Former Intel Capital MD strikes out alone

Cadol Cheung, former managing director of Intel Capital’s Asia Pacific operations, has left the firm to establish FUEL Capital, a venture capital firm focused on cleantech and healthcare investment in China.

Chueng could not be reached for comment. His profile on professional networking site LinkedIn notes the fund will focus on committing first-round institutional funding to companies already generating revenues.

FUEL was established in August and launched its maiden fund with a target of $100 million, according to a report in Zero2IPO.
 
It is not clear where the new firm is headquartered, but Cheung himself hails from Hong Kong. Prior to establishing FUEL, he spent a total of 26 years with Intel in various roles, having joined in 1983 as a quality control engineer in its sub-contracting division.

For the last nine years at Intel, Cheung held the role of managing director of Intel Capital’s Asia Pacific operations, where he first oversaw the firm’s strategic investments in the region ex-Japan, and then from April 2005 onwards focused on strategic and financial investments in China, Taiwan and South Korea, according to his LinkedIn page.

Before he left Intel he managed a team of over 10 investment professionals and oversaw investment of two China-focused funds, a $200 million fund launched in 2005, and a $500 million fund with a 2008 vintage.

In striking out alone, Cheung follows the example of others like Joe Zhou, who left US venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2008 to establish Keytone Ventures. The firm successfully closed its first fund on $200 million in July.