2 Gatherings, 10 Pieces of Good News: The FreeS Fund Family in 2018 — "Look Forward, Keep At It" | FreeS Fund Chalkboard · January
FreeS Fund continues to double down on deep tech and consumption upgrades.
This is the first FreeS Fund newsletter of 2018. In this January issue, we'd like to share the latest updates with our long-time friends and supporters:
- FreeS Fund held its 2018 RMB Early-Stage Fund Investor Annual Meeting and the 2018 FreeS Fund CEO Annual Meeting.
- FreeS Fund received multiple honors, including "Top 20 China VC Firms of 2017," "Top 10 Tech & Internet Investment Firms by Industry Impact in 2017," "Top 20 New Retail Investment Firms with the Best Discovery Ability in 2017," and "Top 10 Best Investment Firms in AI in 2017."
We also have good news from the FreeS Fund family:
- Deep Tech: AI drug discovery company XtalPi completed its Series B round.
- Consumer: Qingqing Tutoring, a nationwide online and in-home tutoring platform for K-12 students, finalized its "Home Classroom" service model strategy.
- Award wins: Yichen Shen, co-founder and CEO of Lightelligence, was named to the MIT Technology Review China "Innovators Under 35" list for 2017; VPhoto was named "Best Application Innovation Enterprise in Cloud Services in 2017," and its founder and CEO Yumin Cao was named to the "Top 50 Emerging Business Influencers of 2017"; XtalPi and Xinliangji were both named "Emerging Business Influencers of 2017."
As a young fund, FreeS Fund will continue to stay grounded, keep pushing forward, and actively explore the unknown — always looking forward to meeting innovation and excellence along the way.
FreeS Fund News
1
FreeS Fund Hosts
2018 RMB Early-Stage Fund Investor Annual Meeting
On January 18, FreeS Fund's 2018 RMB Early-Stage Fund Investor Annual Meeting was held in Shanghai. Dozens of professional investment institutions and fund managers attended, with select portfolio companies invited to engage in in-depth exchanges with investors.
At the meeting, Feng Li, founding partner of FreeS Fund, noted that over its two years of operation, the firm has evolved into a fund management company focused on early and growth-stage investments, with the added capability to execute and manage large late-stage projects. FreeS Fund's key investment areas include deep tech and consumer upgrading.
The fund's RMB early-stage portfolio has shown strong momentum: four projects have achieved full or partial exits, and over 55% of projects have completed follow-on funding rounds.
2
FreeS Fund Hosts
2018 FreeS Fund CEO Annual Meeting
On January 19-20, the 2018 FreeS Fund CEO Annual Meeting took place in Shanghai. Nearly a hundred CEOs from the FreeS Fund family gathered to reflect on 2017 and embark on the journey into 2018. Three longtime friends of FreeS Fund — Yonghao Luo, CEO of Smartisan, Nanchun Jiang, founder and chairman of Focus Media, and Liaoyuan Zhang, founder of Three Squirrels — also came to show their support, sharing their growth, gains, and reflections from their entrepreneurial journeys. (Read more: 2018 FreeS Fund CEO Annual Meeting Recap)
3
FreeS Fund Award News
▍ FreeS Fund named to "Top 20 China VC Firms of 2017"; Feng Li named "Outstanding Young Investor of China 2017"
On January 19, the "2017 (5th) International Perspective on Innovation and Capital Forum" and "China Youth Investment 100" awards ceremony were held in Beijing. FreeS Fund was named to the "Top 20 China VC Firms of 2017." The selection was organized by the Zhongguancun Equity Investment Association in collaboration with dozens of professional investment associations and hundreds of equity investment institutions nationwide, and is recognized as an authoritative, valuable, and distinctive awards program in China's equity investment industry. Feng Li, founding partner of FreeS Fund, was also named "Outstanding Young Investor of China 2017." (Read more: "China Youth Investment 100" List Revealed)
▍ FreeS Fund named "Top 10 Tech & Internet Investment Firms by Industry Impact in 2017"
On January 16, the Pintu NBI Industry Impact Investment Firm rankings were announced. The list aims to identify forces driving industrial progress and recognize the most discerning and active investment institutions that guide and advance industry development. FreeS Fund was named to the "Top 10 Tech & Internet Investment Firms by Industry Impact in 2017." (Read more: Pintu Releases Tech & Internet Investment Firm Rankings)
▍ FreeS Fund named "Top 30 Best Venture Capital Firms of 2017"; Feng Li named "Top 10 Outstanding Angel Investors of 2017"
On January 12, the "Intelligent Vision · Future 2017 China Angel Investment Summit & 2nd Golden Investment Awards Ceremony," hosted by Qifengle and co-hosted by NetEase Technology and IT Juzi, with support from Tsinghua Industry Star Cluster Program, Tiantou Center, and China Youth Angel Investment Association, opened in Beijing and released the annual "Golden Investment" angel investment rankings. FreeS Fund was named "Top 30 Best Venture Capital Firms of 2017," and Feng Li was named "Top 10 Outstanding Angel Investors of 2017."
