Chinese startups were already struggling to raise money. The coronavirus may be the last straw

China's startups had a rough time last year because of an economic slowdown and giant flops that scared away investors. Now they're having to dig deep and get creative to survive the coronavirus crisis that threatens to freeze activity during one of the most important funding periods of the year.
So far this year, venture capital investment in startups throughout Greater China — which includes the mainland and Hong Kong — has plummeted more than 65% compared to the same period a year ago, according to data provider PitchBook.

That's bad news for many companies, which were already struggling to find funding during what came to be known last year as a "capital winter." Firms in the region raised a collective $54 billion in venture capital in 2019, about half of what they raised in 2018."Covid-19 has been another challenge among a series of setbacks for China's venture capital landscape," said Alex Frederick, a venture capital analyst at PitchBook.

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