January: Arriving at the Realm of Infinity | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
5Y News Monthly
"5Y News Monthly" is a regular column from 5Y Capital. At the beginning of each month, we look back at the past month's news from 5Y and our portfolio companies, sharing it with friends who follow us — we hope it helps you get to know us better.
01 Portfolio Company Highlights
Major news on funding, IPOs, strategic partnerships, breakthroughs, and new product launches from 5Y Capital portfolio companies.
02 5Y Capital Updates
News on 5Y honors, investor interviews, and perspectives.
Note: Companies are listed in alphabetical order by pinyin.
01
Portfolio Company Highlights
XtalPi and Microsoft China Announce Strategic Partnership
In December, XtalPi and Microsoft China signed a strategic cooperation memorandum aimed at leveraging cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), large language models, and robotic laboratories. The two sides will actively explore the transformative applications of these technologies in biomedicine and materials science, opening new chapters in scientific research, education, and innovative applications. In this collaboration, the shared goal is to demonstrate how next-generation computing and automation tools can accelerate innovation in chemistry and materials science — rapidly generating and validating AI-generated molecules that meet necessary property and functional standards, and quickly translating research breakthroughs into competitive products. Read more
Donghu New Technology Zone and Kingsoft Office Sign Strategic Partnership to Build Wuhan AI Industry Hub
On December 19, Kingsoft Office officially launched its government affairs large model in Wuhan. At the launch event, Wuhan Donghu New Technology Zone and Kingsoft Office signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The two sides will work together to promote the deployment of the government affairs large model in Wuhan, accelerating the application of AI in government office operations. Kingsoft Office CEO Qingyuan Zhang said in his remarks: "The government affairs large model we're launching today is the first vertical-domain large model independently developed by Kingsoft Office, marking another solid step forward in our intelligent government office solutions. Going forward, we will continue to increase R&D investment and make Wuhan our most important technology base, helping Hubei Province's AI industry reach new heights."
Kuaishou and Visual China Launch Strategic Partnership on AI Multimodal Large Models
On December 6, Visual China announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Beijing Kuaishou Technology, a leading domestic short-video social platform. The two sides will jointly develop and deploy AI multimodal large models, using technological innovation as a driving force to empower visual content creation and monetization, leading the industry into a new era of intelligence. This strategic partnership will cover multiple dimensions including domestic B2B customer business expansion and overseas B2C customer exploration. In the domestic market, the two sides will leverage Visual China's rich transaction scenarios and customer resources, combined with Kuaishou's image and video generation large model technology, to jointly drive commercial monetization.
PingCAP Partners with Amazon Web Services to Advance Global Database Services
In December, at the 2024 re:Invent global conference, Amazon Web Services announced that PingCAP — developer of the database-as-a-service (DBaaS) product TiDB Cloud — has selected AWS as its preferred cloud service provider. Based on AWS's serverless technology and security philosophy, PingCAP has successfully served global enterprises in financial services, e-commerce, enterprise applications, and gaming. Meanwhile, PingCAP received two honors: AWS Technology Partner of the Year and AWS Marketplace Partner of the Year. This marks the second consecutive year that PingCAP has won AWS annual partner awards, demonstrating its outstanding technical capabilities and professional service excellence in its collaboration with AWS to serve customers, jointly driving global business success. Read more
SenseTime Releases "Jirui" Agricultural Decision-Making Large Model
On November 28, the 21st China International Agricultural Trade Fair was held in Guangzhou. Under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Commission, SenseTime and China Telecom Shanghai Branch jointly hosted a session on "New Quality Productive Forces Empowering Modern Agricultural Innovation and Development — AI and Blockchain Technology Integration and Development Sharing Conference." At the event, SenseTime made a major announcement: the Jirui agricultural decision-making large model for the AI 2.0 era, along with the Jirui Large Model · Smart Farm Solution based on it. The release of the Jirui Large Model · Smart Farm Solution marks the formation of SenseTime's smart agriculture capabilities based on two foundational models — SenseTime's "Dijie" remote sensing large model and the "Jirui" agricultural decision-making large model — building intelligent agricultural applications serving government agricultural supervision, open-field crop cultivation, greenhouse cultivation, farmland use regulation, and agricultural finance. Read more
Signet Therapeutics Raises Over 70 Million RMB in Pre-A Round and Project Funding, Accelerating Organoid+AI-Driven Innovative Cancer Drug R&D
