November: Foresight and Boundless Imagination | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
5Y News Monthly
"5Y News Monthly" is a regular column from 5Y Capital. At the start of each month, we look back at news from the past month about 5Y Capital itself 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 about funding rounds, IPOs, strategic partnerships, breakthroughs, and new product launches from 5Y Capital's portfolio companies.
02 5Y Capital News
Honors, investor interviews, and thought leadership from 5Y Capital.
Note: Companies are listed in alphabetical order by pinyin.
01
Portfolio Company Highlights
ClickPaaS Closes Tens of Millions of Dollars in Series B+ Funding
ClickPaaS, a leading Chinese low-code development platform, announced in October that it raised tens of millions of dollars in Series B+ funding. The round was led by HSG, with continued follow-on investment from existing shareholders BAI Capital, SIG Asia Investments, Future Capital, and 5Y Capital. Silver Oak Capital served as financial advisor. The proceeds will be used for ongoing product R&D and ecosystem development. Read more
Horizon Robotics and SAIC Z-ONE Enter Strategic Partnership
On October 25, Horizon Robotics and SAIC Z-ONE formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The two parties will collaborate deeply on in-vehicle chips and vehicle operating systems around Z-ONE's "Galaxy Full Stack 3.0" intelligent vehicle cloud-integrated solution, jointly exploring next-generation automotive digital architecture and intelligent driving computing platform solutions. Read more
Jizhi Robotics Completes Tens of Millions of Dollars in Funding
Beijing Jizhi Robotics Technology Co., Ltd. completed tens of millions of dollars in angel and Pre-A funding within two months of its founding. The angel round was led by Atypical Ventures, with strategic investment from Horizon Robotics and follow-on from GSR Ventures. The Pre-A round was led by 5Y Capital, with all existing shareholders continuing to increase their stakes. Read more
XtalPi Partners with Jingxin Pharmaceutical
Jingxin Pharmaceutical recently announced a project collaboration with XtalPi, an AI drug discovery company, to jointly advance small-molecule antidepressant drug R&D. In this partnership, the two parties will apply AI technology to the design, optimization, and validation of preclinical drug candidates around proprietary antidepressant small molecules, accelerating the development of urgently needed therapeutics for depression patients. Read more
MatrixOrigin Completes Tens of Millions of Dollars in Funding
MatrixOrigin announced in October that it completed tens of millions of dollars in angel+ funding, led by Eastern Bell Capital with follow-on from 5Y Capital, K2VC, and Cornerstone Capital. The entire proceeds will be used for R&D of MatrixOne, its next-generation multi-engine converged heterogeneous database, and for building its open-source community, as well as further developing its global R&D team. Read more
Kuaishou and NBA Enter Strategic Partnership
On October 18, Kuaishou and NBA China held a strategic partnership launch event in Beijing, announcing a multi-year strategic partnership effective immediately. Kuaishou will become NBA China's first content remix media partner, as well as NBA's official short-video platform and NBA video content creation community. Read more
Moore Threads and Kylinsoft Launch Comprehensive Ecosystem Partnership
In October, Moore Threads and Kylinsoft announced an ecosystem partnership. The two parties will take a long-term product planning view, engaging in deep product R&D and technical collaboration to jointly build a "perfect experience system" based on China's independent innovation technologies — with particular emphasis on foundational software-hardware adaptation and optimization, system integration, and solution partnerships. Areas of collaboration include but are not limited to operating systems, driver software, cloud computing, virtualization, edge computing, machine learning, image and video optimization, as well as verticals including finance, energy, education, industry, smart cities, and smart healthcare. Read more
SenseTime and State Grid Integrated Energy Services Group Enter Strategic Partnership
SenseTime and State Grid Integrated Energy Services Group recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Through this partnership, SenseTime will support State Grid Corporation of China's "multi-station integration" digital initiative with its original AI technology, enabling digital transformation across scenarios including zero-carbon data centers, power generation, and grid operations for State Grid Integrated Energy Services Group. The two parties will jointly participate in building zero-carbon data centers, consolidating and organizing carbon emission data from energy development and operations scenarios, accelerating efficient and precise coordination for energy conservation and emissions reduction. Read more
Agora x 5Y Capital: RTE2021 Innovation Challenge Concludes Successfully
The real-time internet innovation challenge co-hosted by Agora and 5Y Capital concluded successfully on October 23 during the RTE2021 Real-Time Internet Conference. Ten competing teams from areas including virtual idols, social, bionic hearing, AI technology platforms, and optical AR competed fiercely. The final top three of the second RTE Innovation Challenge were: "Qishuier," a voice community for young people; "venue.live," an enterprise meeting livestream platform; "Chuanghuan Technology," a full-stack virtual human operator; and "Lingxi Micro Light," an AR underlying optical display technology company (tied for third). Read more
Hourstec Closes Nearly Ten Million Dollars in Funding
Hourstec, a company targeting AI decision-making platforms for pharmaceutical industry scenarios, recently announced the completion of nearly ten million dollars in Pre-A funding, co-led by 5Y Capital and Matrix Partners China, with follow-on from existing shareholder Linear Capital. The funding will be used to expand its industry-leading advantage in AI automated synthesis platforms. According to sources, Hourstec has completed three funding rounds within one year. Read more
