Rongbao · November | New milestones for drug R&D, chips, and autonomous driving; UJU Media lists on Hong Kong Stock Exchange Main Board
New funding, new products, new applications.
About Rongbao: Rongbao is a monthly digest that curates noteworthy news and insights from Gaorong Ventures and its portfolio companies. Each issue spotlights ten items — covering not only major funding announcements and milestones, but also emerging trends, new creations, and fresh perspectives. True to Gaorong's vision of "creating a better life through innovation," we believe every step forward in innovation unlocks infinite possibilities.
IPO · Online Marketing Services Provider UJU HOLDING Lists on Hong Kong Stock Exchange Main Board
On November 8, UJU HOLDING LIMITED, one of China's largest online marketing services providers, listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock code 1948.
Founded in 2017, UJU HOLDING primarily provides advertisers with one-stop cross-media online marketing solutions through media partners, with particular strength in short-form video marketing. According to iResearch, the company ranked second among online marketing services providers by total billings from short-form video advertising in 2020; it was also China's second-largest provider by billings from ads placed on short-form video platforms that year. Additionally, by billings from comprehensive e-commerce platform advertisers on short-form video platforms in 2020, UJU HOLDING was China's largest online marketing services provider.
Driven by strong capabilities in ad performance optimization, content production, and technology enablement, the company's online marketing solutions revenue grew rapidly from 1.16 billion yuan in 2018 to 3.45 billion yuan in 2019, reaching 6.36 billion yuan in 2020.
UJU HOLDING has established long-term partnerships with numerous premium media partners, including leading Chinese short-form video platforms, social media platforms, and search engines.
The company previously received investments from ByteDance, Xiaomi, and Gaorong Ventures, among others.
Drug R&D · Abogen Biosciences Closes $300 Million Series C+ Round to Accelerate Clinical Development of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine
On November 29, Abogen Biosciences announced the completion of a $300 million Series C+ financing round, jointly led by SoftBank and existing shareholder 5Y Capital. This follows the company's Series C round of $720 million in August. Gaorong Ventures previously participated in Abogen's Series C round.
Founded in early 2019, Abogen Biosciences is an innovative biopharmaceutical company focused on messenger RNA (mRNA) drug development. Since its inception, the company has built a robust product pipeline covering infectious disease prevention and tumor immunology, powered by its industry-leading proprietary mRNA and nano-delivery technology platforms. In June 2020, its novel coronavirus mRNA vaccine, developed in collaboration with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and Walvax Biotechnology, received clinical trial approval from the National Medical Products Administration — becoming the first mRNA vaccine approved for clinical trials in China. The vaccine is currently in Phase III clinical trials, and the company obtained a Drug Manufacturing License for its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in November 2021.
This financing will support Abogen in accelerating clinical development and international expansion of its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, enhancing its mRNA platform R&D competitiveness through cross-disciplinary technologies including artificial intelligence, rapidly expanding its clinical pipeline, scaling up manufacturing capacity, and accelerating its commercialization strategy.
Medical Devices · Innovative Surgical Robotics Leader Cornerstone Robotics Closes 500 Million Yuan Series B Round
In November, Cornerstone Robotics, a leader in innovative surgical robotics technology, announced the completion of its Series B financing. The 500 million yuan round attracted several well-known industry investors including Lilly Asia Ventures, Meituan Longzhu, and New World Development Group, while existing shareholders Gaorong Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners, Qingsong Capital, and K2VC continued to increase their investments. Gaorong Ventures had co-led Cornerstone's angel round in 2019 and has invested in subsequent rounds.
Founded in September 2019, Cornerstone's founding team comprises world-class surgical robotics experts with decades of industry experience. The company is dedicated to developing innovative surgical robots, with a multi-product pipeline spanning soft tissue surgical robots and other major specialty surgical robots. It has completed development of its multi-port laparoscopic surgical robot product and is rapidly advancing toward clinical trials. The product has received unanimous praise from numerous top clinical experts domestically and internationally for its smooth operation, precise control, realistic visualization, and outstanding performance — positioning the company at the forefront of domestic technology.
After two years of rapid growth, Cornerstone has established R&D centers in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and the United States, assembled a professional team of several hundred people, and built out its underlying technology and industrialization platforms. The company has fully mastered and achieved independent R&D of core technologies including mechanical architecture, electrical architecture, software architecture, complex algorithms, and visual imaging systems.
Drug R&D · MingMed's HPK1 Small Molecule Inhibitor Clears US IND
On November 19, MingMed announced that its First-in-Class HPK1 small molecule inhibitor PRJ1-3024, targeting a novel tumor immunology target, had cleared the FDA's Investigational New Drug (IND) procedure, enabling formal initiation of Phase I clinical trials in the United States.
HPK1 is an important target in tumor immunology. Targeting HPK1 can effectively regulate several important immune cell types and activate their synergistic anti-tumor effects. PRJ1-3024 is a fully independently developed product by MingMed, ranking in the global first tier with advantages including better selectivity. Clearing the US clinical application process marks MingMed's formal entry into the hundred-billion-dollar track of tumor immunology innovative drugs.