▍ FreeS Fund named "Top 20 New Retail Investment Firms with the Best Discovery Ability in 2017"; Feng Li named "Top 30 Most Influential New Retail Investors of 2017"
On January 24, Chuangyehama and Yecaoxinxiuxiao released two new retail rankings. FreeS Fund was named "Top 20 New Retail Investment Firms with the Best Discovery Ability in 2017," and Feng Li was named "Top 30 Most Influential New Retail Investors of 2017."
In recent years, facing the massive market opportunity of online-offline integration and centered on the two core propositions of product experience and efficiency improvement, an increasing number of new retail startups and transforming enterprises have emerged, with many investment institutions also treating new retail as a key sector. These lists aim to identify investment firms with exceptional discovery ability and industry-driving innovation in new retail, as well as investors with outstanding discernment and decisiveness. (Read more: Chuangyehama and Yecaoxinxiuxiao Release New Retail Rankings)
▍ FreeS Fund named "Top 10 Best Investment Firms in AI in 2017"
On January 17, the 2017 Golden Ear Awards ceremony was held in Beijing. Hosted by IT Ear and co-hosted by IT Juzi, Xiaoxiang Academy, and Touhou+, the event brought together guests from investment, entrepreneurship, and academia. 2017 was widely regarded as the inaugural year of AI development in China, with various innovative forces continually emerging. IT Ear combined industry contribution, market share, and other data to select outstanding enterprises across sectors for awards. FreeS Fund was named "Top 10 Best Investment Firms in AI in 2017." (Read more: 2017 Golden Ear Awards Ceremony Held in Beijing)
FreeS Fund Perspectives
▍ Huang Hai, VP at FreeS Fund: The core manifestation of consumer upgrading is that as our incomes rise, we find good products aren't as expensive as we imagined
On January 22, Huang Hai, VP at FreeS Fund, delivered a keynote speech titled "What Japan's Consumer Upgrading Means for China" at the Waterdrop Product Evolution Camp. He argued that the core manifestation of consumer upgrading is that as our incomes rise, we discover good products aren't as expensive as we imagined, making us willing to pay for quality. Looking back at industries that grew rapidly during Japan's consumer upgrading, most shared core attributes: they could satisfy consumers' emotional pursuits of small happiness, nobility, and anxiety relief; they could meet consumers' individualized needs for self-expression; and they possessed localized characteristics while seizing the right timing window. (Read more: Huang Hai of FreeS Fund: What Japan's Consumer Upgrading Means for China)
▍ Feng Li, Founding Partner of FreeS Fund: Digitalization improves efficiency but cannot replace experience
On January 11, Feng Li delivered a keynote speech titled "New Retail, Consumer Upgrading, and the Future of Bookstores" at the "2017 Era Publishing · China Bookstore Tribute Ceremony" hosted by the China Book Distribution Association and 100dao.com. He noted that after information is digitized, circulation costs drop dramatically and circulation efficiency improves significantly, making it difficult for bookstores' traditional role as information distribution channels to remain a core competitive advantage. In the new retail environment, bookstores should leverage their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, turning what digitalization cannot replace into competitive advantages — finding answers through experience and the stickiness between people and their environment.
