The past has become the future, the future has become the past, and both have become the present | 5Y News Monthly
What major events happened 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 Capital 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 Updates
News about awards, investor interviews, and thought leadership.
Note: Companies are listed in alphabetical order by pinyin.
01
Portfolio Company Highlights
Benmo Technology Closes Pre-A Round of Tens of Millions of RMB
Benmo Technology, a specialist in direct-drive precision motion solutions, recently announced the completion of a Pre-A round of tens of millions of RMB, valuing the company at several hundred million RMB. The round was led by 5Y Capital, with existing investors MiraclePlus and Damo Venture Capital participating. Following this round, Benmo Technology will continue to focus on providing direct-drive precision motion solutions that can directly replace various types of reducers, recruit more talent, and deepen its expansion into the direct-drive precision motion industry. Read more
Souche Partners with Sinopec, First Location Opens in Guizhou
Souche announced a partnership with Sinopec to jointly build the Easy Joy & Souche Direct Auto Purchase Factory Store chain service brand. The first offline store has already begun operations at a gas station in Bijie's southern new district in Guizhou. Both parties stated that this cooperation model will gradually roll out across Sinopec's network of over 20,000 gas stations nationwide.
Horizon Robotics Deepens Partnership with Baidu PaddlePaddle
In May, Horizon Robotics and Baidu PaddlePaddle reached a deep partnership, with full support for PaddlePaddle framework model conversion on Horizon's self-developed Journey 3/Sunrise 3 series chip platforms. This means that developers on Horizon's chips can now use the rich model library on the PaddlePaddle platform, while PaddlePaddle developers gain access to a powerful new compute platform. Read more
BestSign and Yaoyanshe Form Strategic Partnership
BestSign announced a strategic partnership with Yaoyanshe, through which both parties will focus on signing scenarios in clinical drug trials, using electronic signatures to improve trial efficiency and accelerate the drug development process. This strategic partnership means that electronic signature technology will now be fully applied throughout the clinical drug trial process. Read more
Huoban Cloud Raises $17 Million in Series B
On May 6, Huoban Cloud, a leading enterprise-grade no-code application platform in China, officially announced the completion of a $17 million Series B round. The round was co-led by top-tier investors 5Y Capital and HSG, with Challenjers Venture Capital participating. This marks the second consecutive time that 5Y Capital and HSG have led a round in Huoban Cloud, following the company's Series A. Read more
Kuaishou Becomes Licensed Tokyo Olympics Broadcaster
On May 21, Kuaishou announced that it had signed an authorized cooperation agreement with China Media Group, obtaining video-on-demand and short-video rights for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, officially becoming a licensed broadcaster for both Games. This makes Kuaishou the first short-video and live-streaming platform globally to obtain Olympic broadcasting rights. Read more
Nianli Technology Raises $8 Million
Cloud gaming technology platform "Nianli Technology" completed an $8 million funding round in May 2021, led by Lilith Games, with existing investor 5Y Capital making an outsized follow-on investment. Nianli Technology has proprietary cloud technology supporting game cloudification and hybrid cloud solutions, and is committed to building a next-generation cloud gaming platform for international markets, creating entirely new interactive experiences. Read more
SenseTime and Haijieya Sign Cooperation Agreement
AI platform company SenseTime and Haijieya (Beijing) Medical Devices Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Both parties will jointly explore applications of AI technology in minimally invasive tumor treatment, building a new generation of integrated hardware-software intelligent minimally invasive tumor treatment platforms. The partnership will fully leverage Haijieya's original hardware R&D strengths and SenseTime's original AI technology advantages to achieve high-quality ablation procedures, empowering the minimally invasive treatment industry through "AI + tumor treatment" intelligent innovation. Read more
Agora Partners with HTC
Agora (NASDAQ: API), a pioneer and leader in global real-time engagement cloud services, announced a partnership with HTC. As part of the HTC VIVE® Independent Software Vendor (ISV) program, this collaboration will accelerate innovation in VR technology for real-time interactive applications. The ISV partner program helps developers create applications and platforms within HTC VIVE's VR and XR ecosystem, with seamless integration of Agora's real-time audio and video, real-time messaging, and interactive live streaming technologies. Read more
UMU Closes Nine-Figure RMB C2 Round
In May, UMU, an enterprise interactive learning platform, announced the completion of a nine-figure RMB C2 round, with investment from 5Y Capital. In less than a year, UMU has received investments from Gaocheng Capital, Hillhouse, Tencent, and other institutions, completing its Series B, B+, C, and C+ rounds. This round's proceeds will continue to be used for talent recruitment. Read more
Pony.ai Unveils Integrated Autonomous Driving System
On May 10, Pony.ai and Luminar, a leading lidar company, jointly unveiled a new autonomous driving system. The system uses a 360-degree omnidirectional multi-sensor fusion solution, enabling safer and more reliable operation in complex urban road conditions. Based on this newly released system platform, Pony.ai plans to mass-produce automotive-grade autonomous driving systems in 2023, equipped with automotive-grade sensor solutions featuring Luminar's Iris lidar. This also marks Luminar's first strategic partnership with an autonomous driving company in China. Read more
5Y Capital Updates
Qin Liu, Fei Zhang, and Ye Yuan of 5Y Capital Named to 2021 PEDaily TOP100 Investors List
On May 20, the 2021 PEDaily TOP100 Investors list was officially unveiled. The list is jointly presented by PEDaily, the venture capital and investment portal under Zero2IPO, with data support from Zero2IPO's PEdata platform. Qin Liu, Founding Partner of 5Y Capital; Fei Zhang, Partner of 5Y Capital; and Ye Yuan, Partner of 5Y Capital, were all named to the list.
Additionally, the 2021 PEDaily TOP100 Investors list established the "King of Returns" award, recognizing the architects behind some of the highest-returning deals in Chinese venture capital history. **Fei Zhang, Partner of 5Y Capital, was crowned the annual "King of Returns." Read more**
5Y Capital Wins Multiple Awards from 36Kr and ChinaVenture
On May 13, ChinaVenture unveiled its "ChinaVenture 2020 Annual Awards," with 5Y Capital winning multiple awards including: "ChinaVenture 2020 China Best Venture Capital Firm TOP20," "ChinaVenture 2020 China Venture Capital and Private Equity Decade Achievement Award," "ChinaVenture 2020 China Best Returns Venture Capital Firm TOP10," "ChinaVenture 2020 China Best Foreign Venture Capital Firm TOP10," "ChinaVenture 2020 China Internet Industry Best Internet/Mobile Internet Investment Firm TOP20," and "2020 China AI and Big Data Industry Best Investment Firm TOP20."
On May 11, 36Kr hosted the "2021 China Fund Partners Future Summit" in Shenzhen, where it released its annual heavyweight rankings. **5Y Capital was named to the "2021 China Most GP-Recognized Investment Firm TOP50." Read more**
5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately $5 billion across USD and RMB dual-currency funds. We believe that if the crazy you in others' eyes starts to be believed in, the world will be a better place.
BEIJING · SHANGHAI · SHENZHEN · HONG KONG
