5Y News | Cloud Gaming Tech Platform "Nianli Technology" Raises $8 Million in Funding
The first half of the virtual world has only just begun.
Cloud gaming technology platform Niancheng Technology recently raised $8 million in a funding round led by Lilith Games, with existing investor 5Y Capital participating above its pro-rata. Niancheng is also a member of the 2020 cohort of MiraclePlus, led by Dr. Qi Lu, and has received support from multiple multinational executives.
Ziyu Fan
Founder, Niancheng Technology
Q1
Why did you start Niancheng Technology?
Ziyu Fan: Gaming technology has evolved for decades worldwide, and we're approaching a critical inflection point — virtual worlds are about to become visually indistinguishable from the real one. In last year's live-action sci-fi series The Mandalorian, over 50% of scenes were rendered in real time using game engines, saving enormous production costs. The gap between engine-rendered virtual worlds and reality is narrowing to the point of near-invisibility from a visual standpoint. Users may not necessarily want virtual worlds that perfectly mirror reality, but computationally, we can now craft worlds sufficiently detailed and rich. This is a qualitative leap born from quantitative accumulation, and it's technology-driven. While the internet has entered its second half, the first half of the virtual world is just beginning, with many technology-driven opportunities ahead.
Q2
What was your vision for the industry? How much of it has materialized?
Ziyu Fan: Building a sufficiently detailed, rich, and intelligent virtual world requires more than local computing power — cloud-based computation and rendering are essential, making cloud gaming the foundational architecture for future virtual worlds. Over 90% of human information comes through vision. Once we can render worlds indistinguishable from reality through cloud gaming technology, more people will begin questioning the distinction between our perceived reality and virtual worlds — whether our current world might itself be simulated, whether "the cloud" of our universe exists. This could spark genuine philosophical reflection.
But none of this happens overnight. I've been working on cloud gaming since 2015; people have been attempting it for over two decades, with new waves of effort emerging every few years. We're innovating on the shoulders of our predecessors, and this time, firsthand evidence shows we're getting closer to the goal. We hope to honor the efforts of those who came before us.
Yu Cheng
Partner, 5Y Capital
Q1
Why invest in Niancheng Technology?
Yu Cheng: Two years ago, Ziyu's vision aligned with our own — we believed cloud, AI, and related technologies would bring transformative change to the gaming industry, leading us to make an angel investment in Niancheng. Though still early-stage, Ziyu has demonstrated the resilience and leadership we anticipated, finding a like-minded co-founder in CTO Tun Zheng, gaining recognition from more industry partners, and collectively advancing cloud gaming technology while exploring the boundless possibilities of native cloud gaming.
Looking ahead, whether we call it Metaverse or something else, the megatrends of virtualizing reality and making virtual worlds more lifelike are irreversible. As a "vessel" capable of carrying higher-dimensional relationships between people and themselves, people and others, people and machines, and people and the world, gaming itself is expanding in both scope and substance — perhaps becoming the gateway to, or even the embodiment of, virtual worlds. Through this lens, the cloud gaming technology Niancheng is dedicated to could become one of the foundational infrastructures supporting virtual worlds. There's a long road ahead, and we look forward to more surprises from Niancheng.
Founded in 2019, Niancheng Technology's founding team has Google backgrounds. CEO Ziyu Fan was a founding member of Google's cloud gaming team, began working on cloud gaming in 2015, and holds a computer science degree from Cornell University, where he received a full scholarship. CTO Tun Zheng graduated from Tsinghua University's computer science department, is a gold medalist in the National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI), served as technical lead for Remix OS (acquired by Google), and is also an indie game developer.
Cloud gaming refers to running game content on remote servers and delivering visuals to users via video streaming, enabling immersive experiences across diverse devices anytime, anywhere. Users can access high-quality interactive content not just on phones, but on TVs and even automotive screens — with games representing one key application scenario.
Niancheng owns proprietary cloud technology supporting both game cloudification and hybrid cloud solutions. The company is dedicated to building a next-generation cloud gaming platform targeting international markets, creating entirely new interactive experiences.
As transmission capabilities continue improving and more regions enter the 5G era, previously impossible experiences are becoming feasible — such as cloud-based computation, rendering, and generation. GPU computing power will reach 40 teraflops within the coming years, a transformative milestone. A 40T GPU can render people, objects, and scenes indistinguishable from reality while enabling real-time user interaction — one of the most exciting technological shifts for Niancheng.
Ziyu Fan, CEO of Niancheng Technology, stated: "Detailed, rich visuals can help users cross the 'uncanny valley' and develop empathy with virtual worlds, creating significant commercial opportunities. Games a few years from now will no longer fit our current definition of gaming — they'll become virtual worlds capable of transforming entertainment, social interaction, e-commerce, education, and beyond. However, with Moore's Law fading and physical size constraints, local mobile devices are unlikely to reach 40T computing power in the foreseeable future. Cloud gaming is the best path to equip mobile devices with such capability, enabling 'true internet' (metaverse) across any terminal. Niancheng has spent nearly three years on technical accumulation, overcoming operating system-level obstacles. We now possess domestically leading proprietary technology supporting one-click game cloudification, alongside hybrid cloud solutions."
5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately $5 billion across USD and RMB dual-currency funds. We believe the world becomes a better place when the crazy ideas others dismiss begin to be believed.
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