5Y News | XKool Technology Closes Tens of Millions of Dollars in New Funding Round

Xiaoku Technology, a leading company applying AI to the construction industry, recently completed a new funding round of tens of millions of dollars. The round was co-led by SIG (Susquehanna International Group) and 5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Ventures), with follow-on investments from existing shareholders Jiayu Capital and Oriental Fortune Capital.

Liu Kai, partner at 5Y Capital, commented: "Real estate is a trillion-dollar industry in China and a pillar of the economy, yet it has long lagged in digitalization. Xiaoku has innovatively transformed traditional on-premise design software into a SaaS model, combining it with AI-assisted design capabilities to dramatically improve efficiency in architectural design and fundamentally change how architects work. We strongly share the Xiaoku team's vision and hope the company will become a leader in the next generation of design software."

He Wanyu

Founder & CEO, Xiaoku Technology

Q1

What was your original motivation for starting this company?

He Wanyu: To bring intelligence to architecture, a traditional industry.

I've been researching the intersection of architecture and computing since the mid-2000s, and spent the following decade practicing architectural design and construction. So I have firsthand experience with the pain points industry professionals face, and I've increasingly seen the limitations the entire field confronts. But I believe that when new technological waves arrive, the architectural design industry will inevitably undergo transformation. Many people understand that relying solely on traditional methods cannot truly revolutionize this industry. So what we're doing is an extremely pioneering and creative endeavor. We're willing to leave everything behind, commit without hesitation, and devote ourselves fully to using new technology to help the construction industry upgrade and transform.

Q2

What experience has influenced your life the most, and how?

He Wanyu: During my studies and work in the Netherlands, "Projective Theory" had a profound impact on my foundational thinking. It helped me deeply understand that architecture isn't merely what the eye sees — it's a design mindset. Just as "architecture" in computing means "structure," creation and innovation must return to the essence of things to analyze problems, find independent perspectives to imagine possible futures, then consider the gaps between such futures and the present, and finally realize each essential element in stages through "design," step by step reaching that future.

Q3

You're also a science fiction author, and many inventions originate from sci-fi. What invention do you most hope to see become reality in your lifetime?

He Wanyu: I hope to see humanity build homes on alien planets. I've written hard science fiction in this vein, imagining a day when we can use technology to create habitable environments under different gravitational conditions. What separates us from the stars isn't just propulsion to cross distances, but also spaces that meet human survival needs. I hope artificial intelligence can help us realize the design and construction of space architecture, so that in the vast universe beyond Earth, there too can shine "buildings" that are crystallizations of human wisdom.

Following this funding round, Xiaoku Technology will continue investing in R&D for its proprietary next-generation architectural digital language — the ABC Smart Cloud Model (AI-driven BIM on cloud) and its intelligent architectural design engine, along with related products. The company will also strengthen marketing and product operations to provide better service and support for different customer segments and users. Through exploring AI applications across various real estate and construction scenarios and optimizing services, Xiaoku aims to improve collaboration efficiency across the construction industry value chain, enable architects and planners to unleash greater creative value, and explore more possible paths to building intelligence with AI assistance.

Xiaoku Technology's founding team combines architectural design industry elites with Google AI talent. Founder and CEO He Wanyu is a former OMA project architect, a graduate of the Berlage Institute at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and a science fiction writer. For over a decade she has engaged in cross-disciplinary research and practice at the intersection of architecture and computing, developing deep understanding of industry pain points while also recognizing its limitations. "Relying solely on traditional methods cannot truly revolutionize this industry, so what we're doing is an extremely pioneering and creative endeavor."

Since its founding in 2016, Xiaoku Technology has combined artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing with the full process of architectural practice to develop the new ABC (AI-BIM-Cloud) architectural digital language format — an AI-driven cloud-based building information model. Unlike traditional design tools CAD and BIM, which are graphics-driven, the ABC format is data-driven. Under the ABC model, design solutions are no longer drawn and modeled stroke by stroke by humans; instead, they are automatically generated by Xiaoku's proprietary intelligent design engine through streamlined human-machine interaction. The resulting outputs achieve integration of "data-model-rules," intelligently and dynamically linking architectural drawings, data information, and rule logic.

Xiaoku's proprietary ABC architectural digital language format

In 2017, Xiaoku Intelligence launched its intelligent design SaaS tool for architects — the "Xiaoku Intelligent Architectural Design Cloud Platform." Through over three years of continuous iteration and upgrades, the Xiaoku team restructured traditional architectural design workflows and interactions, dramatically improving efficiency and quality in the architectural design process. A typical preliminary scheme previously required roughly 24 steps, with architects needing to switch among more than ten different software applications. The Xiaoku Intelligent Design Cloud Platform integrated and upgraded six core steps — research, creation, modification, verification, collaboration, and output — ultimately simplifying 75% of the workflow. Leveraging AI and cloud computing capabilities, a residential planning and design task that originally required 240 hours can now be completed on its platform in just 2.4 hours, a 99% time reduction. More importantly, it provides architects with more scheme possibilities that meet regulatory requirements, as well as more accurate project data analysis, helping architects enhance the perceivable value of their designs.

Demonstration of Xiaoku Intelligent Design Cloud Platform features

To better serve its growing real estate clientele and address client needs in land acquisition and design digitization, Xiaoku Technology announced the establishment of Koolx, its real estate division, at its July 2020 product launch. Based on the ABC architectural design format, Koolx provides one-stop solutions for real estate developers across the full cycle — from "pre-investment" stages including land evaluation, positioning, massing, financial modeling, and investment decision-making, through subsequent "post-investment" design phases. For land acquisition and positioning, Xiaoku co-developed the RuiKu Intelligent Investment & Layout System with CRIC to address developers' questions of "where to acquire land — which plots to invest in — what acquisition strategy to employ." For positioning, massing, and financial modeling, Koolx builds feasibility study and intelligent review platforms for developers, centralizing intelligent design scheme review and management to effectively improve communication efficiency and developers' execution capabilities. Meanwhile, relying on the Xiaoku Intelligent Planning Cloud Platform and collaborating with AI design experts, it provides developers with intelligent design consulting services with turnaround times of 1–36 hours, helping developers rapidly lock in target plots during the land acquisition and design phase and maximize land value.

Koolx collaboration case illustration

Beyond enterprise clients, Xiaoku Technology is also building a lightweight AI architectural design assistant toolkit accessible to individual users: Xiaoku Toolkit, along with a series of mini-tools including intelligent color master plans, intelligent parking garages, site evaluation, and more. Leveraging artificial intelligence and big data technology to help designers solve non-creative problems in the design process, these tools can be called upon at any point during a project to assist in rapid expression of design intent, returning project value to design itself.

Xiaoku Toolkit one-click generation of color site master plans

As it puts into practice its logic of "dotting, chaining, and networking," Xiaoku Technology is steadily evolving toward higher dimensions. Through the intelligent revolution of design — the foundational language of the construction industry — by continuously iterating products, upgrading services, and exploring new collaboration models with upstream and downstream industry partners, the intelligent vision of the construction industry that Xiaoku Technology is building is gradually becoming reality.

5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Ventures) currently manages approximately three billion dollars across USD and RMB dual-currency funds. We believe the world would be a better place if the crazy you that others see starts to be believed.

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