The Best Is Always Ahead | 5Y News Monthly
Happy Labor Day!
5Y News Monthly
"5Y News Monthly" is a regular column from 5Y Capital. At the start 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 5Y better.
01 Portfolio Company Highlights
Major news on financing, IPOs, strategic partnerships, breakthroughs, and new product launches from 5Y portfolio companies.
02 5Y Capital Updates
News on 5Y honors, investor interviews, and thought leadership.
Note: Companies are listed in alphabetical order by pinyin.
01
Portfolio Company Highlights
CRED Raises $215 Million
Indian membership-based financial services and e-commerce platform CRED completed a $215 million Series D round, co-led by new investor Falcon Edge Capital and existing investor Coatue Management. The round valued the company at $2.2 billion. 5Y Capital participated in CRED's Series A (first round) when it was founded in 2018. Read more
Horizon Robotics and JAC Group Form Strategic Partnership
On April 19, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC Group) and Beijing Horizon Robotics Technology R&D Co. signed a strategic cooperation agreement to pursue deep collaboration in intelligent driving, intelligent connectivity, and AI, establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership. The two companies also unveiled their first jointly developed vehicle — the all-new A+-class sport SUV Sehol QX — during the auto show. Read more
Vastai Technologies Completes RMB 500 Million Series A+ Round
Vastai Technologies announced in April the completion of a RMB 500 million Series A+ round, co-led by China Internet Investment Fund and Matrix Partners China, with follow-on investments from existing shareholders Redpoint China Ventures, 5Y Capital, SAIF Partners, Yaotu Capital, Sirius Capital, and Yuanmu Capital. This marks the company's second financing in less than six months, following its $50 million Series A in November last year co-led by Kuaishou, Redpoint China Ventures, and 5Y Capital. Read more
Huami Launches Amazfit GTR 2 eSIM Smartwatch
On April 2, smart wearables and health cloud services company Huami (NYSE: ZEPP) launched the Amazfit GTR 2 eSIM, its flagship all-around fashion smartwatch. The watch features a standalone communication module supporting 4G independent calling and mobile network services from all three major Chinese carriers, delivering an unbounded, more efficient user experience. Read more
Keep Releases New Fitness Tracker and Spin Bike, Forms Strategic Partnership with Garmin
On April 21, Keep held its "New Keep New Life" spring strategy and product launch event in Beijing. At the event, Keep officially released App version 7.0, introduced three upgraded premium IP courses, and launched two new smart hardware products: the Keep Smart Spin Bike C1 Pro and the Keep Fitness Tracker B2 (membership edition). Additionally, in early April, Keep formally established a strategic partnership with Garmin to jointly build a more open collaborative ecosystem and enable visualized data management of athletic performance. Read more
Kuaishou Forms Strategic Partnership with Shanghai
On April 15, Kuaishou and the Shanghai Municipal Information Office reached a strategic cooperation agreement at a joint signing ceremony. Going forward, the two parties will leverage their respective strengths to pursue multifaceted collaboration in government communications, city promotion, industrial cooperation, media convergence, and talent development — supporting Shanghai's accelerated development as an excellent global city and a modern socialist international metropolis with worldwide influence. Read more
Liran Completes Nearly RMB 300 Million Series B+ Round
Men's personal care brand Liran announced the completion of a nearly RMB 300 million Series B+ round, led by Tiger Global Management with strategic investment from Bilibili. Existing shareholders 5Y Capital, Redpoint China Ventures, and SIG all made follow-on investments exceeding their pro rata. The proceeds will be used primarily for product R&D, brand building, and team expansion. This marks Liran's sixth financing round in just over a year since its launch. Read more
PingCAP Releases TiDB 5.0 Milestone Version
On April 25, open-source distributed database company PingCAP released TiDB 5.0, a milestone version targeting enterprise core scenarios. TiDB 5.0 delivers major advances in performance, stability, and usability, with new enterprise-grade features for transaction processing, high availability and disaster recovery, and security compliance. By introducing MPP (Massively Parallel Processing) architecture, it becomes a distributed database with complete HTAP capabilities, providing a one-stop data services platform for high-growth enterprises and digital innovation scenarios. Read more
