China's much-hyped unicorn funds launched, but get a poor response

The shortfall reflects reduced appetite for much-hyped tech IPOs in a market roiled by trade war fears

Once marketed with great fanfare as an “epoch-making gala for investors,” the six Chinese “unicorn” funds quietly began operations on Monday - alongside Xiaomi Corp’s lacklustre Hong Kong debut - after raising just one third of their original targets.
 
The six funds, launched to support mainland listings of home-grown tech firms such as smartphone maker Xiaomi and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, originally sought to raise 300 billion yuan ($45.33 billion) from retail and institutional investors. But they ended up with only 104.9 billion yuan among them, according statements published over the weekend, despite a massive marketing effort orchestrated