As the year draws to a close, five companies secure new funding to carry momentum into 2025 | FreeS Family Funding News Vol. 21

The "FreeS Family Funding News" column periodically shares updates on portfolio companies from FreeS Fund. Coverage includes both our newest investments and follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies. Together, we witness every step of innovation — from 0 to 1, from 1 to 10, and from 10 to 100. This edition at a glance:

• Biotech & Pharma: FreeS Fund angel-round portfolio company Shize Biotech announced the completion of over RMB 100 million in Series B1 market-oriented funding, with FreeS Fund continuing to invest.
• Hard Tech: FreeS Fund angel-round portfolio company Xingyun announced the completion of several hundred million RMB in angel and angel+ rounds, with FreeS Fund continuing to invest; FreeS Fund Pre-A round portfolio company LightStandard completed a new strategic funding round; FreeS Fund angel-round portfolio company LuminWave completed the first closing of its Series B1 round.
• Consumer & TMT: FreeS Fund early-stage portfolio company Qbit raised tens of millions of USD in Series B1 funding.

(This roundup covers only publicly disclosed funding information from Q4 2024 onward, sorted by announcement date.)

▲ Image source: Shize Biotech

Shize Biotech, a FreeS Fund angel-round portfolio company and iPSC-derived neural cell drug developer, announced the completion of over RMB 100 million in Series B1 market-oriented funding. This round was led by TaiLong/TaiKun Capital, with co-investment from Qisheng Capital and Tianhui Capital. Existing shareholders including FreeS Fund, Qiming Venture Partners, Lilly Asia Ventures, and HSG also made additional investments.

/ What Our Investors Say /

Since December 2024, both China and the US have approved their first stem cell drugs for market, opening up massive opportunities in the stem cell drug sector. Shize Biotech's iPSC stem cell drug candidates have demonstrated excellent safety and efficacy in initial IIT clinical trials for Parkinson's disease and ALS. We hope that with support from new investors and capital, Shize can accelerate its pipeline into clinical stages and bring benefits to patients as soon as possible.

/ About the Company /

Founded in 2021, Shize Biotech is a biopharmaceutical company focused on providing scalable, low-cost clinical-grade iPSC-derived cell therapy solutions for severe or critical neurological diseases — with moderate-to-severe Parkinson's disease as its lead indication — where no substantive clinical solutions currently exist.

In partnership with Shanghai East Hospital (affiliated with Tongji University), Shize Biotech obtained approval for China's first national stem cell备案 clinical research project for iPSC-derived cell therapy for neurological diseases, and completed China's first clinical-grade iPSC-derived dopaminergic neural progenitor cell transplant for Parkinson's disease in Shanghai.

In 2023, Shize Biotech's self-developed global first-in-class pipeline of clinical-grade iPSC-derived subtype-specific neural progenitor cells for ALS received Orphan Drug Designation from the US FDA, including 7 years of market exclusivity upon approval — making it the first independently developed Chinese iPSC-derived cell drug to receive FDA Orphan Drug Designation. (See full coverage: [VB Data] iPSC-derived neural cell drug developer Shize Biotech completes over RMB 100 million Series B1 funding, raising RMB 300 million in two years)

/ Recommended Reading /

Beijing Xingyun Integrated Circuit ("Xingyun"), a FreeS Fund angel-round portfolio company, announced the completion of consecutive angel and angel+ rounds totaling several hundred million RMB, with participation from multiple leading strategic investors and prominent financial institutions.

/ What Our Investors Say /

The Xingyun team has a deep understanding of algorithm requirements and hardware capabilities, and has innovatively proposed a "heterogeneous + white-box" approach. This strategy not only addresses current AI industry needs but also leaves ample room for future AI development. Amid the latest wave of compute chip innovation, Xingyun's technical path skillfully balances system performance, software compatibility, technical complexity, and forward-looking design. Moreover, given the team's unique profile, extensive experience, and comprehensive industry knowledge, we have every reason to believe that the company and its products will become foundational building blocks of the silicon-based intelligence era.

/ About the Company /

Founded in 2023, Xingyun is dedicated to developing next-generation high-efficiency GPU chips for large model inference scenarios.

Leveraging deep technical expertise and a clear commercial path, the company targets the trillion-scale mid-to-downstream market. Its goal is to revolutionize large model computing systems through heterogeneous computing and white-box hardware architectures, driving large models toward higher quality and lower cost — thereby addressing the computing cost and supply challenges facing the large model industry, reshaping industrial value chains, and providing foundational support for the AI application era.

Xingyun also offers diverse, precision-tailored solutions for different customer market segments. (See full coverage: [Zero2IPO] Large model chip company "Xingyun" completes several hundred million RMB funding; core team from Tsinghua University)

/ Recommended Reading /

▲ Image source: Qbit

Recently, Qbit, a FreeS Fund early-stage portfolio company and one-stop overseas treasury management platform, announced the completion of tens of millions of USD in Series B1 funding.

/ What Our Investors Say /

Going global has become a must-have growth strategy for many Chinese companies. Qbit safeguards cross-border payments and treasury management for various globalizing enterprises through compliant overseas accounts, Quantum Cards, and other products. As an early investor in Qbit, FreeS Fund has witnessed the company's rapid development in recent years. We believe that with this new round of funding, Qbit can further advance its global team building, secure critical licenses, and continue investing in product and technology — better delivering quality financial services to global customers.

/ About the Company /

Founded in 2019, Qbit is a neobank providing one-stop overseas treasury management for global enterprises.