ShareChat Raises $502 Million
Indian social media platform ShareChat recently announced a new $502 million financing round from Tiger Global Management, Lightspeed, Snap, Twitter, and other investors. Following this round, ShareChat's valuation rose above $2.1 billion. The proceeds will be used to accelerate technology innovation and support user growth. 5Y Capital participated in ShareChat's Series C and D rounds in 2018 and 2019. Read more
Xpeng Motors Unveils Third Smart Vehicle, the Xpeng P5
Xpeng Motors officially unveiled its third smart vehicle, the Xpeng P5, on April 14. It is also the world's first mass-produced lidar-equipped smart car. The new vehicle is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon high-compute chips, delivering more than 3x the computing power of its predecessor and supporting robust in-vehicle mobile connectivity and communications capabilities. The Xpeng P5 will be developed for international markets, with sales planned for Norway, the EU, and other regions. It will officially launch in Q2 this year, with deliveries beginning in Q4. Read more
Xingyun Group Completes $600 Million Series C2 Round
China's leading consumer goods digital supply chain services platform Xingyun Group announced in April the completion of an approximately $600 million Series C2 round. The round was led by Yunfeng Capital, with co-leadership from Kaixin Capital and Harvest Investment. Tianxing Capital, B Capital Group, Keywise Capital, Mirae Asset, and Dahua Venture Capital participated, while existing shareholders Matrix Partners China, Taikang, 5Y Capital, and HLC made additional follow-on investments. Read more
Pony.ai Receives First Batch of Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone Road Test Licenses
On April 13, Pony.ai received one of the first 30 autonomous driving road test licenses issued under Beijing's Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone. The pilot zone covers the 225-square-kilometer Yizhuang New City planning area, as well as six surrounding expressways and urban express routes totaling 143 kilometers — including Beijing Daxing International Airport, the Jingtai Expressway, and the Jingjin Expressway. Pony.ai vehicles equipped with its latest-generation PonyAlpha X system will be permitted to conduct public road testing within the pilot zone. Read more
5Y Capital Updates
5Y Capital Completes New Fund Raise
5Y Capital has completed fundraising for its new USD and RMB funds, with total committed capital exceeding RMB 13 billion. This fundraise received full support and oversubscription from existing and new LPs both domestically and internationally in a short period of time. The new USD fund exceeds $1.7 billion, comprising both early-stage and growth-stage vehicles.
As we completed this fundraise, we sat down with 5Y Capital's two founding partners to discuss their experience identifying scarce founders, the importance of imagination in investing, and how 5Y sustains imagination generation internally. Read more
5Y Capital's Qin Liu and Zhang Fei Named to 2021 Forbes Midas List
On April 13, Forbes magazine released the 2021 Midas List. 5Y Capital founding partner Qin Liu (ranked #4) and 5Y Capital partner Zhang Fei (ranked #90) were named to the list.
The Midas List is one of the most prestigious rankings in venture capital, often called the "Golden Touch" list and widely regarded as the "Oscars" of global investing. Each year, it selects 100 top venture capitalists worldwide who have demonstrated exceptional foresight in identifying and backing high-growth technology companies at an early stage, helping them create outstanding value. Read more
5Y Capital's Xutian Jing: Why We're Firmly Bullish on Digital Pharmaceutical R&D
As one of the earliest institutional investors to deploy in the "ITBT" (Information Technology x Biotechnology) sector, 5Y Capital co-hosted a Digital Pharmaceutical R&D (ITBT) forum with Arterial Network on April 18. At the event, 5Y Capital managing director Xutian Jing delivered a presentation on "5Y Capital's ITBT Investment Practice: Why We're Firmly Bullish on Digital Pharmaceutical R&D."
Jing noted that the pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a transformation from "talent and labor-intensive" to "technology-driven and automated." Information technology is not only rapidly changing how drug molecules are discovered, but has also given rise to entirely new therapeutic modalities. Read more
5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately $5 billion in USD and RMB dual-currency funds. We believe that if the world starts believing in the crazy you that others see, the world will be a better place.
BEIJING · SHANGHAI · SHENZHEN · HONG KONG
