7 Companies Raised Nearly 1.5 Billion Yuan, 4 Valued Above 1 Billion Yuan | FreeS Family Funding News · September

"FreeS Family Funding News" is a regular column that shares updates on FreeS Fund portfolio companies. It covers both new investments and follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies. Together, we witness innovative companies taking each step from 0 to 1, 1 to 10, and 10 to 100.

This Issue at a Glance:

• Biotech: FreeS Fund angel-round project Shize Biotech completed a nearly RMB 100 million Pre-A round, with FreeS Fund continuing to participate.
• Hard and Soft Tech: FreeS Fund A-round project加特兰微电子 completed a multi-hundred-million RMB Series C; FreeS Fund angel-round project XinYi Information Technology completed a nearly RMB 500 million Series B, with FreeS Fund continuing to participate; FreeS Fund A-round project Lice Technology completed a Series B, with FreeS Fund continuing to participate; FreeS Fund angel-round project Shangyue completed a RMB 320 million Series B.
• Entertainment: FreeS Fund A-round project 2:10 Animation completed a multi-hundred-million RMB Series B+; Virtual Cinema completed a Pre-A round of over RMB 10 million, led by FreeS Fund.

(Funding information in this roundup is limited to publicly disclosed announcements from September, sorted by publication date.)

According to 36Kr, Shize Biotech announced the completion of a nearly RMB 100 million Pre-A round, co-led by Qiming Venture Partners and Lilly Asia Ventures, with follow-on investments from Daoyuan Capital and Jiacheng Capital. Shize Biotech's angel-round shareholders FreeS Fund, YuanSheng Ventures, and TEDA Ventures all reinvested.

**/ Investor Commentary / **

In recent years, the boom in biotech innovative drugs has led to breakthroughs against many human diseases, yet neurodegenerative diseases have seen few major advances. These conditions feature complex causes and long, insidious progression, making them difficult to treat with conventional drugs. As a result, significant unmet clinical demand exists in the market. The combination of induced stem cells and gene editing technology has opened new possibilities for tackling these degenerative diseases. We are optimistic about Shize Biotech's exploration of scalable, high-quality, low-cost cell therapies, and we are committed to supporting and accompanying the company's growth.

**/ Company Details / ** Stem cell therapy has been called "the third revolution in human medical history," and this cutting-edge technology attracts close attention from markets and capital alike. Shize Biotech is targeting the global market, aiming to develop scalable, low-cost stem cell treatment solutions for major neurological diseases, with Parkinson's disease as a primary focus. The company has completed construction of a 1,400 square meter R&D center and finished the preliminary setup of its key technology platforms.

In the stem cell therapy field, the U.S. leads the world in research pace, while Japan also has numerous related pipelines in development. China's stem cell R&D went through a chaotic development phase, but after regulatory standardization of stem cell drug approval processes in 2015, the industry gained substantial development opportunities and is now approaching a critical inflection point for technology commercialization.

Shize Biotech possesses world-leading technical reserves and methodological systems for gene editing, stem cell induced differentiation, and in vivo transplantation therapy that have undergone thorough theoretical validation and preliminary market testing, applicable to a range of major degenerative diseases with broad market prospects. (See full report: [36Kr] New Stem Cell Therapy Targets Parkinson's Disease: Shize Biotech Completes Nearly RMB 100 Million Pre-A Round)

According to PEDaily,加特兰微电子 (hereinafter "加特兰") completed a multi-hundred-million RMB Series C round, led by SDIC Meridian, with participation from Langmafeng Venture Capital, BOCOM International, and continued investment from China Renaissance's New Economy Fund.

**/ Investor Commentary / **

加特兰, led by Dr. Chen Jiashu, is a global leader in mmWave radar chip provision and the world's first company to mass-produce CMOS-process 77GHz mmWave radar single chips, achieving low cost and high integration. In 2020,加特兰 launched its AiP chip with integrated antennas, becoming the first in the industry to achieve single-chip integration from antennas to RF systems and signal processing. The company's chips have passed AEC-Q100 automotive-grade specification testing, TÜV Rheinland audit assessment, and ISO 26262 standard certification.

