Rongbao · February | Pinduoduo Awarded "National Advanced Collective in Poverty Alleviation," Chip and Medical Companies Complete New Funding Rounds

About Gaorong Post: Published monthly, Gaorong Post curates noteworthy updates and insights from Gaorong Ventures and its portfolio companies.

Each issue shares just ten items — including key funding news and milestones, but also fresh trends, innovations, and perspectives we find worth highlighting.

As Gaorong Ventures works toward its vision of "creating a better life through innovation," we believe every step forward opens up infinite possibilities.

New E-commerce · Connecting Over 12 Million Agricultural Producers, Pinduoduo Honored as "National Advanced Collective in Poverty Alleviation"

On February 25, the National Summary and Commendation Conference on Poverty Alleviation was held in Beijing. Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Pinduoduo), representing internet companies, received the honor of "National Advanced Collective in Poverty Alleviation."

Founded on agricultural products and rooted in rural China, Pinduoduo is the country's largest platform for agricultural goods moving upstream from farms to consumers. Through its "Cloud Aggregation of Farmland" technological innovation system, the company has directly connected with over 12 million agricultural producers and helped lift more than one million people out of poverty.

In recent years, Pinduoduo's high-frequency agricultural product consumption has driven growth across all product categories. In 2019, the platform's annual GMV surpassed one trillion yuan, with agricultural and sideline products accounting for 136.4 billion yuan. In 2020, agricultural GMV exceeded 270 billion yuan, maintaining triple-digit growth.

In its poverty alleviation efforts, Pinduoduo has adapted to China's agricultural development conditions. Using big data, cloud computing, and distributed AI technology, it matches dispersed agricultural production capacity with scattered consumer demand in the "cloud." Through its pioneering "Cloud Aggregation of Farmland" system, the platform enables large-scale upstream movement of agricultural products, allowing goods from impoverished regions to bypass traditional distribution constraints and reach the national market directly. Under this system, Pinduoduo has produced over 1,500 agricultural products with single-item orders exceeding 100,000 units.

Building on this system, Pinduoduo has advanced a strategy of "local talent, local industry, local benefit" — cultivating local business leaders, exploring technology-driven poverty alleviation applications, and innovating industry-based poverty alleviation products. This comprehensive approach has made poverty alleviation scalable and sustainable. To date, the platform has directly facilitated the return of over 100,000 new agricultural entrepreneurs to their hometowns.

Online Education · Gaotu Techedu Partners with China Charities Aid Foundation for Children and Huayi Foundation to Support Rural Left-Behind Children

Recently, Gaotu Classroom — the K12 online education arm of Gaotu Techedu — partnered with the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children and Shenyang Huayi Foundation to donate online courses for primary, middle, and high school students to 784 rural left-behind and disadvantaged children in Shenyang and Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, providing academic tutoring and other learning support services.

Gaotu Classroom employs a "star teacher instruction + dual-teacher tutoring" live-streaming model, dedicated to providing educational products and services for children aged 6 to 18. Its head teachers include national-level backbone teachers, renowned primary and secondary school subject leaders, national college entrance exam graders, and Tsinghua and Peking University graduates. Through continuously refined curriculum development, the platform delivers quality educational resources to students nationwide via large-class live streaming.

Gaotu Classroom has long focused on educational poverty alleviation, hoping that online education can bridge regional and urban-rural gaps while achieving broad accessibility. In January 2020, Gaotu Classroom donated 20,000 premium winter break live courses worth 20 million yuan to students in Wuhan.

On March 2, GSX Techedu (now Gaotu Techedu) announced that an independent review conducted by third-party advisors engaged by the company's independent audit committee had been substantially completed. The review found no evidence that would materially affect the company's previously issued financial reports regarding allegations in short-seller reports.

New Brands · Yatsen Announces Acquisition of International Premium Skincare Brand Eve Lom

In early March, Yatsen Holding, a leading company in China's fast-growing beauty market, announced its planned acquisition of skincare brand Eve Lom. The seller is Manzanita Capital, which will retain a minority stake in the business and enter into a strategic partnership with Yatsen. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks.

Founded in 1985 in London by renowned European celebrity facialist Eve Lom, the brand launched its eponymous product line with the philosophy that "great skin begins with a great cleanse." Over the 35 years since its iconic Cleanser debuted, the brand has pursued the combination of high-quality natural ingredients with cutting-edge technological innovation, creating an award-winning range of premium skincare products. Eve Lom has also built an excellent global retail network with notable success in Asian markets and e-commerce channels, earning the loyalty of consumers worldwide.

