About Rongbao

In the long cycle of continuous innovation, the deeper your understanding, the more possibilities you see — and the more willing you become to put in greater effort. This issue of Rongbao brings together Gaorong Ventures' portfolio companies' latest funding updates from March, and shares remarkable breakthroughs and creations from a data perspective, along with insights and viewpoints worth sharing.

MAR

Funding

#01

XVERSE Raises $120 Million to Build Next-Generation 3D Content Platform

On March 11, XVERSE announced the completion of its Series A+ round, led by HSG, with Temasek and CPE Source following on. Existing shareholders Gaorong Ventures, 5Y Capital, and Hillhouse continued to increase their stakes from the angel round onward. The previous Series A was led by Hillhouse, with the two rounds totaling $120 million. Gaorong Ventures was a co-lead investor in the company's angel round and continued to participate in both the Series A and A+ rounds.

Founded in early 2021 in Shenzhen, XVERSE is building a next-generation one-stop platform for 3D content production and consumption, pioneering a new 3D experience that is large-scale, realistic, multi-dimensional, and lightweight. The company aims to accelerate 3D transformation across entertainment, social, marketing, e-commerce, and other industries, realizing its vision of letting everyone freely "define your world."

Beyond the traditional client-side and cloud-based solutions in the industry, XVERSE has developed proprietary "client-cloud collaborative" 3D interactive technology that breaks through multiple technical limitations, integrating core technologies spanning graphics, high-performance computing and storage systems, audio/video encoding and decoding, real-time communications, and AI algorithms. XVERSE will continue to innovate on underlying technology and product experience, accelerating the buildout of 3D infrastructure. Read more

#02

Global Emerging Tech Consumer Brand Nothing Closes $70 Million Series B

On March 9 local time in London, Nothing announced a $70 million Series B round co-led by EQT Ventures and C Ventures, with Gaorong Ventures, Google venture arm GV, Future Shape (founded by iPod inventor Tony Fadell), and metaverse gaming platform Animoca Brands participating. To date, the Nothing brand has raised $144 million in total.

Nothing is a London-based consumer tech company dedicated to removing barriers between people and technology, creating a seamless digital future through simple, beautifully designed products. In August 2021, Nothing launched its first product, the carbon-neutral true wireless earphones ear (1), with shipments exceeding 400,000 units.

Nothing plans to collaborate with Qualcomm Technologies and its Snapdragon platform, with former Dyson design head Adam Bates leading new product development at its new London design center.

On March 23, Nothing held a launch event titled "THE TRUTH," announcing its first smartphone, the Nothing phone (1). The phone (1) will run Android with a custom operating system called Nothing OS, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. The product will officially launch in summer 2022. Nothing OS aims to build an open, seamless ecosystem delivering fast, smooth, and personalized experiences. Read more

#03

US E-Bike Brand Aventon Raises Tens of Millions of Dollars in First Funding Round

Recently, leading US E-Bike brand Aventon announced the completion of a tens-of-millions-of-dollars first funding round, exclusively invested by Gaorong Ventures, further accelerating its path to leadership in the US electric bicycle market.

E-Bikes combine outdoor sports, urban leisure, and commuting attributes, becoming the most popular lifestyle choice in current American outdoor and leisure culture.

Aventon is an outdoor sports brand born on American soil. Since starting with fixed-gear bicycles in 2013, it quickly rose to become the #1 brand in the US through outstanding product strength and appeal among trendsetting consumers. Aventon has complete in-house R&D, design, and manufacturing capabilities, along with localized operations and sales. Its operations team is entirely US-based; 100% of online sales come through the Aventon official website, while offline it has over 300 stores across the US and has entered Best Buy, the country's largest home appliance retail channel.

Aventon has created differentiated products with clear user-perceivable value tailored to American users in both appearance and functional design, and has also taken an early lead in bike-to-phone connectivity, building the most active E-Bike community in the industry. Read more

MAR

By the Numbers

#01

Pinduoduo: Q4 and Full-Year 2021 Financial Results — Profits Prioritized for "10 Billion Agricultural R&D Initiative"

On March 21, Pinduoduo released its Q4 and full-year 2021 financial results. As of the end of 2021, Pinduoduo's annual active buyers reached 868.7 million, up 10% year-over-year.

