Gaorong Bulletin · December | Multiple Gaorong Ventures Portfolio Companies Secure New Funding in Chips, Robotics, AI Drug Discovery, New Brands, and Other Sectors
Stepping into 2021.
About Rongbao: Rongbao is a monthly digest curating noteworthy news and insights from Gaorong Ventures and its portfolio companies.
Each issue shares just ten items — including major funding updates and milestones, but also emerging trends, new innovations, and fresh perspectives.
True to Gaorong's vision of "creating a better life through innovation," we believe every step forward in 2021 will unlock infinite possibilities.
Semiconductors · EDA Breakthrough: Xinhuazhang Raises Over RMB 200 Million in Series A
In December 2020, Xinhuazhang, a leading EDA (electronic design automation) intelligent software and systems company, announced it had raised over RMB 200 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Gaorong Ventures, with participation from 5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Capital) and Shanghai Yuhan. Existing investors Yunhui Capital, Hillhouse, ZhenFund, Dashu Changqing, and Huazhuo Industrial Investment also followed on.
Founded in March 2020, Xinhuazhang is dedicated to the R&D, production, sales, and technical services of next-generation EDA intelligent software and systems. It supports development across integrated circuits, 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud services, and supercomputing, providing partners with self-developed, secure, and reliable chip industry solutions and services.
As a foundational core technology for the digital economy, EDA simplifies the chip innovation process and lowers technical barriers, making chip creation more accessible and accelerating industrial digitalization. Through innovative hardware-software EDA frameworks and algorithms, Xinhuazhang integrates AI, machine learning, cloud computing, and other cutting-edge technologies to reduce the design threshold for system-on-chip (SoC) solutions and shorten product development cycles.
Xinhuazhang is developing a more intelligent EDA 2.0 to empower chip innovation and support the rapid growth of the digital economy. In November 2020, the company launched "Lingdong," a high-performance multi-functional programmable adaptation solution, along with a new simulation technology that was the first in China to support domestic computer architectures — both incorporating EDA 2.0 concepts and foundational technologies, with more systems and software to be released at an accelerated pace.
Robotics · General-Purpose Intelligent Robot Maker Flexiv Raises Over $100 Million in Series B
On December 31, 2020, Flexiv, a general-purpose intelligent robotics company, announced it had raised over $100 million in Series B funding. Major investors included Meituan, Pearl River Group, New Hope Group, manufacturing-focused private equity firm Longwood, Yunfeng Capital, and China Merchants Capital, alongside existing investors Gaorong Ventures and GSR Ventures. This round made Flexiv the company with the highest single-round funding total in the global general-purpose robotics sector. Gaorong Ventures had led Flexiv's funding round in 2017 and continued to increase its stake in subsequent rounds.
Flexiv is a world-leading general-purpose intelligent robotics company dedicated to developing and applying the most advanced humanoid robotics and AI technologies to empower all industries. The company independently designs and develops key technologies including robot bodies, servo drives, core sensors, operating systems, and algorithms, ensuring the comprehensive performance and product advantages of its adaptive robotic systems.
In April 2019, Flexiv officially unveiled Rizon, the world's first adaptive robot, at the Hannover Messe in Germany, which subsequently won iF Design Award and German Innovation Award. To date, Flexiv has completed mass production of over one hundred adaptive robots. Its industrial applications, launched after extensive process optimization and on-site validation, have achieved multiple deployments and repeat orders from well-known customers in automotive, 3C electronics, and internet industries, with operations spanning China, North America, Europe, and South Korea.
AI Drug Discovery · Galixir Raises Tens of Millions of Dollars, Using "AI+" to Break Through R&D Bottlenecks
On December 29, 2020, Galixir announced the completion of its latest two funding rounds totaling tens of millions of dollars. In 2019, Gaorong Ventures had led Galixir's angel round and continued to increase its stake in subsequent rounds.
Founded in 2019, Galixir is dedicated to using cutting-edge AI technology to focus on preclinical drug discovery. Its self-developed AI drug discovery platform aims to help pharmaceutical R&D scientists significantly reduce time and costs across the drug development process, while providing comprehensive patent protection coverage for developed drugs.
Over the past four months, Galixir has completed three consecutive funding rounds. During this period, it achieved multiple major technical breakthroughs. On one hand, it successfully developed drug generation and screening evaluation models targeting innovative genetic targets for difficult-to-treat disease types. On the other hand, its existing drug R&D pipeline has made good progress, with multiple programs successively entering in vivo and in vitro laboratory validation stages.
Currently, Galixir has developed multiple proprietary algorithms and established a series of deep learning models covering drug target discovery, candidate compound generation, compound structure optimization, druggability and toxicity prediction, and patent analysis. Based on preliminary comparative analysis, Galixir's self-developed models and algorithms have achieved best-in-class results in multiple segments, significantly shortening R&D timelines and costs — directly addressing the "high investment, long cycle" challenge that plagues drug discovery companies globally.
