On May 27, Forbes magazine released its 2025 Midas List, ranking the world's top 100 venture capital investors based on performance. The list is often regarded as the "Oscars" of the venture capital industry.

Among this year's honorees, Shen Nanpeng, founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, secured the second position globally and was the only Chinese investor in the top 30. Since his first appearance on the Midas List in 2012, Shen has been featured for 15 consecutive years, ranking first four times, including a three-year streak from 2018 to 2020. Sequoia Capital China partner Zhou Kui also made the list again this year, ranking 65th, making Sequoia China the only Chinese firm with two investors on the 2025 list.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Midas List, which was first published in 2001. Forbes noted that when the list debuted, Silicon Valley was still recovering from the dot-com bubble burst. Over the subsequent two decades, waves of innovation—from social media and smartphones to electric vehicles and artificial intelligence—have emerged, "but few investors have consistently identified top entrepreneurs and high-quality startups."

To commemorate the anniversary, Forbes compiled an "All-Stars" list by analyzing the track records of investors who have appeared on the Midas List over the past 25 years. Only 15 investors have made the list 15 times or more. Shen Nanpeng, the first and only Chinese investor to have topped the Midas List and one of the global leaders in number of top rankings, was included in this elite group, placing 12th among the 15 most successful investors over the quarter-century.

The 2025 Midas List reflects significant shifts in the venture capital landscape. Forbes explained that the impact of landmark successful investments diminishes over time. "If an investor backed a major IPO five years ago, the scoring weight of that investment decreases each year until it eventually falls out of the calculation." Since the last list, earlier major exits like Airbnb, Snowflake, and DoorDash have exited the scoring window, while newer companies such as SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI have become key drivers of the rankings.

This scoring methodology places a premium on an investor's sustained ability to navigate cycles and generate high returns. Shen Nanpeng's consistent top-tier performance over 15 years is attributed to his successful investments and long-term support for mobile internet era giants like ByteDance, Meituan, Pinduoduo, and SHEIN. Concurrently, as global technological innovation undergoes structural changes, Shen has led Sequoia in actively investing in emerging sectors like AI, embodied intelligence, new energy, new consumption, and fintech, backing new industry leaders such as MiniMax, Moonshot AI, Unitree Robotics, Pop Mart International Group Limited (泡泡玛特), and Ming Ming Hen Mang. In addition, Sequoia has accelerated its expansion in recent years, deepening its mergers and acquisitions business with acquisitions including the renowned UK audio brand Marshall and the Italian fashion brand Golden Goose.

Among the investors on this year's list, ten are of Chinese background or have a long-term investment focus in China. Within the top 50, other notable names include Cao Xi of Monolith Capital (ranked 38th), Fang Aizhi of ZhenFund (ranked 41st), and Xu Dalai of Shunwei Capital (ranked 48th).