Zixuan WANG (Shelly) is an experienced legal and compliance leader with more than two decades of work across top law firms, a major private equity institution, and one of Asia’s most influential venture capital platforms. Her career reflects a rare combination of legal depth, transactional expertise, and organisational leadership. She is regarded as a trusted partner to investment teams and a key contributor to establishing the governance and operational foundations of leading investment institutions in China.

Shelly earned her Bachelor of Laws from the Peking University School of Law and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the university’s Centre for Economic Research. She later obtained a Master’s degree in Western Legal Philosophy from Sun Yat-sen University and completed an international LLM jointly offered by Tsinghua University and Temple University. This multidisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional training has equipped her with strong analytical capabilities and a broad perspective on regulatory, structural, and commercial matters.

Shelly began her legal career in Beijing, working initially at Tianrui Law Firm and subsequently at Jingtian & Gongcheng, one of China’s leading law firms. In private practice, she supported and led multiple Hong Kong and A-share IPOs and financing transactions across sectors including technology, manufacturing, and port logistics. This experience provided her with a solid foundation in securities regulation, corporate governance, and complex deal execution, and prepared her for future work in the investment industry.

In 2009, she joined Hony Capital as a Manager in the Risk Management Department. She was responsible for fund formation and fundraising processes, investment compliance, IPO preparation, and exit matters. Her work strengthened the firm’s governance structures and operational processes during a critical period of institutional expansion. She received Hony Capital’s “Gardener Award”, the firm’s highest annual honour recognising exceptional professional support to investment teams.

Since 2013, Shelly has held senior legal roles at Sequoia Capital China (now HongShan). As Legal Counsel and later Legal Director, she has overseen a comprehensive range of legal responsibilities, including fund structuring and fundraising, venture and growth investment execution, portfolio corporate governance, restructurings, IPO readiness, and various exit strategies. Her work spans technology, consumer, and notably healthcare—supporting investments in one of the firm’s most strategically important and highly regulated sectors. She has played an important role in managing regulatory complexities, designing compliant investment structures, and supporting portfolio companies in the healthcare ecosystem through multiple stages of development.

Across more than a decade at HongShan, Shelly has contributed to building and strengthening the firm’s legal, compliance, and governance infrastructure. She is known for her ability to integrate legal frameworks with investment logic, anticipate regulatory and structural risks, and develop solutions that balance compliance with commercial objectives. Beyond transactional matters, she has helped enhance internal governance processes, institutional capabilities, and cross-team collaboration within a fast-growing investment platform.

Combining rigorous legal training, extensive experience across the full fundraising–investment–exit lifecycle, and a proven record of leadership within major investment institutions, Zixuan WANG (Shelly) exemplifies the modern legal leader. She continues to play a meaningful role in shaping the legal and governance environment of China’s innovation- and healthcare-driven investment ecosystem.