Gaorong Bulletin · April | Gaorong Ventures Actively Responds to "Zhongguancun Venture Capital Anti-Epidemic Investment Initiative," Joins First Batch of China Equity Investment Fund Managers' Creditworthy Red List

Editor's Note: The Rong Bulletin arrives monthly, curating noteworthy updates and insights from Gaorong Ventures and its portfolio companies.

Each issue shares just ten items — covering important funding news and milestones, but also highlighting emerging trends, new innovations, and fresh perspectives.

In the spirit of Gaorong's vision to "create" a better life, we believe every step of innovation opens up infinite possibilities.

Wishing everyone a wonderful May Day holiday!

VC Fighting COVID-19 · Beijing Zhongguancun Management Committee launches "Zhongguancun VC Anti-Epidemic Investment Initiative," with Gaorong Ventures among first responders

On April 23, the Zhongguancun Management Committee announced at an online press conference that it had joined with 30 venture capital firms to launch the "Zhongguancun VC Anti-Epidemic Investment Initiative," committing roughly 30 billion yuan in investment capacity focused on accelerating deployments in the first half of 2020. The initiative targets high-quality technology SMEs in seed and growth stages, aiming to mobilize private investment and help promising tech companies weather the storm and develop steadily.

The initiative will concentrate on Beijing's high-end, precision, and advanced industries; key industries in the Zhongguancun demonstration zone; and sectors that played critical roles during the pandemic and align with Zhongguancun's "Tech Fighting COVID-19" ten-point measures and emerging industry directions — including life and health, digital economy, collaborative office solutions, and unmanned delivery.

Chang Chen, founding partner of Gaorong Ventures, attended the press conference as a representative of the first batch of partner institutions. He noted, "Gaorong Ventures will actively respond to the call of the Zhongguancun VC Anti-Epidemic Initiative, using concrete investment actions to continue backing high-quality science and innovation companies, especially early-stage projects."

Industry Self-Regulation · Gaorong Ventures joins first batch of China Equity Investment Fund Managers Credit Red List

To standardize private equity fund operations, protect investor rights and interests, facilitate fair and transparent evaluation systems and mechanisms for the industry, and promote healthy development of the private equity fund sector, the China Technology Finance Promotion Association Venture Investment Committee and China Fund of Funds Alliance, in accordance with relevant State Council opinions and regulations from the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, and China Securities Regulatory Commission, introduced the credit red list system for China's equity investment industry for the first time in April 2020. Going forward, the system will function across the private equity investment industry as a credit record and constraint mechanism for self-regulation of fund activities.

On April 29, the first batch of China Equity Investment Fund Managers Credit Red List was officially announced. Gaorong Ventures was among the inaugural institutions joining the "Venture Investment Fund Managers Credit Red List."

Recognition · Gaorong Ventures named to CB Insights "Global Emerging Technology Venture Capital Firms China List"

On April 7, leading market data research platform CB Insights, in partnership with DeepTech, released its 2020 "Global Emerging Technology Venture Capital Firms China List," with Gaorong Ventures making the cut.

Gaorong Ventures approaches technology investment with reverence, going deep in artificial intelligence, smart hardware, robotics, and other emerging technology fields. The firm seeks top-tier teams with profound understanding of technology evolution and imaginative grasp of its commercial value, having backed world-class technology companies including Nuro, YITU, Roborock (688169.SH), and NYSE: ZEPP.

In its citation for the list, CB Insights noted that Gaorong Ventures "upholds a belief in and reverence for technology's value to humanity, conducts research deep into the technology itself, understands the characteristics of technology entrepreneurship, and collaborates with top research institutions, universities, and industry partners — making it a venture capital firm that deeply comprehends technology development trends and commercial application scenarios."

