Nokia has committed another $250 million to its venture funding firm Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), and expanded its activities into China.

NGP was set up in 2005 to boost the mobile ecosystem around the world and will use the third round of funding from its parent company to invest in mobile companies in the US, Europe and Asia .

Nokia executive vice president and chief financial officer Timo Ihamuotila said the latest funding “reinforces Nokia’s support for a vibrant mobile ecosystem and our determination to collaborate with industry innovators to build great mobile products”.

The firm appointed David Tang as managing director of the Chinese arm of its business with Lu Guo as principal.

Tang has advised several Chinese mobile businesses and has worked with NGP when he was vice chairman of Nokia China. He joins from AMD. Lu Guo joins from Keytone Ventures where he was responsible for mobile internet investments.

NGP managing partner John Gardner said the firm sets itself apart from pure financial investors due to the “partnerships and insights our invested companies get from their close association with Nokia”.

In the past year, NGP has overseen the IPOs of image processing software maker Morpho and Inside Secure, which produces technology for secure transactions and digital identity.

There have also been sales of text input company Swype, IT hosting provider Netmagic and integrated circuit maker Summit Microelectronics, which was acquired by Qualcomm.