Gobi Partners today announced the first closing of US$30 million for the Gobi Fund. The final Fund size is expected to close at US$75 million in the second quarter of 2004. The Fund will focus on early stage investments in China's digital media sector: content creation, delivery, access and applications.

"Digital media is a new form of communication that is emerging from the convergence in telecommunications, media and technology," said Thomas Tsao, a partner of Gobi. "Online gaming is a perfect example of this trend. Digital media has affected how we enjoy music and photography. Movies and TV are next."

The Fund has attracted key strategic investors which include: IBM, the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate, NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan's leading mobile communications company, and Goldbond, a leading Hong Kong financial services and investment holding company.

"Being able to leverage off the world-class know-how and resources of IBM, NTT DoCoMo, Inc., and Goldbond will provide unique advantages to the Funds entrepreneurs and portfolio companies," said Wai Kit Lau, a partner of Gobi.

While digital media is developing around the world, Gobi will focus primarily on opportunities in China. "With one of the worlds largest media markets, advanced broadband infrastructure, over 250 million mobile users, favorable demographics, and strong underlying economic growth, the ingredients are there for China to be at the forefront of the digital media revolution," said Lawrence Tse, a partner of Gobi. Established in 2002, Gobi is a Shanghai-based specialist venture capital firm focusing on early stage investments in Chinas digital media sector. Gobi takes a holistic view, seeing digital media as an integrated whole, where the parts work together, rather than a dissociated collection of industries. The Fund will invest in companies that are pushing the frontier, integrating gaps or enabling consolidation within the digital media value chain.