The company reported Q4 revenue of RMB 27.231 billion and full-year revenue of RMB 93.950 billion. Under GAAP, Q4 operating profit was RMB 6.907 billion.

The results showed double growth in both annual GMV and average annual spending per active buyer (ARPU). Annual GMV reached RMB 2,441 billion, up 46% year-over-year, while ARPU was RMB 2,810.0, up 33% year-over-year.

In August 2021, Pinduoduo announced the establishment of the "10 Billion Agricultural R&D Initiative" to advance the universal accessibility of agricultural technology, directing all profits from Q2 and Q3 to this initiative. Q4 profits will also be invested in agricultural R&D, continuing to deepen Pinduoduo's efforts in agricultural digitization to connect more agricultural regions and farmers directly to the digital economy.

#02

Innovusion: Image-Grade Ultra-Long-Range LiDAR Powers NIO ET7 Mass Delivery, 1550nm Wavelength

On March 28, NIO's intelligent flagship electric sedan ET7 began deliveries. The ET7 is equipped with NIO's Aquila super-sensing system, whose "watchtower" sensor layout includes one ultra-long-range high-precision LiDAR from Innovusion.

This LiDAR uses 1550nm wavelength laser, with maximum detection range of 500 meters, 250 meters at 10% reflectivity, 120° ultra-wide field of view, and 0.06°*0.06° ultra-high resolution — making it the world's first high-performance LiDAR to achieve large-scale mass production. The deployment of high-performance LiDAR brings safer, more comfortable, and more intelligent experiences to advanced assisted driving.

This marks the first delivery of a global ultra-long-range high-precision LiDAR to end users, representing a milestone for high-performance LiDAR mass production and establishing Innovusion as one of the first global providers capable of large-scale mass production of high-performance LiDAR.

#03

Biren Technology: Successfully Powers On BR100, China's Highest-Performance General-Purpose GPU

On the evening of March 31, Biren Technology successfully powered on its first general-purpose GPU chip, the BR100 series, on the first attempt. By core performance design standards, the BR100 series is China's highest-performance general-purpose GPU chip. This marks Biren Technology as one of the very few domestic high-end GPU chip companies to truly reach international top-tier levels in core performance.

The BR100 series is developed based on Biren Technology's proprietary original chip architecture, using mature 7nm process technology and incorporating multiple cutting-edge chip design, manufacturing, and packaging technologies including Chiplet. It delivers advantages in high computing power, high energy efficiency, and high versatility. Currently, testing and optimization work surrounding the BR100 series general-purpose GPU chips is progressing smoothly.

At the same time, Biren Technology continues to build a complete, user-friendly software platform and technical ecosystem, committed to helping users achieve "seamless migration" between ecosystems through software-hardware collaborative optimization, so that performance specifications can truly translate into powerful "effective computing power." Upon completion of follow-up work, computing products equipped with Biren Technology's BR100 series general-purpose GPU chips will be officially released to the market.

#04

WallabyPhenox: Esperance® 6F Aspiration Catheter Approved with NMPA and FDA Dual Certification, 0.071" Ultra-Large Lumen Design

On April 2, WallabyPhenox's self-developed Esperance® 6F aspiration catheter received NMPA approval for market launch, becoming the world's first "dual-certified" domestic aspiration catheter to obtain both NMPA and FDA approvals. The market launch and clinical application of this innovative product demonstrates the hard power of Chinese intelligent manufacturing, and empowers the global goal of "first-pass recanalization" in mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke.

The Esperance® 6F aspiration catheter's large 0.071" lumen delivers greater aspiration force to improve first-pass recanalization rates in aspiration thrombectomy; its proprietary coating process, combined with thin walls and multi-segment gradual transition design, provides stable navigability for overall catheter support and high positioning; it can also be used with pressure extension tubing.

Since its founding, WallabyPhenox has empowered medical institutions in the neurointervention field with a strong portfolio of medical device products, benefiting domestic stroke patients. To date, in addition to the Esperance® series aspiration catheters, the AvenirTM series coils have also received NMPA approval for market launch.

#05

InventisBio: China's First "Recombinant Botulinum Toxin Type A" Approved for Clinical Trials

On March 24, InventisBio announced that its subsidiary Yuyan Pharmaceutical's independently developed recombinant botulinum toxin type A for injection has received a Drug Clinical Trial Approval Notice from the NMPA, and will soon commence clinical trials in China for the indication of improving moderate to severe glabellar lines. The company is currently the only Chinese enterprise to successfully achieve recombinant botulinum toxin type A production and advance to the clinical stage.