Recognition · Chang Chen and Gao Xiang named to Forbes 2020 Midas List; Yue Bin honored as 2020 China 40 Under 40 Outstanding Young Direct Investment Fund Investor

On April 14, Forbes released its 2020 Midas List of the world's best venture capitalists. Chang Chen and Gao Xiang, both founding partners of Gaorong Ventures, ranked 18th and 68th respectively — marking their second consecutive appearance following their 2019 debut. Forbes noted that one-fifth of this year's Midas List honorees are based in China, reflecting the country's growing influence in investment and technology circles. In a Forbes interview, Chang Chen stated, "We remain firmly bullish on China. Investing in technology and innovation is, we believe, the greatest opportunity facing the future."

On April 29, Yue Bin, founding partner of Gaorong Ventures, received the "2020 China 40 Under 40 (40U40) Outstanding Young Direct Investment Fund Investor" award from the China Technology Finance Promotion Association Venture Investment Committee and China Fund of Funds Alliance.

New E-Commerce · Pinduoduo releases 2019 annual report, becomes China's second-largest e-commerce platform by user scale

Pinduoduo recently released its 2019 annual report. The report showed that in 2019, Pinduoduo achieved gross merchandise volume of 1.0066 trillion yuan and annual revenue of 30.14 billion yuan. By the end of 2019, Pinduoduo's annual active buyers reached 585.2 million, making it China's second-largest e-commerce platform by user volume.

In response to market shifts triggered by the pandemic this year, Pinduoduo has rolled out successive initiatives including the "Anti-Epidemic Agricultural Assistance Special Action," "City and County Mayor Livestreams," "Industrial Belt Resumption Live Broadcasts," and "Pinduoduo Trade Fairs," continuously advancing the digitalization and intelligent transformation of agricultural production areas and industrial belts, and helping foreign trade enterprises upgrade under "normalized epidemic prevention and control." Going forward, the platform will make long-term investments in China's agriculture and manufacturing sectors, driving "new infrastructure" development including agricultural big databases and industrial belt C2M transformation, and continuing to lead growth in the online new economy.

Zheng Huang released a letter to shareholders alongside the annual report, stating, "We will invest even more firmly in the future, striving to build the new world before us. In this new world, our wonderful journey has only just begun."

Fresh Retail · Dingdong Maicai officially enters Beijing, accelerating cross-regional expansion

On April 21, Dingdong Maicai, a leading domestic fresh food new retail company, officially launched services in Beijing. Originally starting in Shanghai, the company has risen rapidly on the strength of an extreme fast-delivery user experience built on "guaranteed quality, guaranteed timing, full selection, and 29-minute home delivery."

Dingdong Maicai's first 18 front warehouses are distributed across communities in Huilongguan, Shuangqiao, Qingnian Road, and other areas, with plans to continuously open new front warehouses to achieve citywide coverage.

Dingdong Maicai front warehouse seafood section

As one of the fastest-growing companies in fresh food e-commerce, Dingdong Maicai's performance in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta markets has validated strong user acceptance of its model. Serving the Beijing market represents another step in the company's cross-regional expansion and penetration.

Dingdong Maicai uses big data and artificial intelligence to manage its back-end operations and forecast inventory, enabling each front warehouse to more precisely meet nearby community demand and achieve targeted, abundant selection. This also helps front warehouses better control shrinkage — currently below 1%. On the supply chain side, Dingdong Maicai goes directly to origin sources for centralized procurement, cutting out numerous intermediary links in traditional agriculture to further reduce fresh food prices. The company has already gone deep into areas including Dali in Yunnan and Zunyi in Guizhou, investing in the construction of multiple "Dingdong Maicai Cooperative Planting/Breeding Bases." Currently, 80% of Dingdong Maicai's ingredients come from direct sourcing at origin.

E-Commerce · Influencer e-commerce service platform Mokua Technology completes over 100 million yuan Series C

Mokua Technology, an influencer e-commerce service platform, recently completed a Series C financing of over 100 million yuan, led by Zhongyuan Capital with participation from Gaorong Ventures and others.

Founded in 2015, Mokua Technology's founding team hails mainly from Alibaba, with deep expertise in e-commerce SaaS systems and services. In early 2018, Mokua received strategic investment from Kuaishou, becoming — alongside Taobao — one of the first external service providers integrated into Kuaishou's e-commerce ecosystem, supplying e-commerce transaction SaaS tools for Kuaishou influencers.

