China VC Weekly: Flying Cars and More

This week’s China VC news: the flying car subsidiary of EV-maker Xpeng Motors, HT Aero, bagged a whopping $500 million Series A investment. Meanwhile, Online UI Design Platform JSDesign raised two hefty rounds of financing. Chinese SSD-maker TenaFe closed a $58 million Series B round. Lastly, Autonomous driving firm JIMU Intelligent bagged $31 Million in its C1 Financing round.

XPeng’s Flying Car Business Receives $500 Million in Series A Financing

HT Aero, the electric flying car company owned by XPeng Motors, announced on Tuesday that it had nabbed over $500 million in a Series A funding round. This round of funding will put the value of the company at more than $1 billion. This is the biggest round ever achieved by a low-flying aircraft company in Asia in terms of money raised, said HT Aero.

The financing round was led by IDG Capital, 5Y Capital, and XPeng Inc. Renowned investment companies as Sequoia Capital China, Eastern bell Capital, GGV Capital, GL Ventures, and Yunfeng Capital also took part in the funding round.

“The investment in HT Aero will further accelerate the build-up of our ecosystem to integrate driving and flying,” said Mr. He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng.

“The company will further strengthen its investment in the R&D and manufacturing of flying cars, the pooling of high-end talent, and the airworthiness certification,” said Mr. Deli Zhao, Founder and President of HT Aero. “Our next-generation model will be a fully integrated flying vehicle and automobile, designed for both low-altitude air travel and road driving. We are planning for an official roll-out in 2024,” he added.

About HT Aero

Headquartered in Guangzhou, HT Aero has R&D centers and laboratories in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and in the Silicon Valley of the United States. The company’s R&D and compliance verification flight tests are conducted in Panyu, Guangzhou.

Online UI Design Platform JSDesign Bags Two Rounds of Financing

Chinese cloud-based UI design platform JSDesign announced on Friday that it has received tens of millions of dollars in A++ and B rounds of financing. 

The A++ round was jointly led by Hillhouse Capital and SIG Haina Asia, with Source Code Capital and Jingya Capital following the investment. The B round was led by Coatue Management, followed by Hillhouse Capital Venture Capital, SIG Asia, Source Code Capital, and BlueRun Ventures.

About JSDesign

JSDesign is an online design platform with which projects can be worked on by many people at the same time. Its functions cover processes such as design, review, delivery, team collaboration and version management.

SSD-maker TenaFe closes $58 million Series B Round

TenaFe, a R&D enterprise of solid-state drive (SSD) controllers, announced on Friday that it has obtained $58 million in a B Round of financing led by Shunwei Capital. Other Investors included Northern Light Venture Capital, Tyche Partners, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Investment and Source Code Capital.

According to TenaFe, the new funds will be invested in four goals. First, in the fourth quarter of 2021, its latest TC2200 SSD controller will be released into the consumer PC OEM market; Second, the firm plans to invest in the development of its next generation consumer and data center application solutions; Third, the company aims to keep stable production capacity and establish its own chip inventory as the world faces massive shortages chip shortage; Finally, the company will expand its team and promote market development.

About Tenafe

Founded in 2019 by Mike Lee Mengkun, a veteran in the storage industry and headquartered in Beijing, Tenafe provides overall solutions for solid-state drive controllers. At present, it has obtained pre-orders from several customers, and its chip products will enter mass production by the end of 2021.

Laxcen Technology Raises $26.58 Million in C Round of Financing

Laxcen Technology Inc. completed of a new round of financing worth 170 million yuan ($26.58 million).

Investors included the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Zhuhai People’s Government, Sharelink Capital, Bowei Investment, Enshe Capital, and others, as well as long-standing shareholder, Envision Capital.

The funds are earmarked for business expansion related to computer chips, the Internet of Things (IoT) and to accelerate the development of the company’s smart-terminal businesses.

The China-Belgium Direct Equity Investment Fund, Cowin Capital, as well as Turbo Capital, invested in Laxcen’s last round of financing.

About Laxcen Technology

Laxcen Technology, founded in 2012, is a provider of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products and solutions for IoT. The company has an elite R&D team, advanced product design and manufacturing capabilities in addition to many global partners and more than 120 patents.