Jinfeng Huang, founder, chairman, and CEO of Yatsen, stated that Yatsen will work with the Eve Lom team to build the next globally influential beauty brand for the new era.

Previously, Yatsen had launched three high-growth color cosmetics and skincare brands — Perfect Diary, Little Ondine, and Abby's Choice — and acquired the renowned premium skincare brand Galénic.

New Retail · Dingdong Maicai Builds Smart Agriculture Bases in Jinshan and Fengxian, Supporting Agricultural "New Infrastructure"

On February 26, Dingdong Maicai's experimental base in Langxia Town, Jinshan District, Shanghai held its harvest ceremony. The harvested vegetables, after processing at sorting centers, are delivered through cold chain logistics to over 200 front warehouses across Shanghai.

In September 2020, Langxia Town and Dingdong Maicai signed an agreement for a smart agriculture demonstration park project, marking the company's first self-operated vegetable cultivation base in Jinshan. The 200-acre experimental base features automated irrigation, environmental control systems, and air and soil temperature and humidity monitoring — all remotely controllable via mobile phone, enabling full traceability and monitoring of crop growth.

Dingdong Maicai is increasingly moving toward production, strengthening quality and food safety controls at the source. The Jinshan base handles the entire process from breeding, soil preparation, planting, cultivation, and harvesting. It is planned to become a GAP-certified cooperative base for "green vegetables."

Beyond Jinshan, Dingdong Maicai signed a cooperation agreement with Xinsi Economic Cooperative in Zhelin Town, Fengxian District, Shanghai, to build a smart agriculture demonstration park. The planned investment is 50 million yuan for approximately 368 acres, cultivating top-ten bestselling varieties on the Dingdong platform.

Smart agriculture is seen as a technology with the potential to spark a new agricultural revolution. As it gradually takes hold, it may fundamentally transform agricultural production and organization, driving the sector toward digitalization, standardization, and intelligence.

Online Recruitment · BOSS Zhipin Releases Spring Employment Trends Report, Post-Holiday Job Market Shows Strong Recovery

On February 25, BOSS Zhipin Research Institute released its "2021 Spring Festival Post-Resumption First Week Employment Trends Observation." According to the report, market recruitment demand grew rapidly in the first week after the 2021 Spring Festival, up 124% year-over-year compared to 2020.

The data shows a robust supply-and-demand dynamic in the 2021 peak season. White-collar workers, blue-collar workers, and college students all showed surging activity, while employers posted significantly more positions across categories — particularly in tourism, catering, retail, and other sectors heavily affected by the pandemic, as well as among small and medium enterprises. Micro and small enterprises accounted for 56% of post-holiday recruitment demand, showing exceptionally strong hiring needs. Among companies with fewer than 100 employees, the highest demand came from internet (18.1%), lifestyle services (17.3%), and education and training (12.6%).

Recruitment demand grew across all enterprise types. Lifestyle services, consumer goods, and machinery manufacturing saw the fastest year-over-year growth in talent demand. This year's blue-collar return-to-work wave was nearly synchronized with white-collar hiring. In the first week after the holiday, lifestyle service positions grew 6.1% as a proportion of total recruitment.

In campus recruitment during the first week after the 2021 Spring Festival, internet/IT, education and training, and real estate remained the top three industries by hiring volume for fresh graduates. Additionally, consumer goods companies' graduate recruitment demand surged 268% year-over-year, while culture/entertainment and healthcare grew 183% and 173% respectively.

New E-commerce · Dewu App Launches "Art" Section, Crossing Over "Trend + Art"

On February 10, Dewu App launched its "Art" section, encompassing works in calligraphy, painting, sculpture, multimedia installation, and other forms. Users can browse and purchase pieces from renowned artists including Chen Yujun, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, and Izumi Kato, as well as emerging artists such as Digiway, Ouyang Ru, Zhu Jingyi, Zhao Yiqian, and Whatshisname.

Dewu is a world-leading next-generation trend e-commerce community, combining authentic trend retail with a lifestyle community to meet young users' diverse demands for trend culture and fashion consumption.

Dewu stated its hope to create a more accessible way for users to experience art anytime, anywhere — helping Chinese young people discover and access unknown beauty, while giving outstanding new-generation artists more opportunities to shine and be seen by young audiences.

