China VC Weekly: Semiconductors, Auto Solutions and More
In last week’s China VC news, newly founded semiconductor maker Moore Threads raked in a mind-boggling pre-A round just 100 days after its founding, Geely-backed ECARX raised $200 million for global expansion and Shanghai-based Ocean Link secured commitments for a new travel and consumer tech-focused fund.
Semiconductor firm Moore Threads raises “several” billion yuan mere 100 days after founding
Semiconductor manufacturer Moore Threads closed two financing rounds amounting to “several” billion yuan just 100 days after its founding, Winsoul Capital, the dealmaker handling the pre-Series A round disclosed on its official WeChat account on Thursday.
Sequoia China Capital, GGV Capital and Shenzhen Capital Group served as lead investors and took the firm’s valuation into unicorn territory. China Merchants Venture, 5Y Capital, ByteDance, and autonomous driving company Pony.ai also participated in the round.
The company is currently in the process of hiring engineers for its offices in Beijing and Shanghai.
About Moore Threads
Founded in October 2020, Moore Threads focuses on providing GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) technology and services to corporate clients in a wide variety of sectors such as gaming, the creative industry, and artificial intelligence.
Intelligent auto solutions developer ECARX bags over $200 million in Series A+ round
An intelligent auto solutions provider backed by car giant Geely, ECARX has raised over $200 million in its Series A+ round of financing led by state-owned China Venture Capital Fund.
In an official statement, the startup announced it is preparing for an all-around business expansion into the international market. The company seeks to build a cross-regional team collaboration framework, create an internationalized industry system, and forge cooperation with mainstream auto companies worldwide.
After the latest round, the company is valued at $2 billion. The startup had reached a $1.5 billion valuation only four months ago. The previous round was led by Chinese internet search giant Baidu, with participation from investment firm SIG China.
SEE ALSO: Geely Teams Up with Tencent to Develop Self-Driving, Smart Car Technologies
The startup recently set up its European headquarters and product R&D center in Gothenburg, Sweden, in December 2020, to reinforce its global presence.
About ECARX
Established in 2016 by Geely founder Li Shufu and Chinese entrepreneur Shen Ziyu, ECARX is an independently-operated developer of products like vehicle chipsets, intelligent cockpits, intelligent driving solutions, high-definition maps, big data, and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) cloud.
PE firm Ocean Link raises new fund for projects in tourism and consumer tech
Shanghai-based private equity firm Ocean Link has raised $580 million for its second fund, which is aimed at projects in the tourism and consumer technology sectors, Asia Venture Capital Journal (AVCJ) reported on Wednesday.
The firm expects to take its aggregate capital deployment size to $1.4 billion, according to the report.
Ocean Link, an investor in Chinese classifieds marketplace 58.com Inc and online travel agency Tongcheng-Elong, primarily invests in China’s consumer, travel, as well as technology, media, and telecom sectors.
About Ocean Link
Ocean Link was founded in early 2016 with capital injections from Chinese online travel giant Trip.com and US equity firm General Atlantic.