On the commercialization front, Galixir has signed strategic cooperation agreements with multiple renowned domestic and international universities and pharmaceutical companies, ensuring smooth upstream innovation and downstream validation in novel drug discovery and development.
Semiconductors · Hanwe Microelectronics Completes Strategic Pre-A Round, Targeting UWB High-Precision Positioning Market
On December 30, 2020, UWB chip design company Hanwe Microelectronics announced it had raised tens of millions of RMB in Pre-A funding. The round was led by OPPO, with MediaTek, Gaorong Ventures, and China Fortune-Tech Capital among the followers.
Founded in 2019 and led by multiple senior experts in mixed-signal design, Hanwe focuses on UWB chip and solution development. The core team comes from the former Quintic Microelectronics, supplemented by professionals from other companies, with world-leading low-power design technology.
UWB (ultra-wideband) technology enables high-speed data transmission over low power spectral density through extremely large bandwidth. This ultra-large bandwidth provides ultra-high temporal resolution, enabling high-precision distance and position measurement. UWB will become an important foundational technology for the era of intelligent connected everything.
Currently, the Hanwe team is fully committed to UWB chip design and development, striving to provide the market with high-performance, high-precision, highly integrated UWB chips that support button-cell battery power — for diverse applications including mobile phones, wearables, smart IoT terminals, and industry-specific devices. The company expects its first chip to enter mass production in 2021.
New Brands · Bloks Group Raises RMB 330 Million in Series A, Building "A World Children's Brand Made in China"
In December 2020, Bloks announced the completion of its Series A funding round. The RMB 330 million round included investment from Gaorong Ventures.
Founded in 2014 with the mission of "technology accompanies growth," Bloks is dedicated to using innovative technology to comprehensively upgrade children's play and learning scenarios, creating a new generation of growth experiences for children.
Bloks Group uses building blocks as its foundational business and core connector, with blocks as the trigger point and primary carrier. Combined with essential and inevitable stages and scenarios in children's development, it has built a complete "Blocks+" children's industry ecosystem encompassing toys, animation, games, and education.
After six years of development, Bloks has forged its own path of completely independent R&D and design for domestic building blocks. During the 2020 Tmall Double 11 shopping festival, Bloks defended its title as the top-selling domestic building block brand.
Furthermore, Bloks has established a comprehensive children's industry ecosystem: T (Toy) — with building blocks as the core business, newly upgraded to an educational, safe block system aligned with children's developmental needs; A (Animation) — original 3D animation continuously exploring quality content, strengthening parent-child and entertainment attributes to build more harmonious family relationships; G (Game) — using educational entertainment as a content format, developing premium digital content with "internet+" technology to help children learn joyfully; E (Education) — based on diversified scenario-based block teaching, delivering quality AI enlightenment education solutions to empower the education sector.
Fintech · Zhanlue Data Raises Tens of Millions in Series B+, Expanding Intelligent Risk Control Footprint
Recently, fintech company Zhanlue Data announced it had raised tens of millions of RMB in Series B+ funding. Gaorong Ventures had invested in Zhanlue Data's angel round in 2016 and participated in its Series A in 2017.
Since its founding in 2016, Zhanlue Data has focused on the vertical track of the medical insurance aftermarket. Over the past five years, it has concentrated on serving medical payers and regulators through RPA+AI, providing enterprise-level big data solutions to national and local social security, medical insurance, audit, and civil affairs departments, as well as commercial banks, insurance companies, insurance intermediaries, HR service firms, and pharmaceutical enterprises. It has become an industry-leading RPA+AI risk control technology provider.
Zhanlue Data's closed-loop risk control solution for the financial insurance industry can effectively coordinate different business scenarios. Based on the distinct characteristics of regulatory agencies, commercial insurance, commercial banks, and audit institutions, it builds dedicated automated operations, anti-fraud, and anti-money laundering system solutions — achieving joint dynamic risk control throughout the product lifecycle to digitally empower partners. Zhanlue Data has established close partnerships with over 100 industry players.
Currently, Zhanlue Data's product portfolio includes an intelligent medical insurance claims platform, intelligent medical insurance risk control platform, long-term care intelligent management platform, big data anti-money laundering platform, IFRS17 system platform, and financial integrity system platform. Beyond providing full-process automation services for claims, adjustment, and risk control to commercial insurers, HR firms, and insurance brokerages, it also offers intelligent risk control, fund management, intelligent audit, anti-money laundering, and integrity system development to social security management agencies, audit institutions, and banks — supporting policy formulation and adjustment decisions.
New Brands · Yatsen Establishes Joint Labs in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Singapore for Color Cosmetics R&D
In December 2020, Yatsen Holding announced a strategic partnership with Sensient Technologies Corporation, with their jointly established Innovation Color Laboratory simultaneously inaugurated in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Singapore.