As autonomous driving gradually moves toward mass production and the era of smart home security arrives, we believe加特兰's mmWave radar chips have tremendous market potential and will see an increasing number of innovative application scenarios.

**/ Company Details / ** Founded in 2014,加特兰 focuses on CMOS-process mmWave radar chip R&D and design, and is a globally leading mmWave radar chip provider. In 2020,加特兰 launched the Alps series of 77/79GHz automotive-grade mmWave radar SoC chips and the Rhine series of 60GHz mmWave radar SoC chips, featuring globally leading full integration of RF and signal processing.

In 2021, the Alps series radar SoC chips successfully passed TÜV Rheinland audit assessment, becoming the first domestic chip product to fully comply with ISO 26262 standards and obtain third-party certification, reaching ASIL-B level. Currently, after three generations of optimization, the company's products have achieved large-scale commercial deployment in both automotive and industrial scenarios. (See full report: [PEDaily]加特兰 Completes Multi-Hundred-Million RMB Series C Round)

According to ChinaVenture, XinYi Information Technology completed a nearly RMB 500 million Series B round. This round was co-led by CMB International and CICC Capital, with follow-on investments from China Merchants Capital, Ningshui Group, and Yachang Investment, and continued investment from existing shareholders FreeS Fund, ChenDao Capital, and Huarui Capital.

**/ Investor Commentary / **

Congratulations to IoT chip company XinYi Information Technology on completing its Series B round. While achieving mass production and substantial sales volume and revenue, the company has also become a verifiable unicorn. We also thank the new shareholders for their recognition and support of XinYi Information Technology's team and mission. The addition of these well-known domestic and international investors will provide even stronger momentum for the company's future development.

▍ IoT chips are an undeniably massive market, but also an extremely competitive red ocean

The Internet of Everything is a major trend in the world's future development, and IoT chips are the foundational building blocks on the path to connectivity. The enormous capacity of this market and its broad prospects for long-term, sustained development hold undeniable appeal for entrepreneurs and investors alike. Precisely because of this, both before and after investing in this project, we were well aware that this track would inevitably attract many participants and competitors. In the early days of XinYi Information Technology's founding, there were already companies capable of providing complete NB-IoT chip solutions, startup teams that had started at the same time, and of course later entrants.

Based on our understanding of the communications and semiconductor industries, analysis of the competitive landscape, and particularly our predictions about ultimate competitive outcomes, the FreeS Fund investment team reached two preliminary conclusions:

First, IoT chips — because they must enable the Internet of Everything and be embedded in all kinds of devices with varying cost structures — are inevitably price-sensitive solutions that need to achieve ultra-high cost performance. From a business model logic perspective, such ultra-high cost-performance solutions lack long-term appeal for large chip companies. From a technical dimension, even when giants that historically made 5G smartphone chips attempted IoT chips — for example, by cost-reducing smartphone chips into IoT chips — they were not necessarily advantaged in engineering difficulty, and would struggle to be more efficient than a company like XinYi that designed from the architecture level with ultra-low power consumption and ultra-low cost as targets. To use an analogy, for someone significantly overweight, losing fat while maintaining a well-proportioned, attractive physique is quite difficult.

2. From a technical engineering perspective, IoT chips — whether NB-IoT, Cat.1, or otherwise — are fundamentally standard terminals of the 5G cellular communication system, regardless of their bandwidth or data rate. Their software and hardware architecture closely resembles that of smartphone chip solutions: small as the sparrow may be, it has all five vital organs. This means IoT chips involve an enormous breadth of hardware and software technologies. At the same time, as 5G terminals, they must comply with various 5G standards while also satisfying the diverse demands and technical support requirements of end applications — all of which place exceptionally high demands on teams engaged in IoT chip R&D. Competition and consolidation are inevitable outcomes in this race. And a team with solid fundamentals that grows stronger through battle is undoubtedly a crucial asset for ultimate victory.

▍Deep accumulation yields explosive growth; those who win talent win the world

The XinYi team, with founder Dr. Xiao Jianhong at its core, is a textbook example of deep technical and product accumulation. Dr. Xiao spent many years as a top technical expert at a major corporation, with extensive experience in design and mass production, as well as broad and strong industry connections.

