Rongbao · July | Multiple Companies Close New Funding Rounds, Take the Lead in Their Sectors; Pinduoduo's Olympic Season Boosts Sports Consumption for All

About Rongbao: Published monthly, Rongbao curates noteworthy updates and insights from Gaorong Ventures and its portfolio companies. Each issue shares just ten items — covering not only major funding news and milestones, but also emerging trends, new creations, and fresh perspectives. As Gaorong's vision of "creating a better life" suggests, we believe every step of innovation brings infinite possibilities.

New E-Commerce: Pinduoduo Launches "Duoduo Gold Medal Season," Connecting Consumers with Olympic Athletes

From July 20 to August 8, Pinduoduo partnered with top international and domestic sports brands to launch its "Duoduo Gold Medal Season" promotion, offering consumers a wide selection of sports products and special deals during the Olympics. During this period, Pinduoduo became the exclusive e-commerce interactive platform — a top-tier strategic partner of China Media Group for major sporting events — with both parties collaborating on event marketing and livestreaming.

According to China's General Administration of Sport, the country's sports participation rate is growing at 39%, with the number of active participants expected to reach 500 million by 2025. As national income and living standards rise, the Olympics and the national fitness drive are accelerating the growth of China's sports economy. Pinduoduo stated that it will continue leveraging its platform strengths around sporting events to stimulate market vitality and consumer enthusiasm, contributing to the goal of making sports a pillar industry of the national economy. Amid the sports consumption boom, domestic recognition of local sports brands continues to climb — multiple products from Pinduoduo's official flagship stores and the "10 Billion Subsidies" channel have become breakout hits, signaling the arrival of an era where homegrown sports brands lead the competitive landscape.

New Brands: Genki Forest Opens Five Self-Built Factories, Pioneering the "Mega-Factory & Super City Cluster" Model

On July 20, Genki Forest's northern production base — the Tianjin Xiqing factory — officially began operations, achieving multiplicative growth in R&D and production capacity. The facility went from planning to full production in roughly six months, with projected annual output value of RMB 3 billion. Over the past year, Genki Forest has completed its five-factory layout in Tianjin Xiqing, Anhui Chuzhou, Guangdong Zhaoqing, Hubei Xianning, and Sichuan Dujiangyan, forming a nationwide footprint across North, East, South, Central, and Southwest China — pioneering what it calls the "mega-factory & super city cluster" model.

Since the commissioning of its Anhui Chuzhou, Guangdong Zhaoqing, and Tianjin Xiqing facilities, Genki Forest has cut order-to-retail time from 14 days to 7 days, doubling delivery efficiency. With all five factories operational, delivery efficiency and R&D output are expected to grow geometrically. The company has now reached international standards in production, technology, safety, quality control, and management. Notably, the Tianjin Xiqing factory offers customized e-commerce product services, enabling flexible fulfillment of diverse and personalized consumer demands.

Vocational Education: Kaikela (Kaikeba) Raises RMB 600 Million in Series B1, Advancing Online Vocational Education

Recently, Kaikela announced the completion of RMB 600 million in Series B1 funding. Gaorong Ventures had invested in Kaikela's Series A round in August 2020 and participated again in this round. Kaikela also announced a dual upgrade of its business and brand positioning, now focused on "online vocational education" — expanding into more diversified vocational training and talent services to help users achieve sustainable growth and workplace freedom.

Kaikela is the digital talent online education platform under Huikedu Group, launched in August 2013 and independently funded since 2020. With years of deep expertise in vocational education, from content development to model innovation, its robust middle-platform capabilities ensure optimal allocation of quality resources. The company continuously optimizes and expands its course offerings based on keen market insights, building a "lifelong learning" online vocational education platform that opens up freely chosen career advancement paths for users. Over the past year, Kaikela's digital talent training (DTG), exam preparation (ETG), and enterprise services (ESU) divisions have all seen rapid growth.

New Brands: Emerging Coffee Chain M Stand Raises Over RMB 500 Million in Series B

Recently, emerging coffee chain M Stand announced the completion of over RMB 500 million in Series B funding, with Gaorong Ventures participating. Positioned around "better coffee and a more stylish social space," M Stand has achieved rapid growth through standout capabilities in creative coffee development and aesthetic space design. This summer, its Fresh Coconut Iced Coffee and Oatmeal Cookie Latte became breakout products; its distinctive spatial design has also quickly made M Stand the most-photographed local coffee chain in China.

To date, M Stand has expanded from its Shanghai origins to Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, moving beyond "Instagram-famous" destinations into business, leisure, community, and transportation hub scenarios. The brand plans continued expansion in the second half of the year, with first stores in Beijing, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Chengdu plus national flagship locations set to open. M Stand is expected to surpass 100 stores within the year.

Since its founding, the team has adhered to its original vision of "More than coffee" — starting from specialty coffee to integrate classics, creativity, and aesthetic design into a young, trendy lifestyle. M Stand's product range has extended to trendy apparel and lifestyle merchandise.