In 2019, Mokua formally moved into supply chain operations, building out a complete influencer e-commerce supply chain system with hundreds of thousands of "direct-from-source" product SKUs concentrated in food, beauty, home goods, and other categories.

Currently, Mokua has over one million registered influencers, focused primarily on mid-tier and long-tail creators. Beyond supply chain services, Mokua has also built a professional training team, providing systematic coursework that has already trained and empowered tens of thousands of livestreamers.

Autonomous Driving · Nuro provides medical supply unmanned delivery service in California to help fight the virus

Silicon Valley autonomous driving company Nuro recently began deploying its unmanned delivery vehicle R2 to transport medical supplies to two field hospitals in California treating COVID-19 patients, providing essential logistics services for frontline healthcare workers battling the virus.

The two hospitals currently served by Nuro are located in Sacramento and San Mateo. R2 focuses on delivering virus test kits, medications, personal protective equipment, food, water, and office supplies for medical staff. Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson said, "By using R2 to provide contactless delivery solutions in Sacramento and San Mateo, we can help healthcare workers access needed supplies whenever required, saving them time while also helping enhance safety and health for both patients and staff."

In February this year, Nuro received approval to deploy delivery vehicles without side mirrors, steering wheels, or other manual controls — becoming the first unmanned vehicle operator approved by the U.S. federal government. In April, Nuro became the second company (after Google Waymo) to receive permission from the California state government to test fully unmanned delivery vehicles on public roads.

AMR · Geekplus unveils world's first double-deep tote-to-person robot, setting new AMR benchmark

In April, global AMR leader Geekplus announced the release of C200M, the world's first double-deep, multi-tote tote-to-person robot — achieving the highest single-layer storage capacity of any AMR solution to date. The C200M's innovative double-deep design supports narrow aisles as slim as one meter, potentially saving up to 50% of in-warehouse aisle space and reducing rental costs.

Additionally, the C200M extends the effective vertical storage range of robotic warehouses, covering an ultra-wide spectrum from 0.215 meters off the ground up to 5 meters. By fully utilizing both horizontal area and vertical space, C200M robotic warehouses achieve 2.5 times the storage capacity of manual warehouses.

At a time when warehouse rental costs account for nearly 40% of overall operating expenses, the C200M helps enterprises alleviate cost pressures by compressing warehouse footprint and boosting storage efficiency, while empowering smarter, more flexible, and more agile warehouse operations through intelligent robotics.

As an AMR leader with over 10,000 units deployed globally, Geekplus maintains sales, operations, and service capabilities spanning 20 countries, with industry-leading commercial deployment scale. Geekplus has already empowered nearly 300 globally recognized brands including Nike, Decathlon, Walmart, Yonghui, and Suning.

Ronghui · Seeking new growth paths for To B enterprise services, building efficient R&D systems

On April 11, Gaorong Ventures and Canjian Academy co-hosted an online seminar on "New Growth Paths for 2020 To B Enterprise Services." Liu Xinhua, investment partner at Gaorong Ventures, drew on ten years of observing enterprise service companies and case studies of overseas benchmark companies including Zoom, Slack, Salesforce, and Dropbox to map out new thinking and models for enterprise service growth. The event also featured a dynamic online panel moderated by Xin Wang, executive director at Gaorong Ventures, bringing together seven seasoned practitioners from the To B service space to focus on core topics including capturing industry trends, finding market entry points, selecting customers, and achieving effective growth.

At an online interactive salon in Gaorong Ventures' "Building Internal Strength: Entrepreneurship Leadership Battlefield" series, co-hosted with Tsinghua University's PBCSF Global Entrepreneurship Leadership Program, Shihai Gong, founder of HiCTO and former CTO of Dianping, drew on years of frontline technology management experience to prescribe "remedies" for pain points around technology systems and team building at startups.