ByteDance's billionaire founder and former CEO Zhang Yiming has entered the private equity industry, with his Hong Kong-based investment fund picking up a license to operate.

Cool River Venture HK Limited was granted a Type 9, or asset management license, by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in November 2024, according to an announcement.

After being granted the license, Cool River Venture can carry out the business of asset management services in Hong Kong.

Cool River Venture was incorporated on May 22, 2023 in the nature of a private company limited by shares, with Zhang as the sole director.

ByteDance said it would not respond to this matter.

Industry insiders revealed that Cool River Venture is similar to a private equity fund and its main investment direction is in technology-related industries.

In May 2021, Zhang officially stepped down as CEO of ByteDance.

And in a letter to all ByteDance employees, he said he wanted to "focus on the long-term importance of our vision, culture and social responsibility".

Sources said earlier this month that Zhang had been actively involved in the group's AI strategy, although he had stepped down as ByteDance CEO.

A source said Zhang personally oversaw the recruitment of AI engineers and researchers from rival companies.

Zhang has also spoken internally about his goal of "general AI," also known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), a system with human-like intelligence.