Luminous Ventures
光合创投
Luminous Ventures (光合创投) is the latest name of the fund that began as Lightspeed's China operation: from the US brand Lightspeed, to an independent Lightspeed China (founded 2011, among the first dollar funds to raise, invest and operate as a fully standalone entity focused on early-stage China deals), to Lightspeed China Partners (光速光合), and finally, per an 暗涌Waves piece, to its new name in what it calls the firm's "coming of age" in its twentieth year — the firm is headquartered in Shanghai's Xintiandi . Its best-known partner is James Mi (宓群), formerly Google's Greater China chief representative, who joined as a partner in 2008 and went on to back Meituan-Dianping, Pinduoduo and InnoLight . In the past couple of years the fund has tilted deeper into hard tech and industrial bets — Unitree, MetaX (沐曦), Independent Variable Robotics, DiffRobotics and Zhipu AI among its representative cases — and recent deal flow includes co-leading Hypershell's $70 million Series B alongside 5Y Capital and leading an angel+ round for Wuhan energy-storage startup Jizhao in December 2025 .
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Coverage
Unitree Funding Story Exhibition
Ancient stories always carry a special kind of allure.
From Huawei Autonomous Driving to General-Purpose Robotics: Huang Qingqiu Wants to Rebuild a System for the Physical World | BlueRun Ventures Family Headlines
From Single-Demo to General-Purpose Robot: The Critical Leap
"You've got a shovel that can dig up gold — you're definitely not lending it out first" | A Conversation with Kaiwuji's Lu Ziheng: Using AI to Invent New Materials
As long as you're still stirring things up, there's still hope.
"You wouldn't lend out a shovel that can dig up gold" | A Conversation with Lu Ziheng of Kaiwu Ji: Using AI to Invent New Materials
Wang Xinming: I'm China's Biggest LLM Wrapper, and I'm Not Ashamed of It at All丨elselier
He was about to lose his job, but he became one of the first people in China to get access to ChatGPT.
Nova Fusion Closes Massive 700 Million Yuan Angel+ Round, Aiming for the Global First Tier of Commercial Fusion
Fusion for AI & Beyond
5Y News | Weifen Zhifei Raises Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Series A1 Funding to Accelerate R&D and Commercialization of Embodied Flight Intelligence
WeDifferential Intelligence has closed a Series A1 funding round worth several hundred million yuan.
5Y News | Helixon Therapeutics Closes $787 Million Financing Round, Setting New 2026 Biotech Fundraising Record
DeepSeek, regarded as a biotech company.
BlueRun Ventures Angel Portfolio Company Kaimat Completes Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Angel+ Round, Building AI4S-Driven Materials Intelligence Infrastructure | BlueRun Family
Achieving efficient materials translation from "discovery" to "mass production"
Helixon Raises $787 Million, Setting a New Global Record for Biotech Fundraising This Year
Accelerating the transformation of AI innovations into potentially transformative medicines.
2026 VC Promotion Roundup
Universal celebration.
January, Emergence, and Prologue | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
How Did Chinese Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Build the "Tesla of RVs"? | Waves World View
Travel light.
Innovation Often Happens Where No One Has Gone Before | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
Hypershell Raises $70 Million, Oasis Capital Increases Its Stake | Oasis Vitality
Counselor Vitality / Counselor on Vitality (Note: This appears to be a title or heading without surrounding context. "参赞" can mean "counselor/advisor" or "to participate in and assist," while "生命力" means "vitality/life force." The interpretation depends on context — it could be a role title like "Counselor on Vitality," a section header like "The Vitality of Counselors," or a verb phrase like "Contributing to Vitality." Additional context would help determine the precise rendering.)
5Y News｜Hypershell Raises $70 Million in Pre-B and Series B Funding
Leading the Consumer Exoskeleton Into a New Era
Hypershell Raises $70 Million Across Two Funding Rounds
Empower people to act, and expand the horizons of their world.
Hypershell Closes Two Rounds Totaling $70 Million in Funding
Toward a Future Where Everyone Is "Iron Man"?
Another VC Rebrands with a New Name
The twentieth year of local iteration.
5Y News | Differential Intelligence (微分智飞) Closes Pre-A and Pre-A+ Rounds, Accelerating Tech Buildout in Aerial Embodied Intelligence
Building the next-generation foundational model for aerial embodied intelligence.
Nova Fusion Closes 500 Million Yuan Angel Round, Setting New Record for Single-Round Funding Among Domestic Private Fusion Companies
Focused on the commercialization of small modular nuclear fusion.
The Answer Isn't on the Old Map | 5Y News Monthly
The big news from last month.
5Y News | Differential Intelligence Flight (Weifen Zhifei) Completes Two Consecutive Funding Rounds to Accelerate Embodied AI Development for Aerial Robots
When the sky is truly illuminated by autonomous intelligence, humanity's imagination of space and creativity will be redefined as well.
Independent Variable Robotics Raises Two Consecutive Rounds of Hundreds of Millions of Yuan, with Meituan as Sole Investor in Series A | Unity Ventures Portfolio News
The company has completed seven funding rounds, raising more than one billion yuan in total.
A Surging Wave of Technology, an Explosion of Species in AI's Deep Waters | Unity Ventures Spring Chronicle
Tend the soil with care, and wait for the flowers to bloom.
Embodied Artificial Intelligence Reaches Critical Milestone as Independent Variable Robotics Closes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Pre-A++ Round Within a Month | Unity Ventures Portfolio News
A unified end-to-end Embodied Artificial Intelligence large model is key to improving robots' generalization and adaptability.
2024, When Everyone Stands at a Crossroads: 96 Investors' Decisions
Deciding is easy. Waiting is hard.
"Conquered by You Just Like This" | 4 Million People, Blasted by AI Until They Crumbled, Laughed Through Tears, and Couldn't Stop Coming Back
"Drink the poison you've hidden away"
5Y News | 5Y Capital Portfolio Company METiS Pharmaceuticals Closes $100 Million Series C Round
Focused on "AI-powered drug delivery."
The Investor Who Made the Most Money Off Pinduoduo
"Though millions may oppose me, I will go."
Huanwei Microelectronics Completes Series A Round to Accelerate Low-Power UWB Chip Market Expansion and Mass Production
Accelerate adoption in smartphones, automotive, and industrial IoT applications.
On the first day of August, we spoke with 23 investors about "confidence."
And, what are the things that are hard but right, and what are the things that are hard but wrong.
