Chip companies, surgical robots, and consumer tech brands close new funding rounds | Rongbao · June

Independent R&D strengthens core competitiveness, exceptional solutions earn client recognition, and outstanding innovative brands and products win consumer favor... In this edition of the Gaorong Report, we bring together major funding rounds, world-class R&D breakthroughs, and key milestones and product innovations from Gaorong Ventures portfolio companies. Whether in frontier technology, healthcare, or consumer-facing sectors, sparks of innovation are blooming this summer.

Funding

Jingneng Microelectronics Completes Series A Round to Advance Power Semiconductor R&D, Manufacturing, and Applications

Jingneng Microelectronics recently completed its second funding round, led by existing investor Gaorong Ventures. Gaorong Ventures previously participated in Jingneng's Pre-A round in 2022.

As a power semiconductor company under Geely, Jingneng focuses on the development and innovation of Si IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs, leveraging integrated capabilities in chip design, module manufacturing, and automotive-grade certification to deliver high-performance power products and services for new energy vehicles, electric motorcycles, photovoltaics, energy storage, and new energy ships.

In March 2023, Jingneng announced the successful tape-out of its first self-developed automotive-grade IGBT product. The new chip met all design parameter requirements, laying groundwork for subsequent power chip development. Recently, Jingneng also announced that its 750V platform IGBT chip for passenger vehicle motor control systems has entered mass production, while its 1200V platform IGBT for commercial vehicles has achieved successful tape-out. Its self-developed modules demonstrate excellent performance and have secured design wins for certain vehicle models. Read more

ESWIN Computing Raises Over 3 Billion Yuan in Series D to Drive Scaled Application of RISC-V Architecture Chips

ESWIN Computing recently announced the completion of a Series D round exceeding 3 billion yuan, led by Financial Street Capital with co-leadership from Guoxin Venture Capital, and participation from Yizhuang State Investment, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Phase II, and other institutions. Gaorong Ventures previously participated in ESWIN Computing's Series B round in 2020.

ESWIN Computing is a next-generation computing architecture chip and solution provider centered on RISC-V. Since its founding in 2019, the company has remained committed to independent R&D of RISC-V computing architecture and advancing the scaled application of RISC-V architecture chips.

Currently, ESWIN Computing has established a full-stack hardware-software platform with a portfolio of 32-bit and 64-bit CPU IPs. Its self-developed 32-bit CPU IPs cover various embedded application scenarios from ultra-low-power electronic tags to high-efficiency wireless connectivity; its 64-bit high-performance self-developed CPU IPs have been deployed in multimedia, wireless routing, and edge computing applications; and its automotive-grade 32-bit and 64-bit CPU IPs are used in vehicle microcontrollers, assisted driving, and connected vehicle scenarios, further expanding and enriching the RISC-V application ecosystem.

ESWIN Computing has already established partnerships with multiple global strategic customers. Going forward, the company will continue to iterate and expand its product matrix while promoting open collaboration across the semiconductor industry chain through open-source ecosystems and common technology development platforms, helping to enable full-scenario deployment of the RISC-V industry.

Cornerstone Robotics Completes New Funding Round to Accelerate Global Expansion of High-Quality Chinese Surgical Robots

On June 30, Cornerstone Robotics, a leading Chinese innovative surgical robotics company, announced the completion of a new funding round of several hundred million yuan. Investors in this round include Daohe Technology Investment and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, with multiple existing investors making additional investments. Gaorong Ventures co-led Cornerstone Robotics' angel round in 2019 and has continued to support the company through subsequent rounds.

Cornerstone Robotics is dedicated to building safe and efficient surgical robot platforms. The company has completed the construction of its underlying technology platform and industrialization platform, with independent R&D and self-controlled mastery of core technologies including mechanical architecture, electrical architecture, software architecture, complex algorithms, and visual imaging systems, achieving a multi-pipeline layout spanning soft tissue surgical robots and other major specialty surgical robots.

In 2022, Cornerstone Robotics achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first Chinese innovative surgical robotics company to conduct clinical trials in international markets with a global-facing approach.

To date, the company's self-developed multi-port laparoscopic surgical robot has successfully completed urology animal trials as well as multiple high-difficulty surgeries in human clinical trials for urology and general surgery, earning high praise from numerous top clinical experts both domestically and internationally for its outstanding performance. The first-generation laparoscopic surgical robot will also apply for medical device certification globally, with subsequent approvals and market launches to follow. Read more

Nothing Raises $96 Million in New Round, Global Sales Surpass 1.5 Million Units

Consumer tech brand Nothing recently completed a new $96 million funding round led by European fund Highland Europe, with participation from Google Ventures, Swedish fund EQT Partners, C Capital, Swedish House Mafia, and Essential Capital. Gaorong Ventures previously participated in Nothing's Series B round in 2022.