Sinotau Pharmaceutical Group Raises $50 Million for R&D

Sinotau Pharmaceutical Group announced in a document on Thursday that it has completed a D+ round of financing worth 320 million yuan ($50.03 million). This round of financing featured joint investment by China Life Equity Investment Co., Ltd. and Centurium Capital, both of which are new investors. Existing shareholders Tianjin Panya Equity Investment Fund Partnership (L.P.) and DeYi Capital Management Co., Ltd. also contributed. The financing was helped and supported by WinX Capital. The funds will be for the R&D of new clinical radioactive drugs.

Previously, in February 2021, the company completed a D round of financing, which was led by CICC Kai Tak, followed by a series of institutions and the original institutional shareholder, Hetang Venture Capital. In less than one and a half years, the company has amassed financing worth more than 1 billion yuan.

About Sinotau Pharmaceutical Group

Sinotau Pharmaceutical Group was founded in 2005, and focuses on the R&D, production and clinical application of a new generation of radiopharmaceuticals. It is intensively engaged in cultivating the integrated product line of radioactive targeted diagnosis and treatment. 

Headquartered in Beijing, the group has established modern radiopharmaceutical production bases in the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu, Guangdong and Sichuan, as well as branches in the US.

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Autonomous Driving Technology Firm JIMU Intelligent Bags $31 Million in C1 Financing

Chinese autonomous driving solutions provider, JIMU Intelligent, announced on Thursday the completion of its C1 round of financing totaling 200 million yuan ($31.26 million). This round of financing was led by Forebright Capital and SDIC Unity Capital, followed by a group of well-known institutions including AVIC Pingshan, Founder H Fund, MY Tsinghua Capital and UMC Capital.

After the completion of this round of financing, JIMU Intelligent will further increase its R&D investment in autonomous driving, intelligent and connected vehicles, continuously expand its customer base and accelerate the mass production of high-level intelligent driving technology.

About JIMU

According to the company, since its establishment, JIMU Intelligent has been committed to becoming an international intelligent driving technology provider, offering self-developed intelligent driving solutions based on multi-sensor fusion and domain controllers for global OEMs and first-class suppliers.

Xiaomi-backed Smart Home Appliance Maker Dreame Receives $563 Million In Financing

Recently, Chinese smart home-cleaning appliances maker Dreame completed a 3.6 billion yuan ($563 million) Series-C financing led by Huaxing Growth Capital and CPE Yuanfeng. The financing round was also joined by Country Garden Venture Capital, Yunfeng Capital, Stoneylake Asset, Beijing Taikang Asset Management, Skywalker Capital, Harvest Capital Management and Fortune capital. Additional funds were provided by previous shareholders of the company, Shunwei Capital and IDG Capital.

Yu Hao, the founder and CEO of Dreame, said that this round of financing will be used to increase its introduction of cutting-edge R&D talent and the construction of its technical teams. The aim is to encourage innovation and development within the company.

About Dreame

Dreame was founded in 2017. In the past four years, the company has been a global pioneer in core technologies such as high-speed motors and products called SLAM, or “simultaneous localization and mapping.” The company has nearly 1,800 employees, among which the R&D staff accounts for more than 70%. The company’s annual R&D investment currently exceeds 12%.

Software Solutions Firm Clounix Rakes in 400 Million Yuan in Latest Financing Round

Clounix, an enterprise network service provider, announced on Wednesday that it had completed two rounds of financing totaling nearly 400 million yuan ($62.54 million) in just a few months.

Among them, the angel-round of financing was led by Qiming Venture Partners, followed by Inspur. The pre-A round was led by China Internet Investment Fund, and followed by Qianhai Fund of Funds, Sunic Capital, Lingang Science and Technology Ventures, Pudong Science & Technology Investment, Jinshajiang Venture Capital, Living Water Capital and Qiming Venture Partners. Lighthouse Capital is acting as the sole financial adviser.

According to the article, this round of financing will be used to expand the company’s team and accelerate its chip R&D and market investment.

About Clounix

Clounix was established at the end of 2020, focusing on the R&D of world-class, high-performance network chips and solutions, helping Internet companies, medium and large enterprises and operators to build networks and data centers.