XinYi's founding team is open and inclusive. Since its founding, the company has successively attracted a large number of technical and market talents from both domestic and international backgrounds across various industries. While team members hold advanced degrees, most also have roughly ten years of frontline experience at the world's leading communications and semiconductor companies. This team foundation ensures the company can go further and do better, from NB-IoT chips to Cat.1 chips to RedCap chips.

We have full confidence in XinYi's team and high expectations for its future. As an angel investor, FreeS Fund continued to increase its stake in this round and will provide long-term support going forward, expressing our trust and expectations for the team.

**/ Company Details / ** Founded in 2017, XinYi Information Technology is a high-tech enterprise focused on R&D of system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for IoT smart terminals. Its products span communications, main control computing, sensors, power management, security, and other specialized fields. The company's founder and core R&D team come from globally renowned chip design and communications companies including Broadcom, MaxLinear, Realtek, HiSilicon, UNISOC, and ZTE, and hold degrees from prestigious universities at home and abroad including TAMU, UCLA, UT Dallas, NUS, Peking University, Zhejiang University, Southeast University, and UESTC. The team possesses complete professional expertise and internationally top-tier chip R&D capabilities.

In 2018, XinYi Information Technology launched the XY1100, an NB-IoT system-on-chip that was the world's first NB-IoT chip with an integrated CMOS PA on-chip. It features four core advantages: ultra-high integration, ultra-low power consumption, strong flexibility, and low cost. Currently, the XY1100 has been widely deployed in IoT application scenarios including smart metering (gas meters, water meters, etc.), smart smoke detection, asset tracking, battery swapping, shared e-bike management, and smart home. Its partners include major module vendors such as China Mobile IoT, SIMCom, Seewo, Tianyu Information, Gosuncn Welink, Tuya, and Quectel, as well as terminal customers in the smart metering industry including Goldcard, Ningbo Water, Jacom, Qianjia, and Winson. (For more coverage, see: [ChinaVenture] XinYi Information Technology Completes Nearly RMB 500 Million Series B Financing, Led by CMB International and CICC Capital)

LiCe Technology announced the completion of its Series B financing round, led by Xiaomi Changjiang Industrial Fund, with existing shareholders FreeS Fund and GaoJie Capital following on.

**/ Investor Perspective / **

Congratulations to LiCe Technology, an optical phased array (OPA) LiDAR chip and solutions company, on completing its Series B financing. Special thanks to the well-known strategic investor for their investment and trust.

▍FreeS Fund has a slogan: Do what is right, not what is easy

Perhaps it was "shared vision," perhaps "serendipity" — when we discovered the LiCe Technology team in 2019, what first attracted us was likely this relentless pursuit of the right goal, and the resilience and tenacity to never give up easily in the face of difficulty. In 2019, LiDAR was no longer the hottest investment window, particularly in the optical phased array (OPA) technology direction. Since several high-profile OPA companies at home and abroad had hit technical roadblocks, the entire industry had begun to doubt the technical feasibility of OPA LiDAR, with most players pivoting toward directions that could produce prototypes and products more quickly.

Yet as a company founded in 2013, LiCe Technology's founder Dr. Zhang Zhongxiang persisted — even somewhat "lonely" — in focusing on OPA phased array radar, starting from the most fundamental chips. The core reason for this persistence: OPA technology is widely recognized in academia as the ultimate solution for LiDAR beam scanning, a pure semiconductor optics solution, and the most likely approach to perfectly meet automotive-grade standards while dramatically reducing costs and improving cost performance. Once OPA chip technology succeeds, it will drive technological progress in the LiDAR industry and significantly reshape the current competitive landscape.

▍Does opportunity favor the prepared?

As the leader of a startup, Zhang Zhongxiang not only holds a PhD in optics but also studied and worked at the best nanophotonics lab in the United States. More importantly, he has hands-on experience with various traditional LiDAR systems. Years of accumulated learning, combined with repeated experimentation at LiCe, gave Dr. Zhang increasing confidence in his OPA technical approach. This confidence, together with the preliminary experimental results the company achieved in 2019, led us to make the decision to invest in LiCe Technology's Series A.

After another year and a half of effort, LiCe's OPA LiDAR chip successfully taped out, with all metrics meeting expectations and setting new industry benchmarks. Meanwhile, the company earned the trust and favor of new automakers, completing a new round of strategic investment.