New Technology: XYZ Robotics, Qi Yuan World, Hangzhou Nationalchip, Shexu Tech Complete New Funding Rounds

In July, XYZ Robotics announced the completion of $35 million in Series B funding. Gaorong Ventures had led XYZ Robotics' Series A round in 2019 and continued to invest in subsequent rounds. Founded in June 2018 and headquartered in Shanghai, XYZ Robotics provides end-to-end 3D vision picking solutions for logistics sorting, depalletizing/palletizing, industrial loading/unloading, and assembly — accelerating the era of fully autonomous robotic perception and manipulation.

Leveraging distinctive strengths in 3D vision algorithms, motion control algorithms, and gripper design, XYZ Robotics has dramatically accelerated commercial deployment over the past year. Its robotic picking solutions have now reached industries including e-commerce, logistics, manufacturing, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and daily chemicals, with products widely deployed at leading companies across these sectors.

Recently, general AI company Qi Yuan World announced the completion of RMB 300 million in Series A funding. Gaorong Ventures had led Qi Yuan World's angel round and continued to participate in subsequent funding. Qi Yuan World is a general AI company focused on cognitive decision-making, dedicated to creating great intelligent agent products and bringing intelligent agents into every industry, every home, and every person — enhancing industrial efficiency and life experiences.

"Build intelligence, inspire people; born from games, serving games, crossing from the digital world to the real world" is Qi Yuan World's strategic path. In digital entertainment, it has provided complete AI solutions for several well-known game developers, including virtual players, content generation, product recommendation, and numerical design applications. In intelligent decision-making, the company operates a leading intelligent agent training cloud platform and services, helping clients solve complex dynamic decision problems in gaming, optimization, and control — currently serving numerous Fortune 500 companies and research institutions.

This month, Hangzhou Nationalchip Technology Co., Ltd. ("Nationalchip") announced a strategic investment from Skyworth Group. Gaorong Ventures had invested in Nationalchip's Series C round in October 2020. Founded in 2001, Nationalchip specializes in chip design, system solution development, and chip sales for digital TV, home media centers, and AI. It has become one of the world's leading set-top box chip suppliers, with digital TV chip products deployed globally.

Nationalchip has also deepened its presence in AI, pioneering multiple IoT-focused AI chips with self-developed neural network processors, instruction sets, and compilers. Its AI business currently spans smart speakers, in-vehicle systems, smart home appliances, and wearables — covering the full "human-vehicle-home" scenario. With low power consumption, high performance, and high integration, Nationalchip's AI chips have gained strong recognition from leading algorithm and internet companies.

In July, industrial intelligent design cloud platform Shexu Technology announced the completion of tens of millions of RMB in Pre-A funding. Gaorong Ventures had invested in Shexu Technology's angel round in January 2021 and participated again in this round.

Shexu Technology integrates AI technology into industrial design software through its self-developed geometric and computational engines, combined with extensive project data, dramatically improving efficiency in industrial design, simulation, process planning, and manufacturing — compressing workflows from dozens of hours to minutes. Starting with intelligent design for automotive industry molds and fixtures, Shexu Technology now serves suppliers to SAIC, Great Wall Motor, Tesla, and NIO. Going forward, the company will further standardize its products, expanding beyond automotive molds and fixtures into automotive + 3C industrial scenarios and deeper into collaborative segments of the value chain.

Healthcare: Haijieya Medical, ProfoundBio, and YinJia Biotech Complete New Funding Rounds

Recently, Haijieya Medical announced the completion of its Series C+ round, with an exclusive investment from Gaorong Ventures — the company's second funding round in 2021. Founded in 2010, Haijieya Medical is a national high-tech enterprise dedicated to tumor minimally invasive intervention and cryomedicine. The company developed the world's first combined cryoablation and high-intensity thermal therapy system, the Cryo-Hit (Kangbodao), providing physicians with a comprehensive series of minimally invasive tumor diagnosis and treatment solutions.

Approved in 2017 through the "Innovative Medical Device" special review pathway, the Cryo-Hit can be used for both radical treatment of early-stage malignant tumors and debulking therapy for advanced cancers. It has now been widely applied in solid tumor treatment, demonstrating strong clinical efficacy and advantages in practice — offering new options for patients who have lost surgical opportunities or have contraindications or poor responses to radiochemotherapy. The system has completed thousands of ultra-low-temperature cryoablation minimally invasive procedures.

On July 12, ProfoundBio announced the completion of over $55 million in Series A funding. Gaorong Ventures had invested in ProfoundBio's Pre-A round and participated again in this round.

Founded in 2018, ProfoundBio is focused on developing next-generation large-molecule targeted therapeutics, with a pipeline centered on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other antibody-based treatment modalities. Addressing current pain points in ADC development, ProfoundBio is building innovative technology platforms to design and synthesize more ideal high-activity drugs with optimized mechanisms and physicochemical properties, and developing improved linkers for next-generation ADC creation — aiming to achieve greater breakthroughs in cancer treatment. Based on its innovative platforms, ProfoundBio has developed a pipeline of candidate drugs targeting solid tumor indications, currently in discovery and preclinical development stages.

