"Yuntu" Closes Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Series A+ Funding to Build Full Lineup of Premium Automotive-Grade Chips | BlueRun Ventures
Filling the gap in China's automotive-grade mid-to-high-end MCU market
Recently, Suzhou YTMicro Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "YTMicro") announced that it has completed a Series A+ funding round worth several hundred million RMB. Xiaomi Industrial Investment and Linknew Capital continued to increase their stakes, while new investors including Jinbang Capital, BAIC Capital, Singularity Power Capital, Huatai-PineBridge Fund Management, and Yongxin Capital also joined in.
Founded in 2020, YTMicro has, in just two years, won the favor of numerous top-tier investors, completed five funding rounds, and become the first to achieve mass production and shipment of its products — fully demonstrating its strength as a top-tier automotive-grade chip player and attracting significant attention from investors and industry players.
BlueRun Ventures was an investor in YTMicro's Pre-A and Series A rounds.
01
Breaking Through on Merit, Striving for World-Class Product Standards
Leveraging its professional background and deep technical expertise, YTMicro completed mass production of two high-quality automotive-grade MCUs in less than two years, filling the gap in China's mid-to-high-end automotive-grade MCU market. YTMicro's first automotive-grade product series, the YTM32B1L, is designed for various sensor, lighting, window, seat, and power tailgate applications, and has already secured design wins from dozens of OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, with volume shipments underway. Its second high-end automotive-grade M-series product, the YTM32B1ME, has even broader applications and is currently the only mass-produced automotive-grade MCU in China that meets both AEC-Q100 and ISO 26262 ASIL-B dual certifications, delivering high performance, reliability, and safety.
Just three months since its April mass production launch, the product has been sampled to over 100 key customers, secured tens of millions in customer orders, and been adopted by multiple OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, with volume shipments expected to begin in Q4.
Left: Functional Safety ASIL D Certificate; Right: AEC-Q100 Certificate
02
Targeting the Growing Automotive Market, Accelerating Multi-Scenario Coverage
Automotive-grade MCUs are core components of automotive electronics and essential control devices in vehicles, playing critical roles across various automotive application scenarios. As vehicles become increasingly intelligent and connected, demand for new functionalities across scenarios continues to grow, requiring more MCUs to control each functional node. We can clearly see that smart vehicles are driving rapid growth in demand for automotive-grade MCUs.
According to CITIC Securities data, traditional vehicles use an average of over 70 MCUs per car, while smart vehicles are estimated to require more than 300 MCUs per vehicle. At the same time, to break the long-standing monopoly of foreign giants in the automotive-grade MCU market, companies must build comprehensive and robust product portfolios with diverse product series capable of covering the vast majority of application domains.
To this end, YTMicro has planned four product series: the YTM32B1L, YTM32B1M, YTM32B1H, and YTM32Z1 series, aiming to gradually cover 90% of application functions across the five major vehicle domains. YTMicro has become the domestic semiconductor company with the most comprehensive portfolio of automotive-grade chip products.
Wang Jianzhong, Chairman of YTMicro Semiconductor, stated: The YTMicro team remains true to its original mission, taking every step with steadiness and conviction, always ensuring high reliability, safety, and consistency in our products. We are deeply grateful for the investment community's confidence in YTMicro, and we thank our partners and customers for their trust and support. YTMicro will live up to expectations, making the development of safe, reliable, stable, and comprehensive automotive chips our top priority, and is committed to protecting Chinese automotive customers with outstanding products.
Further Reading
BlueRun June Newsletter | Hope Is a Sweet Waiting
BlueRun Ventures Quarterly Investment Overview | 2022 Q2
BlueRun Ventures was established in Silicon Valley in 1998. BlueRun Ventures China was founded in 2005 and is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups.
Currently, BlueRun Ventures China manages multiple USD and RMB dual-currency funds, with assets under management exceeding 15 billion RMB, making it one of the largest early-stage funds in China. The firm invests primarily at the Pre-A and Series A stages, with coverage across hard tech and innovative interaction, enterprise technology, new consumer, and healthcare sectors. It has cumulatively invested in over 150 startups, including Li Auto, Waterdrop, QingCloud, Guazi.com, Qudian, Songguo Mobility, Ganji.com, Energy Monster, YTMicro Semiconductor, Machenike, YunSheng Intelligence, Anxin Netshield, and BioMap.
BlueRun Ventures has been ranked #1 on Zero2IPO's "China's Top 30 Early-Stage Investment Institutions," #1 on ChinaVenture's "China's Best Early-Stage Venture Capital Institutions TOP30," and among Preqin's Top 10 Global VC Fund Managers for Consistent High Returns.
Additionally, BlueRun Ventures has been repeatedly recognized by Forbes China, 36Kr, Cyzone, Caixin Media, CBNweekly, Jiemian, and other media organizations with honors including "China's Best Early-Stage Institution of the Year," "China's Top Venture Capital Institution," "Most Entrepreneur-Friendly Early-Stage Institution of the Year," and "Most Influential Early-Stage Institution of the Year."