The right, hard-demand market direction, combined with a fundamentally solid, technologically leading team — this is forever the favorite of technology investors. We wish LiCe Technology to go faster, higher, better, and more solidly along the right technical and product path.

**/ Company Details / ** Founded in October 2013, Shenzhen LiCe Technology Co., Ltd. previously received Category B funding under Shenzhen's Peacock Plan. LiCe Technology's R&D team is composed of PhDs in optoelectronics, information and computer science, and other fields. Targeting robotics, industrial automation, smart home, drones, and other high-tech industries, the company aims to develop consumer-grade high-performance LiDAR and promote the practical application of new LiDAR across different industries.

Team members have deep accumulated expertise over many years in optoelectronics, embedded systems, computer software, and other technical fields. Going forward, the company will adhere to mastering core technologies as its foundation, establish scientific and humanistic management systems, and drive the development of domestic consumer-grade LiDAR. In 2017, the company obtained national high-tech enterprise qualification and Shenzhen high-tech enterprise qualification. (Information from LiCe Technology official website)

According to 36Kr, Shangyue Technology announced the completion of a RMB 320 million Series B financing round, led by Qiming Venture Partners, with existing shareholders HSG, Yuanjing Capital, SIE Industry Fund, Yinxingu Capital, and Zhiyi Capital continuing to increase their stakes.

**/ Investor Perspective / **

From the perspective of industry development patterns, online collaboration tools within enterprises and between enterprises will inevitably have increasingly large market space. In this track with tremendous potential, the Shangyue team has demonstrated exceptional combat effectiveness, with commercial capabilities, product capabilities, and management capabilities all exceeding expectations. We believe they can seize the historic development opportunity of procurement digitalization.

**/ Company Details / ** This financing round for Shangyue Technology comes just nine months after its previous Series A+ round. At the same time, Shangyue Technology launched the Shangyue Qianjige PaaS platform, which can help enterprises rapidly address delivery and personalization needs in procurement.

Currently, large and medium-sized enterprises have widely adopted SaaS procurement. Shangyue Technology continues to make procurement SaaS applications more powerful through product and technology innovation. Since its founding in 2018, Shangyue Technology has successively launched products including a procurement middle platform, mall procurement, sourcing procurement, supplier management, procurement collaboration platform, and Juxiange open platform. It currently serves over 100 leading clients across more than 20 industries and creates value for them.

In the enterprise procurement digitalization field, Shangyue Technology is gaining recognition from industry-leading enterprises across different sectors through product and technology innovation. For example: Bull Group partnered with Shangyue Technology to build a non-production digital procurement mall, creating a secure and reliable full-link procurement application platform. Joyoung Group collaborated with Shangyue Technology to build an intelligent procurement digitalization platform, improving procurement efficiency and reducing procurement costs. OPPO partnered with Shangyue Technology to create an enterprise procurement e-commerce platform that will help OPPO simplify procurement processes, upgrade business models, popularize agreement-based procurement, and create a new e-procurement experience. (For more coverage, see: [36Kr] "Shangyue Technology" Raises RMB 320 Million in Series B, Launches Shangyue Qianjige PaaS Platform, [Shangyue] Solutions | Electronics and Electrical Industry Procurement Digitalization Solution)

2:10 Animation 2021 Mid-Year Reel

Click to watch 👆

According to 36Kr, Wuhan 2:10 Animation Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "2:10 Animation") has completed a Series B+ financing round of several hundred million RMB, with investments from Pop Mart, ChineseAll, Hypergryph, and other companies.

**/ What the Investors Say / **

2:10 Animation has one of the best all-around animation production teams in China, creating top-tier works such as The Silver Guardian and I'm Joybo, skillfully balancing artistic integrity with commercial viability in animation. The company remains at the cutting edge of industry technologies such as 3D-to-2D rendering, and with its scientific and effective organizational management methods, it can efficiently deliver high-caliber animation output.

Over five years of working with founder Shiyong Wang, I've observed that he is someone exceptionally adept at learning and constantly absorbing insights from the outside world. Every one to two years, he undergoes significant self-iteration and transformation. A team with strong execution capabilities, led by an excellent CEO, will consistently achieve new breakthroughs.