On the product side, Qbit's core offerings include Quantum Card, Global Account, Global Acquiring, and Open API — covering over 180 countries and regions, supporting 40+ major currencies, with cumulative transaction volume exceeding USD 6 billion, 4.88 million cards issued, and over 40,000 brands served.

Beyond overseas expense management, Qbit also provides customized financial solutions tailored to specific sectors including advertising, brand e-commerce globalization, and game publishing globalization. (See full coverage: [36Kr] Serving 40,000+ brands, overseas treasury management platform "Qbit" raises tens of millions of USD in Series B1 funding)

▲ Image source: LightStandard

Recently, LightStandard, a FreeS Fund Pre-A round portfolio company and photonic AI computing chip developer, announced the completion of a new strategic funding round from a top-tier domestic internet giant, with whom it will collaborate on AI computing hardware.

/ What Our Investors Say /

FreeS Fund has long been optimistic about and continuously investing in the photonics sector. Light, as a carrier with both information and energy transmission capabilities, has broad application prospects in processing, imaging, and computing. Regarding computing specifically, as various applications' demand for compute power continues to rise, electronic chips are approaching physical limits. Photonic computing has the potential to break through the limitations of traditional computing chips in high-speed computing, especially in artificial intelligence, and become a next-generation foundational computing technology.

LightStandard, through its R&D and application of novel optical modulation methods, demonstrates tremendous application potential in photonic computing, communications, and other fields. Under the major trend of "optics replacing copper," we both hope and believe that LightStandard can become a leading enterprise in all-optical information systems.

/ About the Company /

Unlike traditional chips, photonic chips process information through optical technology rather than electrical signals. Using light as the transmission medium gives photonic chips higher transmission speeds, lower power consumption, and greater bandwidth.

LightStandard has chosen a distinctive technical path within photonic chip development — employing silicon photonics + phase-change material heterogeneous integration and its proprietary Crossbar photonic matrix computing architecture, making it the first commercial company to achieve in-memory computing with photonic computing chips. This differentiated technical approach enabled LightStandard to tape out photonic computing chips early on. To date, LightStandard has completed five tape-outs, with both compute density and precision reaching commercial standards. (See full coverage: [Intelligent Emergence] "LightStandard" completes new strategic funding round, accelerating commercialization of photonic computing chips)

▲ Video source: LuminWave

LuminWave, a FreeS Fund angel-round portfolio company and silicon photonic chip FMCW provider, announced a strategic investment from Beijing Electronics Holdings Optoelectronic Integration Fund and completed the first closing of its Series B1 round.

/ What Our Investors Say /

Congratulations to LuminWave, a silicon photonic LiDAR chip and solutions company, on completing its new funding round. Special thanks to the investors for their support and trust.

▎LuminWave: In the Long and Promising Silicon Photonics Track

Silicon photonics technology uses silicon materials to achieve laser communication chip and module functions. Unlike traditional III-V material-based optical chip technology, silicon photonics shares significant similarities with mainstream CMOS semiconductor chip materials and processes. This means most of the existing electrical chip industry's material systems, design methods, and manufacturing processes can be reused for silicon photonic chip production. In short, silicon photonics technology substantially improves chip design and production efficiency while reducing costs. Additionally, the introduction of new chip packaging processes makes optoelectronic co-packaging possible.

LuminWave's two founders are alumni of Peking University and MIT — veterans of the silicon photonics industry and typical serial entrepreneurs. We hope they can achieve greater success on their familiar silicon photonics technical path, in the emerging application field of LiDAR.

▎LiDAR on the Eve of Mass Adoption

LiDAR is a novel sensor category that integrates radar and laser technologies.

Due to the short wavelength characteristics of lasers, LiDAR achieves much higher resolution and measurement precision than microwave radar and millimeter-wave radar. The rapid development of autonomous driving has both driven technological innovation and deployment and reduced component and system costs, providing a solid industrial chain foundation for LiDAR vehicle integration.

Within the LiDAR field, FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) LiDAR technology represents an important branch of emerging radar technology. FMCW employs coherent communication technology to improve system signal-to-noise ratio, dramatically reduce interference between LiDAR units, and enhance LiDAR effectiveness. In addition to providing 3D point clouds like other LiDAR technologies, FMCW can directly provide real-time velocity information of targets — offering autonomous driving software systems additional dimensional information and ultimately improving autonomous driving safety.

The LuminWave team has accumulated substantial core technologies and market resources through years of effort. We look forward to LuminWave's continued development and success.

/ About the Company /

Founded in 2018, LuminWave is a high-tech innovation enterprise focused on LiDAR 3D perception technology R&D, product manufacturing, and sales.

In September 2024, LuminWave unveiled the world's first monolithic fully integrated silicon photonic chip with complete transmitter, receiver, and optical path functions (fully integrated silicon photonic chip). This chip employs an internationally leading heterogeneous integration-based fully integrated chip-level solution, creatively integrating LiDAR's core modules onto a single chip with a transceiver-integrated design — further advancing LiDAR's goals of lightweight, miniaturization, and low cost.

The fully integrated silicon photonic chip is expected to fundamentally transform FMCW LiDAR technology and productization processes, significantly accelerating LiDAR commercial deployment timelines. LuminWave will also become the first domestic supplier to offer FMCW LiDAR core integrated silicon photonic chip product solutions and design services. (See full coverage: [ICCSZ] This silicon photonics "star" completes Series B1 first closing, accelerating LiDAR product R&D and capacity expansion)

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