As the first Chinese beauty group to list on a US stock exchange, Yatsen has partnered with Sensient, the world's largest supplier of colors for food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. The joint laboratory will serve as a platform for co-developing color cosmetics products that meet world-class quality standards.
Once established, the laboratory will analyze color cosmetics trends in China and globally, conducting applied research in color innovation, raw material innovation, and quality management — jointly tackling pain points in color cosmetics production to enhance color performance, richness, safety, and naturalness of raw materials. The four major research directions include: color cosmetics innovation and application, new raw material research and application, raw material quality management, and technical challenge resolution.
Throughout 2020, Yatsen has focused on strengthening its R&D capabilities, with multiple projects accelerating. In June 2020, Yatsen's self-built product R&D center was completed in Guangzhou, featuring capabilities including raw material quality testing, formula development, technology exploration, efficacy evaluation, sensory evaluation, and safety assessment.
Additionally, Yatsen has established multi-directional raw material innovation partnerships with over five of the world's top cosmetics raw material suppliers, and formed clinical research collaborations with multiple renowned medical institutions at home and abroad.
Going forward, Yatsen plans to establish more than three international technology and product development platforms in Europe and Asia, dedicated to integrating global R&D capabilities — conducting research in cutting-edge raw material innovation, skin science, color innovation, product formulation and efficacy, and safer alternatives.
Fresh E-commerce · Dingdong Maicai Expands to Southwest China, Now Covering Over 20 Cities Nationwide
At the end of November 2020, Dingdong Maicai, a fresh grocery e-commerce platform built on "direct sourcing from origin + front warehouse fulfillment + 29-minute delivery," officially announced its expansion into Southwest China with its first stop in Chengdu.
Building on its deep cultivation of fresh produce operational capabilities and supply chain strength, Dingdong Maicai accelerated its national expansion starting in October 2020. Within one month, it established multi-point presence across East, North, and South China, expanding beyond first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to cover more than ten additional cities including Nanjing, Yangzhou, Ma'anshan, Langfang, and Foshan. Currently, Dingdong Maicai covers over twenty cities nationwide, processing 800,000 daily orders and serving nearly 30 million users across the country.
For its Chengdu launch, Dingdong Maicai will continue its front warehouse model positioned closest to consumers. Its initial batch of 17 warehouses essentially covers all urban districts of Chengdu, providing instant home delivery of fresh meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, vegetables, fruits, grains, and cooking oils to consumers within approximately 3 kilometers. Going forward, Dingdong Maicai will continue to penetrate the Chengdu area based on its initial front warehouses, gradually expanding service coverage to other western provinces and cities — bringing local consumers richer and more convenient choices for their daily groceries.
Ronghui · Tech Enterprises Visit Shanghai Stock Exchange
Since the establishment of the STAR Market with its pilot registration-based IPO system, the market has demonstrated strong inclusivity and industry clustering, with listed companies showing particularly notable innovation attributes and growth potential.
To help tech enterprises deepen their understanding of capital markets and encourage the cultivation of innovation-oriented companies for STAR Market listing, on December 23, 2020, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Gaorong Ventures held an exchange symposium for tech enterprises. The Shanghai Stock Exchange provided a systematic introduction to STAR Market institutional frameworks, positioning, issuance and listing conditions, and information disclosure standards for Gaorong portfolio companies, followed by on-site exchanges and Q&A sessions.
Recognition · Gaorong Ventures and Portfolio Companies Receive Multiple Awards
Recently, in Forbes China's 2020 China Best Venture Capitalists list, Chang Chen, founding partner of Gaorong Ventures, was ranked TOP 3 China Best Venture Capitalist, while founding partners Gao Xiang and Yue Bin were listed in TOP 100 China Best Venture Capitalists.
In 36Kr's 2020 China's Most Influential/Growing Investment Institutions and New Economy Top 10 Sector Investors/Investment Institutions lists, Gaorong Ventures was named to WISE2020 China's Most Influential Venture Capital Institutions TOP 20, and received multiple awards in consumer lifestyle, semiconductor, enterprise services, and healthcare sectors.
On December 19, 2020, the Fourth China Equity Investment Golden Bull Awards hosted by China Securities Journal announced Gaorong Ventures as winner of the Three-Year Golden Bull Venture Capital Persistent Excellence Institution.
Rui Han, partner at Gaorong Ventures, was named to the 2020 F40 China Young Investors list by Zero2IPO Group and PEDaily.
In Deloitte's 2020 China Technology Fast 50 and China Rising Star lists, Zhuiyi Technology, Geekplus, AIPark (Zhihui Hutong), and Zhanlue Data were named China Technology Fast 50, while Qian Damai, Genki Forest, Qiyuan World, XYZ Robotics, Shangjian Technology, and Hubo Technology were named China Rising Stars.