Going forward, we are optimistic about 2:10 Animation and the upstream and downstream industry chains it has invested in — they will become a core backbone of China's animation industry, continuously providing hundreds of millions of Chinese children, teenagers, and adults with high-quality animated content across diverse genres.

**/ Company Details / ** 2:10 Animation previously received multiple rounds of investment from FreeS Fund, Alibaba Pictures, Bojiang Capital, and other institutions in 2016, 2017, and 2018. According to 36Kr, this Series B+ round is likely the company's final financing round before a planned IPO, with 2:10 Animation targeting a 2022 listing.

Founder Shiyong Wang stated: "With this funding round, we will continue investing in IP development and significantly increase our investment in animation industrialization, with committed spending reaching over 100 million RMB."

Founded in 2007, 2:10 Animation currently employs over 500 people and integrates original content creation, R&D, production, distribution, sales, and investment. In 2017, 2:10 Animation and FreeS Fund jointly established Wuhan Interactive Entertainment Cultural Industry Investment, which has invested in over 30 industry-related companies spanning pipeline management, motion capture, and merchandise, all centered around animation industrialization. (For more coverage, see: [36Kr] Animation Studio "2:10 Animation" Completes Series B+ Round of Several Hundred Million RMB, Will Double Down on Animation Industrialization | Early Stage Watch)

According to 36Kr, Guangzhou Virtual Pictures Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Virtual Pictures") announced the completion of a Pre-A funding round of over 10 million RMB, led by FreeS Fund.

**/ What the Investors Say / **

Congratulations to Virtual Pictures on securing this funding. We firmly believe in the new entertainment experience that combines virtual idols with emerging technologies, new user behaviors, and new media formats.

Compared to traditional celebrities, virtual idols offer unprecedented advantages in lifecycle longevity, IP security, and interactive experience. Looking at users' underlying needs, virtual idols can exceptionally well satisfy desires for companionship and belonging. Better serving these user needs means a market full of opportunity is poised to emerge.

Facing virtual idols as an entirely new domain, we need to be more patient. The entertainment industry has never been one where disruptive innovation happens frequently — new entertainment experiences inevitably require the accumulation and support of foundational "basic skills." In the virtual idol industry, knowing how to tell stories, craft characters, and having aesthetic sensibility are all essential components of these basics.

The founder and team at Virtual Pictures have nearly a decade of accumulated experience in traditional animation, with ample expertise in using digital technology to create characters and tell stories. Combined with the team's meticulous attention to details such as facial expressions, and their understanding and expression of outstanding local culture, we believe that in the era of virtual idols, Virtual Pictures will create character IPs imbued with the charm of excellent local culture and the spirit of the times, building formidable competitive moats.

Today, we stand at an inflection point of technological transformation, and our exploration of innovation in the entertainment industry never stops. We are willing to grow alongside teams full of imagination and drive.

Further Reading

On virtual idols, Peter previously shared his thoughts in "Why We're Bullish on Virtual Idols | FreeS Research" (click the article title link to read the original)

/ Company Details /

Founded in 2019, Virtual Pictures is a comprehensive IP company focused on 3D original animation and virtual actor design and operation. The company is dedicated to the creation, production, and operation of original animated content. Unlike traditional animation studios, Virtual Pictures customizes derivative content and operations in various formats for its works and character IPs. While advancing animation projects, the company develops popular characters into independent virtual stars through multi-platform operations, expanding fan communities, deepening IP value, and creating greater commercial value.

Through a series of iterations, the team has gradually established a new business model. The current model primarily comprises three pillars: content production, fan operations, and traffic monetization. Traffic monetization can be further broken down into business partnerships, distribution channels, and product development.

Going forward, Virtual Pictures will build a more diverse virtual actor ecosystem, growing alongside its virtual actors as a "virtual actor agency + content operator," while strengthening the creation, production, and operation of original animated content around high-quality IPs. The company will customize multiple entertainment formats for each IP and establish richer commercial monetization models. (For more coverage, see: [36Kr] Virtual Pictures, Focused on Virtual Actors, Completes Pre-A Round of Over 10 Million RMB, Led by FreeS Fund)

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