Xigema Biotech Closes Nearly Ten Million Dollars in Funding
Xigema Biotech (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., a disease model-based innovative targeted cancer drug R&D company, announced the completion of nearly ten million dollars in angel+ funding. The round was led by 5Y Capital, with follow-on from Yayi Capital and Blue Ocean Capital, and continued investment from existing shareholders Tiantu Capital and Sky9 Capital. The proceeds will be used to accelerate two innovative targeted drug pipelines toward clinical trials, while expanding its disease model platform and applications. Read more
Pony.ai Approved for Driverless Autonomous Vehicle Testing in Beijing
On October 15, Pony.ai received one of the first permits for driverless road testing in Beijing's "Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone," officially beginning autonomous driving tests without a safety driver in the main driver's seat. This year, Pony.ai has achieved numerous breakthroughs in driverless autonomous driving technology, rapidly obtaining driverless testing licenses or permits in California, Guangzhou, and Beijing within five months — another milestone in its push toward driverless, large-scale deployment of autonomous driving technology. Read more
Xpeng Motors Connects Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway Charging Routes
On October 28, Xpeng Motors announced that it had connected the Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau expressway charging routes using 30 supercharging stations at highway service areas and within 5 kilometers of highway exits. We also became the first domestic automaker to span 3,500+ kilometers, creating a "range anxiety-free" charging route for our users. On the same day, our first energy storage charging station landed in Handan, Hebei, becoming a new scenario to support users' long-distance travel charging needs. As of end-September, Xpeng Motors had 439 brand supercharging stations nationwide and 1,648 quality free charging stations covering 221 cities. Read more
Xpeng Aeroht Completes Over $500 Million Series A Funding
On October 19, Xpeng Aeroht, an Xpeng Motors ecosystem company, announced the completion of over $500 million in Series A funding at a pre-money valuation exceeding $1 billion. The round was led by IDG Capital, 5Y Capital, and Xpeng Motors, with follow-on from HSG, Eastern Bell Capital, GGV Capital, Hillhouse, and Yunfeng Capital. According to public information, this is the largest single funding round to date for a low-altitude manned aircraft company in Asia. Read more
Ailurus Biotechnology Completes Angel Funding
Ailurus Biotechnology (Shenzhen Xunzhu Biotechnology Co., Ltd., English name "Ailurus Biotechnology"), an IT-ized synthetic biology platform company, announced in October that it completed tens of millions of RMB in angel funding. The round was led by Zhilin Capital, with follow-on from 5Y Capital and previous investor MiraclePlus. The proceeds will be used for operations of Ailurus Biotechnology's Ailurus vec™ platform, launch of new platforms, and industry ecosystem development. Read more
5Y Capital News
Qin Liu: The White Dove and Menlo Park — Genius Inventors and Technology Entrepreneurs
During the 21st China Equity Investment Annual Forum hosted by Zero2IPO and PEDaily in October, Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, delivered a speech titled "The White Dove and Menlo Park — Genius Inventors and Technology Entrepreneurs." The speech centered on two stories relevant to entrepreneurs. On one side, the white dove; on the other, Menlo Park. On one side, challenging the boundaries of human intelligence; on the other, exploring the possibilities of human collaboration. On one side, technology; on the other, business. We've selected excerpts from the speech, hoping they inspire you :) Read more
5Y Capital Wins Multiple Annual Awards from Zero2IPO
Zero2IPO announced its 2021 China Equity Investment Annual Rankings on October 22. This marks the 21st consecutive year that Zero2IPO Research has published these rankings since 2001. 5Y Capital has appeared on the list for multiple consecutive years, and this year once again received multiple honors: "2021 China Venture Capital Firm TOP4," "2021 China Consumer Sector Investment Firm Top 30," and "2021 China AI Sector Investment Firm Top 20." Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, was named to "2021 China Top 10 Venture Capitalists." Read more
Qin Liu Named to "2021 China's 30 Most Influential Investors"
Fortune China, in partnership with Zero2IPO Research, announced the "China's 30 Most Influential Investors" list, with Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, making the ranking. This marks the seventh consecutive year that Qin Liu has appeared on this list since Fortune China began publishing it in 2015.
The list is compiled annually based on comprehensive criteria including the candidate's institution type, assets under management, number and scale of portfolio companies, exit returns, portfolio company market capitalization, and overall market influence, ultimately selecting the 30 most influential investors in China's VC/PE market. Read more
5Y Capital Partner Liu Kai Named to PEDaily 2021 "F40 Young Chinese Investors" List
PEDaily, the venture capital and investment portal under Zero2IPO, announced its 2021 "F40 Young Chinese Investors" list in October. This marks the fourth year that PEDaily has published this list, where F stands for Fancy, representing boundless imagination, and Future, representing forward-looking vision. Liu Kai, partner at 5Y Capital, made the list. Read more
5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately RMB 32 billion in USD and RMB dual-currency funds. 5Y Capital seeks out, supports, and inspires lone entrepreneurs, providing them with support from the spiritual to all operational aspects. We believe that if the you whom others see as crazy begins to be believed in, the world will become a different place.
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