Nothing's first product, the wireless earbuds Ear (1) launched in 2021, sold over 600,000 units globally. In 2023, Nothing released its second-generation TWS earbuds, Ear (2).

Nothing's product line continues to expand. In 2022, Nothing launched its first smartphone, Phone (1), targeting the mid-to-high-end market. According to CNBC statistics, Phone (1) sold over 500,000 units. Nothing is also set to release Phone (2) on July 11. Over the past two years, Nothing has sold over 1.5 million devices including phones and wireless earbuds.

Phone(2) is coming

On the distribution front, Nothing has over 230 channel partners across Western Europe, North America, the Middle East, Japan, and Korea, including carriers such as Deutsche Telekom and Singtel. Nothing has also established a presence in overseas luxury and lifestyle retail channels, including KITH, Selfridges, Lane Crawford, HBX, Tsutaya Books in Japan, and MoMA Design Store.

By the Numbers

Snack Busy Surpasses 3,000 Stores Nationwide, Strengthening Supply Chain System

In June, Snack Busy announced that its total number of stores nationwide has surpassed 3,000. In the first half of 2023 alone, the brand added over 1,000 new stores, and continues to expand at a rapid yet steady pace of "opening an average of six new stores per day."

Since 2023, Snack Busy has steadily advanced its national expansion from its Hunan home base. The brand has already entered markets including Guangxi, Guangdong, and Guizhou, with its sights set next on Henan, Chongqing, Sichuan, and Yunnan.

Snack Busy operates primarily through a franchise model with brand-standardized operations, building out a "store standardization system" and "unified product supply." At the same time, the company is reinforcing its national supply chain infrastructure to support coordinated store and brand development through efficient logistics. On May 31, Snack Busy's Huaihua warehousing and logistics center officially came online, becoming the company's fifth major warehousing and distribution hub following the Changsha main warehouse, Nanchang branch, Hengyang branch, and Jingmen branch.

Currently, Snack Busy's five supply chain centers cover over 100,000 square meters. The Changsha main warehouse alone can handle a daily throughput of 300,000 units, with inventory turnover of approximately 5-7 days.

Xinhuazhang Releases China's First Hardware Emulation System Supporting Over 10 Billion Gates

On June 15, Xinhuazhang, a leading domestic provider of system-level verification EDA solutions, officially released HuaEmu E1, China's first hardware emulation system designed to support capacities exceeding 10 billion gates, capable of meeting verification demands for chip application systems of over 15 billion gates.

The product is based on independent R&D and achieves multiple breakthroughs in domestic verification technology, featuring large-scale scalable verification capacity, automated implementation tools, full-flow intelligent compilation, high-speed runtime performance, and powerful debugging capabilities — thereby facilitating hardware-software co-development, enhancing system-level innovation efficiency, and empowering development across high-performance computing, GPUs, artificial intelligence, intelligent driving, wireless communications, and other application domains.

In the system-on-chip design process, HuaEmu E1 integrates Xinhuazhang's self-developed automated, intelligent full-flow compilation software HPE Compiler, which can automatically achieve complete system-on-chip emulation and conduct hardware emulation consistent with real-world usage scenarios, enabling system-level verification and debugging of full-chip functionality, performance, and power consumption — significantly enhancing verification performance and ease of use.

HuaEmu E1 has already been delivered to multiple leading domestic chip design and system-level users for actual project deployment.

Qihe Shengke Co-Develops Novel Independent Base Editing System

On June 27, the prestigious international journal Cell published online the latest tool development paper titled "Discovery of new deaminase functions by structure-based protein clustering," a collaboration between Qihe Shengke and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology. The study proposes a novel strategy for functional protein mining based on protein three-dimensional structures. Using this strategy, the researchers identified numerous novel deaminases that had not been properly classified or characterized, and developed a series of base editing systems with diverse functional properties based on these newly discovered deaminases — achieving more efficient, precise, and safer gene editing in both plants and animals, laying important tool foundations for plant genetic improvement and treatment of genetic diseases.

The researchers first used AlphaFold2 for batch 3D structure prediction of representative potential deaminase sequences, then innovatively expanded structure-based phylogenetic analysis of the deaminase family through multiple protein structure alignments, successfully classifying potential deaminases into 20 distinct structural branches. Within the SCP1.201 branch, researchers identified 45 novel active single-strand cytosine deaminases (Sdd) and 13 double-strand cytosine deaminases (Ddd), and developed a series of novel base editing systems based on them. Among the newly developed single-strand base editing systems, Sdd7 and Sdd3 demonstrated very high editing activity and distinct sequence preferences respectively; Sdd6 showed high specificity with virtually no detectable off-target events at tested sites.