In December, Signet Therapeutics (Shenzhen) announced that it has secured over 70 million RMB in Pre-A round financing and project funding. The proceeds will support Phase I clinical trials for its lead pipeline candidate SIGX1094 and accelerate the IND filing process for its second pipeline candidate. Additionally, the company will further optimize and upgrade its organoid disease model platform to empower broader new drug development needs. The company's Series A financing is currently underway, with Riemann Hypothesis serving as exclusive financial advisor. Read more
Pony.ai and GAC Aion Reach Strategic Partnership, Planning to Deploy 1,000 Robotaxi Units in 2025
On December 11, GAC Aion and Pony.ai held a Robotaxi strategic partnership signing ceremony at GAC Group's Panyu headquarters. Under the agreement, the two sides will further collaborate to develop commercially competitive mass-production Robotaxi models, jointly promoting the commercialization of fully unmanned Robotaxi at scale. Pony.ai co-founder and CEO Jun Peng said: "Our partnership with GAC Aion is an important step in Pony.ai's continued push for large-scale mass production and commercialization of Robotaxi. 'Fundamentally transforming the future of transportation' has been Pony.ai's unwavering mission from the start. We hope that through our joint efforts, the future mobility products we create together will bring users a safe, comfortable, and convenient travel experience." Read more
Xpeng Motors Becomes First Pure EV New Force Automaker to Reach 10,000 Deliveries in Europe, Accelerating Global Expansion
As of November 2024, Xpeng Motors ranked first among Chinese brands in Europe for sales of premium pure electric vehicles (priced above €40,000), achieving multi-fold growth and completing its delivery milestone from zero to 10,000 units with unstoppable momentum. Xpeng Motors thus became the first Chinese pure EV new force automaker to reach 10,000 deliveries in Europe. To accelerate its globalization efforts, Xpeng Motors unveiled its "Global Expansion 2.0" plan at the Paris Motor Show, with projections to enter over 60 countries and regions worldwide by the end of 2025. Read more
Galaxy Space Successfully Launches Four SAR Satellites in Early Morning, Leading Domestic Satellite Batch Production
In the early hours of December 17, a Long March 2D carrier rocket carrying the PIESAT-2 09 to 12 satellites from PIESAT pierced the night sky in a spectacular "one rocket, four satellites" launch, successfully delivering the satellites into their designated orbits. These four SAR satellites were developed by Galaxy Space, equipped with high-resolution SAR payloads and other advanced onboard instruments, possessing multiple exceptional capabilities. Duan Xiao, chief designer of Galaxy Space's SAR satellites, noted that SAR satellites offer significant advantages in all-weather, all-time, high-resolution Earth observation. Through networking multiple SAR satellites, high-frequency global observation and high-resolution imaging can be achieved, providing powerful support for land resource management, earthquake monitoring, disaster prevention and mitigation, and other fields. Read more
02
5Y Capital Updates
AI Entrepreneurship Goes Global: Open Source, Opportunities, and Challenges
| 5Y Tavern Vol.23 [Podcast]
In this episode of 5Y Tavern, two rising AI founders — Luyu Zhang of Dify.AI and Dayong Li of ChatTTS — share their entrepreneurial journeys and industry insights. They discuss how a new generation of AI entrepreneurs can find opportunities in open source and globalization, and how they navigate the challenges of building a startup. We hope their experiences offer some inspiration for you too :) Read more
Finding Entrepreneurs for the Tech Innovation 2.0 Era
| 2024 5Y Capital USD Fund Partner Meeting Recap
In November 2024, the 5Y Capital USD Fund Partner Meeting was held in Shenzhen, where Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, shared his observations on the current landscape. He highlighted new structural opportunities in China today — the positive changes emerging within the broader economic picture. At the event, entrepreneurs from various fields shared their startup experiences. 5Y Capital partner Zhang Fei held a dialogue with unicorn companies in the large AI model space; several founders in AI infrastructure and applications shared their respective experiences and insights; emerging entrepreneurs from the life sciences field offered their perspectives; and robotics founders discussed their experiences and lessons from taking technology overseas. Two founders whose companies went public in 2024 — Kai Yu, founder of Horizon Robotics, and Shuhao Wen, founder of XtalPi — also shared their outlook and observations as they embark on new chapters. Read more
Reflections on Taking Software Companies Global: From 0 to 1
| 5Y Tavern Vol.24 x Dongxu Huang, PingCAP
This episode draws from a recent closed-door event organized by 5Y Capital, where Dongxu Huang, co-founder and CTO of PingCAP, shared his experience in taking software companies international from 0 to 1. Over three hours of presentation and discussion, Huang detailed in depth the challenges encountered, pitfalls navigated, and methodologies developed since PingCAP began expanding overseas in 2017. We've excerpted select content — these experiences represent PingCAP's particular path, and while every company's journey differs and these lessons may not suit all entrepreneurs, they may offer some food for thought. Read more
Forbes China Releases 2024 Midas List, Five 5Y Capital Partners Honored