On July 20, YinJia Biotech announced the completion of tens of millions of RMB in Pre-A funding, led by Gaorong Ventures. Founded in November 2020, YinJia Biotech earlier this year simultaneously established protein technology platform laboratories, diagnostic reagent R&D, and GMP pilot production facilities in Shanghai, Suzhou, and Beijing, alongside building out its technical R&D, production, and operations management teams.

In just a few months, YinJia Biotech has initially built out its protein development platform and successfully developed multiple unique raw materials including recombinant trypsin (r-Trypsin) with activity and stability rivaling Roche's products, and the extremely difficult-to-express calcineurin (PP2B). Other high-demand, high-technical-barrier raw material products are also nearing completion and market launch.

Enterprise Services: CloudXinda Technology Completes New Funding, Leading China's CDM Segment

Recently, CloudXinda Technology announced the completion of RMB 100 million in Series B funding. Gaorong Ventures had invested in CloudXinda's Series A+ round in 2020. Founded in 2015, CloudXinda Technology provides Copy Data Management (CDM) cloud data management products for enterprise modern data infrastructure, and is a leader in China's CDM segment. As a digital technology, CDM enables full lifecycle management of data assets, using copies as a common connection between an enterprise's stable and agile IT domains — improving the data connection and application experience while accelerating digital transformation.

CloudXinda's self-developed product, eCloud Data Master, end-to-end integrates "data protection, data management, and data services" across the full lifecycle of data asset management. On a complete replacement basis for international legacy backup vendors like Veritas and CommVault, it unlocks enterprise dark data, achieving integrated data operations and development with coordinated data protection and governance — building the data foundation for enterprise digital transformation. Over the past year, CloudXinda's CDM products have gained broad recognition in the large enterprise market, securing multiple Fortune 500 benchmark customers across industries.

Social Responsibility: Pinduoduo, Dingdong Maicai, Yatsen Holding, and Others Support Henan Flood Relief

Recently, severe flooding in Henan province has drawn national concern, with rescue forces urgently mobilizing to the disaster zone. Multiple Gaorong portfolio companies initiated donations or deployed corporate resources to assist in flood relief efforts.

On July 21, Pinduoduo made an initial emergency donation of RMB 100 million, directed toward relief work under the unified command of the Henan provincial government. Additionally, Zhengzhou Duoduo Maicai warehouses urgently inventoried all grid warehouse food, medicine, and emergency supplies, while rapidly coordinating with suppliers inside and outside Henan to procure necessary materials — making these available free of charge through nearly 20,000 local outlets to support nearby residents' emergency and daily needs.

On July 21, Dingdong Maicai donated RMB 5 million, to be used under the guidance of relevant Henan provincial government departments for essential living materials, flood control supplies, and emergency rescue operations for affected populations.

The same day, Perfect Diary parent company Yatsen Holding made an emergency donation of RMB 2 million to the Zhengzhou Red Cross to support local flood relief.

Gaotu Techedu founder Larry Chen donated RMB 20 million to support Henan, specifically for rebuilding schools in disaster areas.

Recognition: Gaorong Ventures Named Top 10 VC by Investment Competitiveness in Consumer Services

Recently, Gaorong Ventures received the "2020-2021 Investment Competitiveness in Consumer Services — Top 10 Venture Capital and Private Equity Firms" award from 21st Century Business Herald and 21st Century Innovation Capital Research Institute.

Gaorong Ventures Executive Director Xin Wang was named to Cyzone's "2021 40 Under 40 Investors" list.

Ronghui: To B Growth Camp Visits Alibaba; Founder Communication Workshop

In July, the Ronghui To B Growth Camp visited Alibaba, where over 40 To B entrepreneurs studied Alibaba's "Iron Army" forging methods and digital intelligence practices. Alibaba Group Partner Fang Yongxin (Dapao) shared the core spirit of the Alibaba Iron Army; Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Internet Industry General Manager Xu Dong (Chenghong) discussed sales system building and management methods based on Alibaba Cloud's sales system; DingTalk CTO and DingTalk Development Platform General Manager Cheng Caohong (Babu), and Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Strategic Partner Ecosystem Cooperation General Manager Li Li (Pushan) explored ecosystem collaboration opportunities with entrepreneurs around DingTalk ecosystem coordination and Alibaba Cloud ecosystem development; Alibaba New Business School Dean and Business Review Operations Director Zhengxiong systematically shared Alibaba's management "three axes" and corporate culture transformation.

In July, Ronghui hosted the "Founder Communication Workshop: Communication Creates Infinite Games," where Dedao App co-founder and CEO Tuo Buhua shared communication and organizational management insights drawn from her entrepreneurial journey. Topics included how to build a sense of meaning at work through communication, underlying principles for effectively motivating employees, and communication methodologies for high-frequency scenarios like motivation and coaching. She noted that every founder can profoundly shape an organization through the design of communication spaces, frequency, and atmosphere.