Qihe Shengke focuses on developing independently controllable novel precision gene editing technologies and creating superior biological traits. This newly developed independent base editing tool will break foreign monopolies on underlying base editing patents and enhance China's core competitiveness in biological breeding.

Cholesgen Pharma Enters Three-Year New Drug R&D Collaboration with AstraZeneca

On June 16, Cholesgen Pharma announced the launch of a three-year R&D collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop innovative drugs for hypercholesterolemia and related metabolic diseases. The collaboration will leverage the complementary strengths of both parties to advance selected Cholesgen Pharma early-stage R&D projects into clinical development. Cholesgen Pharma will receive an upfront payment, as well as corresponding licensing payments upon AstraZeneca exercising its clinical development option for each project.

This collaboration originates from original scientific research by Chinese scientists on novel biological targets and mechanisms, representing an exploration of innovative partnership models between internationally renowned pharmaceutical companies and Chinese biotech firms — reflecting the broader trend of China's flourishing basic science innovation being translated into global pharmaceutical innovation.

Hyperlipidemia is a major risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Despite years of progress in preventive interventions, ASCVD remains the world's leading cause of death.

Cholesgen Pharma is dedicated to developing first-in-class drugs, focusing on novel disease targets and building on foundations in biochemistry, disease biology, medicinal chemistry, and clinical translational medicine to carry out innovative drug R&D for cholesterol-related diseases.

Abogen Biosciences' First Oncology mRNA Drug Receives Clinical Trial Approval

Abogen Biosciences recently received approval from the National Medical Products Administration for the clinical trial application of ABO2011 injection, its first mRNA drug candidate in oncology, for the indication of advanced solid tumors that have progressed or metastasized following systemic standard treatment.

The approved ABO2011 (a lipid nanoparticle injection encoding IL-12 mRNA) is a novel anti-tumor drug encoding human IL-12 mRNA, which activates immune cells to exert anti-tumor activity through IL-12 protein expression.

Abogen Biosciences possesses industry-leading, independently intellectual property-protected mRNA and nano-delivery technology platforms, and is one of the few domestic companies with complete value chain capabilities in mRNA drug development, covering mRNA design, formulation development, and large-scale production. The company has established a rich product pipeline spanning infectious disease prevention including mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, tumor immunotherapy, and protein replacement therapy.

In addition to the newly approved ABO2011, several other Abogen Biosciences tumor mRNA products have successively entered investigator-initiated trial (IIT) stages. Among them, a lung cancer neoantigen mRNA product co-developed with Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health launched its IIT study in May of this year, with the first dose cohort already completed. Relevant data shows the product's favorable safety profile.

Unknown Enters Three-Area Deep Collaboration with Mead Johnson China to Accelerate Precision Nutrition Microecology Health Management Layout

On June 12, internationally renowned nutrition brand Mead Johnson China signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Unknown to collaborate across three major areas: building an AI + microecology innovation platform — a full-lifecycle health microecology precision nutrition efficient development platform driven by AI and intelligent bioinformatics analysis; constructing precision nutrition health management solutions; and developing functional probiotic nutrition product pipelines.

Health microecology is a cutting-edge field currently attracting significant scientific attention. Frontier scientific exploration has revealed that human microecology influences the full lifecycle, with relevance to immunity, brain development, bone health, emotional health, and metabolic/chronic disease management.

This collaboration marks an important milestone for Unknown in leveraging its AI microbiome research and industrial translation platform to empower the precision nutrition and health industry. To date, Unknown has also built a nationally leading microecology pipeline matrix, including XBI-302 — Asia's first FMT drug to receive FDA IND approval — and KEX02, one of the first domestic microbial live biotherapeutic product (LBP) pipelines to obtain FDA IND approval.

Jun

Horizons

Innovusion's Path of Innovative Breakthroughs: "China's LiDAR Development Has Reached the Global Frontier"

Ziniao x LinkFox AI Assistant Newly Launched: Comprehensively Enhancing Cross-Border Operations Efficiency

Jun

Recognition

Recently, Gaorong Ventures was named to 36Kr's 2023 Top 15 Most Entrepreneur-Friendly Venture Capital Firms. Gaorong Ventures founding partner Bin Yue and partner Kun Yang were listed among 36Kr's 2023 Most Entrepreneur-Friendly Investors, and partner Rui Han was recognized as a 2023 "36Under36" investor.