5Y News | 5Y Capital Portfolio Company PhiGent Robotics Closes Tens of Millions of USD in Series A+ Funding
Based on software-hardware co-optimization, we are building 3D intelligent computing for autonomous driving and robotics, enabling intelligent interaction between machines and the physical world.
Recently, autonomous driving solution provider PhiGent Robotics announced the completion of a tens-of-millions-of-dollars Series A+ funding round, led by Xiang He Capital with pro-rata participation from existing investor Zhence Capital in excess of its ownership percentage. The company also announced that Dr. Yi Shan, former AMD Corporate Vice President, has officially joined as co-founder and CEO.
Since its founding, PhiGent Robotics has received continued backing from top-tier investment institutions and strategic industry investors, completing five funding rounds in roughly one year with cumulative financing nearing $100 million. Its investors include Atypical Ventures, Zhence Capital, 5Y Capital, Xiang He Capital, GSR Ventures, Shenzhen Capital Group, and Horizon Robotics. In its next phase, PhiGent Robotics plans to bring in industry investors to accelerate broader commercial deployment, further strengthen industry ecosystem building and partnerships, and push the company's business to new heights.
Liu Kai, Partner at 5Y Capital, said: "PhiGent Robotics is a company with deep technical conviction, eager to change industry dynamics and people's ways of life. For autonomous driving and general robotics, the founding team has unique endgame insights and clever breakthrough strategies that reveal boundless commercial potential. 5Y Capital continuously tracks opportunities for technological transformation and innovation in the market, and believes PhiGent Robotics's core technical capabilities can bring disruptive innovation to the industry."
Founded in August 2021, PhiGent Robotics is a next-generation autonomous driving solution provider centered on 3D visual understanding. The company remains committed to its vision of "building 3D intelligent computing for autonomous driving and robotics through hardware-software co-optimization, enabling intelligent interaction between machines and the physical world," providing OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers with high-performance, cost-effective production-grade autonomous driving solutions.
The company also recently announced that Dr. Yi Shan, former AMD Corporate Vice President, has officially joined as co-founder and CEO. Dr. Shan received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees all from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University, and is among the earliest industry leaders in China to conduct AI chip and algorithm R&D and commercialization.
As former AMD Corporate Vice President and former Xilinx VP of AI R&D, Dr. Shan led his team in creating the AMD (Xilinx) Vitis AI product line, supporting over ten global OEMs and component companies, with extensive experience in advanced driver-assistance systems R&D and customer service. Dr. Shan previously co-founded AI chip company DeePhi Tech, serving as CTO and managing a 100-plus-person R&D team to launch China's first batch of AI chips — Tingtao (28nm). In 2018, DeePhi Tech was acquired by Xilinx, the world's largest FPGA chip manufacturer, for $300 million in cash, becoming the first scaled exit in China's AI sector.
Additionally, Dr. Shan was among Horizon Robotics's first ten employees, and previously worked or interned at Baidu's Institute of Deep Learning, Microsoft Research Asia, and IBM China Research Laboratory. Dr. Shan has received honors including the First Prize for Technical Invention from the China Computer Federation (as first inventor) and the Beijing Outstanding Talent Development Program for Young Core Individuals, and has endowed the Tsinghua University "Meng Zhaoying Chair Professorship Fund" and the "Liu Runsheng Faculty and Student Incentive Fund."
Dr. Yi Shan, Co-founder and CEO of PhiGent Robotics
Dr. Dalong Du, the company's co-founder, said: "We are thrilled to officially announce Dr. Yi's joining. Dr. Yi and I worked closely together at Baidu's Institute of Deep Learning and Horizon Robotics, and have been close friends for nearly a decade. Dr. Yi is a rare entrepreneurial talent, and we share consistent convictions and passion about the long-term prospects of autonomous driving and robotics. I believe his official joining will further accelerate the company's development and propel us toward our next milestone."
Upon officially joining PhiGent Robotics, Dr. Shan will be responsible for strategic planning, financing, and commercialization, dedicating himself fully to company operations and development. Meanwhile, Dr. Dalong Du will serve as co-founder and CTO, overseeing market planning and layout, product R&D management, and forward-looking technology breakthroughs.
Dr. Du graduated from the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is currently a doctoral candidate in engineering at Tsinghua University. He was among Horizon Robotics's first ten employees and served as algorithm director, and was previously an architect at Baidu's Institute of Deep Learning. He was deeply involved in the R&D and scaled deployment of China's first AI chip product, twice received Baidu's highest engineering honor — the "Baidu Million Dollar Award" — and led his team to world-class results at internationally renowned AI competitions including MS COCO, FRVT, and nuScenes.
The company's core team, working in close collaboration, will further drive the scaled deployment of production-grade autonomous driving solutions for leading OEM customers, build a general autonomous driving technology platform, accelerate international cooperation, and comprehensively advance PhiGent Robotics into its "from 1 to N" new journey.
Leveraging its full-stack in-house system development capabilities, PhiGent Robotics has established itself in the China domestic market, achieving rapid deployment of high-end mass-production solutions for premium vehicle models, pioneering a new era of intelligent driving dominated by domestic Chinese solution providers.
With 3D visual understanding at its core and hardware-software co-optimization as its technical approach, PhiGent Robotics conducts forward-looking R&D targeting a series of pain points in autonomous driving solution deployment. From strongly AI data-driven intelligent driving solutions to hardware-software co-optimized products, the company on one hand provides customers with production-grade autonomous driving solutions covering full-stack scenarios from highway to urban areas, and on the other hand provides hardware-software co-optimized AI hardware products — binocular vision radar modules — thereby further enhancing the differentiation and competitiveness of its autonomous driving solutions.
Currently, PhiGent Robotics's core technology R&D strength, mass-production engineering capabilities, and forward-looking commercial layout have been fully validated by the market. Having won active selection from multiple leading automaker customers, the company has rapidly entered the stage of scaled mass-production deployment.
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