FreeS Fund Family Updates
1
Deep Tech | XtalPi Completes Series B Round
On January 24, AI drug discovery company XtalPi announced it had recently completed a Series B round of approximately $15 million. The round was led by HSG, with Google participating, and existing investor Tencent making additional follow-on investment. XtalPi's total funding has exceeded $20 million, making it one of the highest-funded companies in the AI drug discovery space.
XtalPi will fully leverage its existing technical advantages to continue advancing collaborative R&D projects with international pharmaceutical companies and research institutions, while expanding upstream and downstream in the drug R&D chain. On one hand, XtalPi will build a crystallization laboratory guided by high-precision prediction, giving drug researchers unprecedented solid-state drug design capabilities to further improve R&D efficiency and project success rates. On the other hand, it will develop new algorithmic applications based on the massive high-precision computational data accumulated on its platform, providing richer solutions for new drug discovery. (Read more: XtalPi Completes Series B Round)
2
Consumer | Qingqing Tutoring's "Home Classroom" Strategy Finalized
Qingqing Tutoring, a nationwide online and in-home tutoring platform for K-12 students, announced that after three years of teaching practice, its pioneering "Home Classroom" service model has been strategically finalized, with its signature "composite in-home teaching" business system reaching maturity. "Making home your child's favorite classroom" is its latest brand slogan.
Changke Liu, CEO of Qingqing Tutoring, stated that "Home Classroom" aligns with evolving trends and parents' changing needs for "at-home tutoring" service scenarios, effectively addressing the supply-demand gap between scattered professional freelance tutors and students' personalized education needs. It breaks geographical and temporal constraints, creates entirely new teaching scenarios and ecosystems, and through the composite application of online and in-home personalized methods, reconfigures teaching resources to meet students' and parents' strong demand for efficient, relaxed, and personalized learning. (Read more: [36Kr] After Three Years and Nearly $200 Million in Funding, Qingqing Tutoring Begins Exploring the Boundaries of Education OMO)
3
FreeS Fund Family Award News
▍ Yichen Shen, co-founder and CEO of Lightelligence, named to MIT Technology Review China's "Innovators Under 35" for 2017
On January 30, the 2017 MIT Technology Review China "Innovators Under 35" awards ceremony, hosted by DeepTech, was held in Beijing. Yichen Shen, co-founder and CEO of Lightelligence, received this honor.
The award citation written by the MIT Technology Review China and US editorial teams and awards jury stated that Lightelligence "enters the fiercely competitive AI chip battlefield from the unique angle of optical computing, with the potential to increase the computational power of existing AI chips by 1,000 times while reducing energy consumption to one-hundredth." (Read more: MIT Technology Review China Youth Heroes List Officially Released)
▍ VPhoto named "Best Application Innovation Enterprise in Cloud Services in 2017"; Yumin Cao, founder and CEO of VPhoto, named to "Top 50 Emerging Business Influencers of 2017"
Based on industry contribution, market share, and data performance, IT Ear selected outstanding enterprises in the cloud services sector for its "Best Application Innovation Enterprise in Cloud Services in 2017" list, with VPhoto receiving the honor. The Pintu NBI Emerging Business Influencers list evaluated candidates across three dimensions — innovative transformation power, business discovery power, and outstanding leadership — to select the "Top 50 Emerging Business Influencers," with Yumin Cao, founder and CEO of VPhoto, making the list. (Read more: IT Ear Releases Cloud Services Sector Rankings; Pintu Releases Emerging Business Influencers List)
▍ XtalPi and Xinliangji named "Emerging Business Influencers of 2017"
Pintu released its NBI Business Influencers list, which aims to identify new forces shaping business and highlight exemplars of innovative transformation. Nominated enterprises focused on three directions: consumer upgrading, industrial upgrading, and technological innovation. Two FreeS Fund family portfolio companies received awards: XtalPi was named "Top 10 Emerging Business Influencer in Healthcare in 2017," and Xinliangji was named "Top 10 Emerging Business Influencer in Enterprise Services in 2017." (Read more: Pintu Releases Emerging Business Influencers List)
▲ The Last "FreeS Fund Family Update" of 2017 | FreeS Fund Newsletter · December
