its investment in two funds and 40 projects.

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