Currently, all botulinum toxin type A products approved domestically and internationally are derived from pathogenic Clostridium botulinum, carrying relatively high safety risks in production. Producing botulinum toxin through an entirely new recombinant protein technology route can significantly reduce safety risks while substantially improving product purity. InventisBio has established a presence in ophthalmic drugs, recombinant protein botulinum toxin, small-molecule immunological drugs, and cell therapy, with the vast majority of its products being breakthrough First-in-Class innovative drugs.

MAR

Horizons

#01

GalaxySpace: Second Batch of Mass-Produced Satellites Successfully Launched, Forming China's First Low-Orbit Broadband Communications Test Constellation

#02

Dingdong Maicai: On March 29, Provided 280,000 Supply-Guaranteed Meal Kits for Shanghai's Lockdown-Control Areas

MAR

Perspectives

#01

Bin Yue, Founding Partner of Gaorong Ventures: Tech Entrepreneurship Is a Decathlon

Source: 36Kr "X·36Under36" Expert Interview

Technology has always been in a long cycle of continuous innovation and development. Today, technological innovation has entered a state of multiple fields, multiple layers, diverse players, and abundant talent.

Tech entrepreneurship is a decathlon competition — technology, product, commercialization, organization, fundraising, and more are all indispensable. It's difficult for early-stage companies to possess all these capabilities; what ultimately matters is the founder's learning ability. If we're talking about what technology matters most for humanity to cross the stars and find new homes? Interstellar engines are certainly important, but what's most important is humanity's ability to learn and evolve.

Today's entrepreneurial and competitive environment places higher demands on founders, and equally higher demands on investors — whether they can provide targeted help to companies, aggregate industry, strategic, and government resources, and empower entrepreneurs more deeply.

Technology is truly fascinating. The deeper your understanding, the more possibilities you see, and the more willing you become to make greater efforts and commitments. Read more

#02

Ronghui · Macro Strategy Season Series Events

Strategic Core Concepts in The Art of War Yuzhen Gong, Renowned Management Professor, Doctor of Military Science

The core of The Art of War can be summarized in three keywords: 1) Strategy: revealing the fundamental principles of winning wars from a strategic height. 2) Winning without fighting: pursuing victory without fighting, achieving maximum gain at minimum cost. 3) Wisdom: emphasizing victory through wisdom rather than simple resource consumption.

Victory = Strength × Strategy. Victory is a function of strength and strategy. Strategy amplifies the effectiveness of strength and increases the probability of victory.

The true purpose of competition is to create a long-term strategic environment more conducive to development. Strive as much as possible at the levels of strategic planning and diplomacy; even if engaging in military conflict, fight with wisdom, and avoid siege warfare whenever possible. Read more

2022 China "Three Engines" Trajectory Zhuo Tan, Director of Macro Research Institute, China Merchants Bank

This year's government work report set a 2022 GDP growth target of 5.5%, which holds great significance for all market entities. We see that the government hopes to use proactive policies to push the economy back to its potential level. This target is extremely challenging and requires comprehensive and proactive policy responses, including fiscal policy, monetary policy, industrial policy, and dual-carbon policy. We are confident in ultimately achieving this growth target.

Looking at the three engines, "stabilizing exports" has become more difficult. As global COVID-19 becomes normalized, foreign demand for goods faces marginal decline, though there is some short-term resilience due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Second, consumption is constrained by COVID-19 — during the pandemic, month-on-month consumption growth is clearly negatively correlated with new confirmed case numbers. Faced with export and consumption constraints, investment will become the main lever for "stabilizing growth" policies. Read more

2022 Corporate Financing and IPO Strategy Biwei Wu, Senior Partner at Futu

There is actually no such thing as perfect timing for an IPO. From initiation to completion, the process generally takes more than 8 months, and future market conditions are highly uncertain. When listing conditions are met, start the process as soon as possible. After going public, solve problems as they arise — don't just wait.

Once listed, a new refinancing window opens. Take Futu as an example: Futu went public on Nasdaq in March 2019 and has conducted multiple follow-on offerings since. This has laid a solid foundation for business development, sustainable operations, and navigating this round of market volatility. As they say, "with grain in hand, the heart is unflustered." Read more