Venture capital investment in China shrank more than 7% to its lowest in four years despite a series of giant chip deals, as investors cooled on startups and steered clear of economic and regulatory turmoil.

The value of VC bets fell to $69.9 billion over about 4,200 deals, the lowest dollar amount since 2019, according to data collated by Preqin. That marked the second straight contraction after a 44% slump in 2022, the height of China’s Covid curbs and toward the tail end of a brutal crackdown on internet sectors such as e-commerce and gaming.