On December 10, Forbes China released its 2024 Midas List of top 100 venture capitalists. This year marks Forbes China's 18th consecutive year of independent research on active venture investors in mainland China, identifying 100 investors with strong track records over the past five years from nearly 1,000 nominees recommended by hundreds of VC firms. 5Y Capital founding partners Qin Liu and Jianming Shi, and partners Zhang Fei, Ye Yuan, and Kai Liu were named to the list. Among them, Qin Liu ranked #2, while Ye Yuan and Kai Liu were highlighted as notable post-85-generation investors to watch. Read more
5Y Capital Wins Multiple Awards from ChinaVenture
For 18 consecutive years, ChinaVenture has published its China Venture Capital and Private Equity Investment rankings — the "ChinaVenture List" — as an independent third-party organization. Drawing on CVSource data and surveys of over 1,000 active PE/VC investment institutions, ChinaVenture released its 2024 Best Venture Capitalists in China list on December 31, 2024. 5Y Capital founding partner Qin Liu and 5Y Capital partner Zhang Fei were named to the "ChinaVenture 2024 Best Venture Capitalists in China TOP3" and "ChinaVenture 2024 Best Digitalization and Informatization Industry Investors TOP20," while 5Y Capital partner Zhang Fei also made the "ChinaVenture 2024 Best Venture Capitalists in China TOP100" and "ChinaVenture 2024 Best AI and Big Data Industry Investors TOP20."Read more
5Y Capital Named to Zero2IPO's
"2024 China Venture Capital Institutions TOP20"
On December 11, Zero2IPO released its 2024 China Equity Investment Annual Rankings. Since 2001, Zero2IPO has published these annual rankings for 24 consecutive years, adhering to rigorous research methodology and impartial evaluation criteria to provide a robust benchmarking system for China's equity investment industry. 5Y Capital was named to the "2024 China Venture Capital Institutions TOP20."Read more
Jiemian Releases 2024 China Top Venture Capitalists List, 5Y Capital's Qin Liu and Yuan Ye Honored
On December 4, 2024, Jiemian News released its "China Top Venture Capitalists" list for the eighth time. The ranking evaluates active venture capitalists based on their new investments and exits over the past three years, considering their performance as well as the stage, level of involvement, and contribution in each deal to select 50 top venture capitalists of the year. On this year's list, 5Y Capital founding partner Qin Liu ranked second.
Jiemian Releases 2024 China Top Venture Capital Institutions List, 5Y Capital Ranks Fourth
On December 26, Jiemian News published its "China Top Venture Capital Institutions" list for the eighth time. The series aims to provide entrepreneurs, FOFs, and LPs with an accurate picture of the venture capital industry. As China's innovation and entrepreneurship enter a more advanced stage, with emerging models and shifting opportunities, this survey seeks to identify the investors and institutions best at seizing opportunities amid economic change, demonstrating the deepest insight and leadership in innovative sectors, and providing the most meaningful support to entrepreneurs. 5Y Capital was named to the "China Top Venture Capital Institutions" list, ranking fourth.
5Y Capital Named to "2024 Best VC Funds TOP50" List
On December 9, the China FOF Research Center unveiled its 2024 annual rankings. For the equity investment industry, 2024 was another year of deepening adjustment, with both opportunities and challenges. Under these new conditions, the industry is reshaping its landscape. Against this backdrop, the China FOF Research Center formally released its 2024 annual list based on existing data and research analysis, recognizing outstanding institutions and talent in the private equity fund of funds and fund industries to promote healthy industry development. 5Y Capital was named to the "2024 Best VC Funds TOP50" list.Read more
5Y Capital Wins Multiple Awards from TMTpost
On December 31, 2024, TMTpost Venture Capital released its full 2024 Investment Institution Pioneer List, with numerous outstanding institutions standing out for their persistence in innovation amid adversity and their exceptional performance in leading industry development. 5Y Capital was named to the "2024 Investment Pioneer List — Investment Pioneers TOP20," "2024 Investment Pioneer List — Exit Pioneers TOP20," "2024 Investment Pioneer List — AGI Application Scenarios TOP20," and "2024 Investment Pioneer List — Advanced Manufacturing TOP20."Read more
5Y Capital Wins Multiple Awards from Lieyunwang
On December 16, Lieyunwang's "Salute to Innovative Forces" 2024 Annual Venture Capital List was officially announced. Looking back at 2024's dynamic landscape, Lieyunwang — an observer and chronicler of the venture capital industry — partnered with its "SuperEV Lab" focused on new energy and intelligent vehicles to summarize the year's achievements through 12 lists covering products, companies, individuals, and investment institutions. Among the honors, 5Y Capital was named to the "2024 Most Influential Investment Institution" list, and 5Y Capital founding partner Qin Liu was named to the "2024 Most Influential Investor" list.Read more
5Y Capital Wins Multiple Awards from Yicai
On December 31, Yicai released its 2024 Future Industry Investment Institution rankings. The list was compiled based on a comprehensive assessment of participating institutions' investment direction in future industries, investment rounds, post-investment valuation changes, and corporate governance participation between October 2023 and November 2024, using a combination of questionnaire surveys and follow-up interviews.5Y Capital was named to the "2024 Best Investment Institutions TOP50" and "2024 Outstanding AI Investment Institutions TOP15."Read more
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