Semiconductors · XinYaohui Raises Over 400 Million Yuan in Two Rounds to Develop Advanced Process Chip IP and Accelerate Chip Innovation

On February 24, leading chip IP company XinYaohui announced the completion of angel and Pre-A rounds totaling over 400 million yuan, with Gaorong Ventures participating in the Pre-A round.

XinYaohui is a high-tech company dedicated to advanced semiconductor IP R&D and services, empowering chip design and system applications. Through self-developed advanced process chip IP products, it responds to China's rapidly growing chip and application demands, comprehensively enabling chip design.

Chip IP is the fundamental building block of large-scale digital chips and the core component of chip design. Since its founding in June 2020, XinYaohui has rapidly assembled a team of top international chip talent, committed to self-developing advanced process chip IP products and solutions. It provides industry-leading IP technology and support to serve critical sectors of the digital society, including data centers, smart vehicles, high-performance computing, 5G, IoT, AI, and consumer electronics.

With its existing industry-advanced and reliable IP technology and products, XinYaohui has quickly established its collaborative ecosystem through upgraded technical services, connecting applications, chip design, and chip manufacturing. This ecosystem provides a positive feedback loop between market demand and product R&D, accelerating the company's development of advanced IP.

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** Robotics · Flexiv Releases Heavy-Duty Adaptive Robot RIZON 10

On February 14, Flexiv released the higher-payload adaptive robot RIZON 10, with maximum payload of 10kg, extended reach of 810mm, consistent dexterity and whole-body force control, broader force application range, and adaptability to more heavy-duty scenarios.

Flexiv is a world-leading general-purpose intelligent robotics company, dedicated to developing and applying the most advanced humanoid robotics and AI technology to empower all industries. In April 2019, Flexiv unveiled Rizon, the world's first adaptive robot, at Hannover Messe in Germany, subsequently winning iF Design Award and German Innovation Award.

By the end of 2020, Flexiv had completed production of 100+ adaptive robots. Its industrial applications, refined through long-term process optimization and on-site validation, have achieved multiple deployments with repeat orders from well-known customers in automotive, 3C electronics, and internet industries, with operations spanning China, North America, Europe, and Korea.

Drug R&D · Firebraise Bio Completes A++ Round, Leading Nervous System Drug Development Through Independent Innovation

Recently, Firebraise Bio announced the completion of its A++ round, co-led by Gaorong Ventures. Gaorong Ventures had previously led Firebraise Bio's A+ round in October 2019. Since its founding, the company has raised a total of $25 million.

Firebraise Bio was co-founded by renowned neuroscientist Professor Bai Lu of Tsinghua University and former GSK Vice President Dr. Xiaoming Guan. Leveraging the founders' decades of accumulated knowledge, experience, unique insights, and cutting-edge technologies in neuroscience and drug R&D, the company focuses on neurotrophic factor signaling pathways and neuroinflammation mechanisms to develop original new drugs for major neurological diseases including stroke, ALS, chronic pain, glaucoma, and Alzheimer's disease.

Over two years of operations, Firebraise Bio has assembled its core technical team, management team, and clinical team, with an increasingly robust drug pipeline. The company is now rapidly advancing monoclonal antibodies and small molecule drugs from its pipeline toward clinical trials.

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** Healthcare · Westlake Omics Completes Tens of Millions of Yuan Seed Round, Advancing Proteomics Research for Precision Diagnostic Support

Recently, Westlake Omics announced the completion of a seed round of tens of millions of yuan, co-led by Gaorong Ventures.

Founded in July 2020, Westlake Omics is dedicated to combining proteomics big data with artificial intelligence. Based on mass spectrometry-based biosample digitization technology, it develops new clinical diagnostic methods using proteomics and other molecular omics to enable precision diagnostic support for major human diseases such as cancer.

In recent years, advances in molecular medicine, big data technology, and AI have accelerated proteomics development, demonstrating increasing application potential in precision medicine. Dr. Tianguang Guo, founder of Westlake Omics, is a renowned proteomics expert and specially appointed researcher at Westlake University's School of Life Sciences, with multiple original technological achievements in proteomics technology development and application.

Westlake Omics has assembled an interdisciplinary team spanning proteomics, clinical medicine, and AI, and is comprehensively advancing "next-generation mass spectrometry clinical translation" research. The company focuses on solving practical clinical problems, with particular emphasis on precision subtyping, prognosis prediction, and precision treatment of major human diseases such as cancer and metabolic disorders. Currently, Westlake Omics provides diagnostic support for precision diagnosis and treatment of thyroid nodules and other conditions.