From USC Finance Scholar to Forbes Elite: Lin Yankun of X GROUP Builds a New Force of Chinese Capital with "Investment + Empowerment"

The announcement of the 2025 Forbes China Most Influential Chinese Elites TOP 100 has brought a Chinese investor deeply rooted in domestic and international capital markets into broader view - Lin Yankun, Chairman of X GROUP GLOBAL HOLDING Ltd. From precise judgments in US stock quantitative trading to value creation in the primary market, from the founding of a single fund to the formation of a global investment matrix, this 34-year-old entrepreneurial leader has spent a decade of dedication and perseverance, writing an innovative story of Chinese capital in the hard technology and big consumption tracks. He has also verified the growth code of the new generation of business elites: "Uphold fundamentals while embracing innovation, and start with the end in mind."

Foundation of Growth: Capability Leap Through Cross-Border Accumulation

Lin Yankun's investment career was foreshadowed by his interests and accumulation from an early age. His mathematical and scientific expertise demonstrated in high school led him to pursue further studies at the University of Southern California (USC) in the United States, where he ultimately earned a master's degree in financial mathematics. During his studies, he not only learned from Michael J.P. Magill, a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Economics, systematically honing the underlying logic of quantitative analysis and value judgment, but also built a competitive edge at the intersection of finance and technology with professional qualifications as a FRM holder and SAS-certified senior programmer. Over eight years of studying abroad, his growth extended beyond academics - winning a state basketball championship as part of a team and a gold medal in an international chess individual competition forged the resilience tempered through competition, which became a crucial quality for navigating investment cycles in the future.

At the start of his career, Lin Yankun stood at the forefront of the industry. He successively worked at a Fortune 500 financial institution in the United States and a top 3 securities firm's research institute in China. A decade of deep cultivation enabled him to not only understand the operating rules of international capital markets but also grasp the development context of China's local industries. When engaged in quantitative trading in the secondary market, he worked closely with data models every day but gradually realized that "the secondary market is more about value aggregation, while the primary market allows participation in the growth of enterprises from 0 to 1, serving as the driving force for social progress." This insight prompted him to resolutely switch tracks, embarking on a leap from "value discovery" to "value creation" and laying a practical foundation for his subsequent entrepreneurial journey.

Entrepreneurial Journey: From Single-Point Breakthrough to Ecosystem Construction

In 2018, Lin Yankun officially embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, founding Shenzhen Deju Investment and taking the first step towards independent investment. Behind this choice was his keen insight into industry trends, as well as collaboration with like-minded partners - he hit it off with Mao Pengcheng, former business partner of Ele.me and VP of Alibaba Local Consumer Services. Sharing aligned values and visions, the two combined their differentiated advantages in "hard technology + big consumption" to co-found Deju Brothers Venture Capital, initiating a journey of deep cultivation in targeted tracks.

In the following years, Lin Yankun's investment portfolio continued to expand. He successively established X Capital and Fusion Capital, forming an investment layout covering multiple fields and stages. In 2024, based on strategic considerations of a global innovative perspective, he upgraded and integrated his affiliated brands into X GROUP GLOBAL HOLDING, constructing a strategic framework of "investment as the core, incubation and mergers & acquisitions as the two wings" and completing the transformation from a single investment institution to a comprehensive investment group. Today's X GROUP has built a unique closed-loop global investment ecosystem: domestically, relying on industrial resources from Alibaba, Meituan, ByteDance, Huawei, etc., it establishes connections with entrepreneurs at the idea stage through the "Qianlong Network" talent discovery system; overseas, leveraging resources from deeply cooperative financial institutions, it seizes investment opportunities in top-tier projects such as SpaceX, OpenAI, and xAI; simultaneously, through dual-currency fund layout, it provides enterprises with full-chain services from early-stage investment to post-IPO accompaniment, building convenient overseas exit channels.

Investment Philosophy: Creating Value Through Persistence and Innovation

"Everything in the world follows simple fundamental principles - and investment is no exception." Lin Yankun has always adhered to the investment philosophy of "Uphold fundamentals while embracing innovation, and start with the end in mind." He firmly believes that every cause has its effect, so he devotes substantial energy to pre-investment research and post-investment management. In track selection, he follows clear criteria: in the big consumption sector, he adheres to the principles of "large track, high growth, and anti-entropy increase," focusing on trillion-yuan markets such as beverages and food; in the hard technology sector, he follows national policy guidelines, targeting high-barrier tracks driven by technology and matched with resources.

This precise judgment has been validated in multiple classic cases. When investing in LandSpace, he valued the technical and commercial dual backgrounds of its management team, as well as the product complementarity between its medium and large recyclable liquid oxygen-methane launch vehicles and national teams; he resolutely invested in MAD Gaze during the downturn of the AR industry, based on confidence in its software and hardware capabilities and potential industrial synergy with Honghong Industrial, ultimately achieving several times the book return; investing in Zhenwei Xiaomeiyuan during the pandemic was a precise prediction that prepared dishes would become the third major solution in the catering industry - through seed-stage involvement and in-depth empowerment, he helped the enterprise achieve dozens of times valuation growth within a year.

Beyond precise project selection, in-depth post-investment empowerment is another core competency of Lin Yankun. He led the construction of an "entrepreneurial middle platform" that provides portfolio companies with comprehensive support in talent, capital, resources, strategy, etc. - helping Zhenwei Xiaomeiyuan strengthen its R&D team and expand channels, connecting MAD Gaze with supply chain resources to reduce costs, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on core businesses. In the face of the impetuous industry trend of chasing hot topics, he led the team to establish a three-year dynamic position adjustment mechanism, balancing short-term and long-term returns, and always adhering to the core logic that "good investment = defined circle of competence + diversified investment + appropriate risk exposure."

Echoes of the Times: Responsibility and Vision Behind the Honors

Today, Lin Yankun has gained numerous industry recognitions: 2025 Forbes China Most Influential Chinese Elites TOP 100, 2025 Caijing Global Top 50 Chinese Venture Capitalists, 2024 Forbes China Top 100 Returnee Elites, 2021 Hurun U30 Entrepreneurial Leaders... His founded X GROUP has also been awarded the 2024 Forbes China Top 30 Family Offices, becoming a recognized high-quality investment institution in the industry. Behind these honors lies his commitment to professionalism and his practice of social responsibility - promoting the upgrading of traditional industries through investment, creating job opportunities for low-income groups, and actively participating in public welfare activities, striking a balance between commercial returns and social value.

Standing at the new starting point of the upcoming 2026, Lin Yankun's strategic plan is clear and firm. In the first five years, he plans to continue strengthening internal capabilities, improving the industry research system and empowerment middle platform, and accompanying portfolio companies to grow into unicorns; in the second five years, he will extend the industrial chain layout through incubation and mergers & acquisitions, upgrading to an entrepreneurial group to maximize overall value. In his view, the global journey of Chinese investors is not only about deploying overseas projects but also integrating China's supply chain advantages, operational efficiency, and local insights, embedding the operating standards and governance logic of Chinese capital into the global system.

This original aspiration and foresight have enabled Lin Yankun to forge ahead steadily in the tide of the times. As he firmly believes, entrepreneurship and investment are both long-term journeys. Only by staying true to one's original intention and upholding values can one seize opportunities in changes and write more wonderful chapters of Chinese elites on the global stage.
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