MingMed also announced that its First-in-Class ophthalmic drug QA102 for dry age-related macular degeneration (Dry AMD), being developed in the United States, has successfully completed dosing of all subjects in its Phase I clinical trial and will soon formally enter Phase II clinical trials. This will fill the gap for a First-in-Class ophthalmic innovative drug developed by a Chinese team to reach global Phase II clinical trials.
New Consumption · Hellobike Completes New Funding Round, Providing Eco-Friendly and Accessible Mobility and Lifestyle Services
On November 9, Hellobike, a leading local mobility and lifestyle services platform in China, announced the signing of a new funding round totaling $280 million from investors including Ant Group and Alibaba. This brings Hellobike's total 2021 fundraising to over $500 million.
Hellobike evolved from a shared bike business into a diversified mobility and lifestyle services platform encompassing two-wheel mobility (Hellobike bicycles, e-bikes, electric vehicles, and Xiaoha battery swapping), four-wheel mobility (Hellobike ride-sharing, aggregator hailing, and taxi services), and emerging local lifestyle services (Hellobike hotels, in-store group buying, and more). In 2020, Hellobike provided over 5.2 billion trips and local lifestyle services.
To date, Hellobike's shared two-wheel services have entered over 400 cities (including county-level cities) with more than 500 million registered users, covering over 1,000 universities and 500 scenic areas. Hellobike ride-sharing covers over 300 cities with more than 10 million certified drivers. As a key new business focus this year, Hellobike Electric Vehicle launched three smart electric vehicle models and has begun building internal production capacity. Xiaoha battery swapping, focused on two-wheel battery exchange, covers nearly 300 cities with tens of thousands of daily battery swaps.
As China steadily advances its "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" goals, Hellobike will continue providing the public with more eco-friendly and accessible mobility and lifestyle services.
Autonomous Driving · Nuro Pilots Autonomous Delivery Service with 7-Eleven in California
Recently, autonomous vehicle company Nuro announced a partnership with 7-Eleven to pilot autonomous delivery services in California.
Nuro is dedicated to improving everyday life through robotics. The company develops electric autonomous vehicles for delivering anything consumers need to their homes. This collaboration with 7-Eleven marks California's first commercial automated delivery service. Customers in the service area can order through the 7NOW delivery app, with fulfillment via Nuro's autonomous vehicle fleet.
Previously, Nuro had piloted automated local delivery services in communities across Texas, Arizona, and California, advancing its vision of reducing human driving and boosting local commerce. In early November, Nuro announced the completion of a $600 million Series D round.
Semiconductors · Xinhuazhang Releases Multiple New Products, Building Comprehensive Digital Verification Solutions
On November 24, Xinhuazhang, a leading EDA (electronic design automation) intelligent software and systems company, officially released four proprietary digital verification EDA products and its unified underlying framework, the FusionVerify Platform. Achieving multi-tool collaboration while lowering the barrier to EDA usage and improving overall chip verification efficiency, this represents a significant milestone for China's independently developed integrated circuit industry ecosystem.
EDA serves as the foundational key technology connecting and running through chip and technology application development. Xinhuazhang targets future-oriented development and intelligent design flows for digital systems, integrating artificial intelligence and cloud-native technologies to drive independent innovation in EDA software and hardware underlying frameworks.
The platform and products released include:
FusionVerify Platform: Comprising five product series — logic simulation, formal verification, intelligent verification, FPGA prototyping systems, and hardware emulation systems — plus three foundational components: intelligent compilation, intelligent debugging, and an intelligent verification cockpit.
HuaPro-P1: High-performance FPGA prototyping system
GalaxSim-1.0: Industry-leading digital simulator in China
GalaxPSS: Next-generation intelligent verification system
GalaxFV: China's first EDA tool for scalable formal verification based on word-level modeling
Click to view the conversation with Xinhuazhang Chairman and CEO Libin Wang.
Semiconductors · Raysolve Closes Pre-A Round, Full-Color Micro-LED Micro-Display Chips Powering Consumer AR Applications
Recently, Raysolve announced the completion of a multi-million-dollar Pre-A financing round, led by Gaorong Ventures with Yaotu Capital participating.
Founded in 2019, Raysolve is a high-tech company focused on Micro-LED micro-display chip architecture design, process technology, and monolithic full-color technology research. The core team originates from the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, with years of experience in cutting-edge optoelectronic chip design and manufacturing. In 2019, the team released the world's first monolithic full-color Micro-LED micro-display chip in Silicon Valley.
Raysolve's proprietary CoANODE™ ultra-high-brightness Micro-LED chip architecture, combined with large-size GaN-on-Silicon epitaxial wafers and colorization coatings, produces ultra-high-precision full-color Micro-LED micro-display chips that meet the display requirements for small-form-factor, high-brightness interactive applications such as AR smart glasses.
Additionally, Raysolve's unique large-size epitaxial transfer technology ensures ultra-high pixel density and high manufacturability while delivering higher performance and lower power consumption — further cementing its industry leadership.
Raysolve's full-color Micro-LED micro-display chips will help enable consumer-grade AR smart glasses, providing end consumers with entirely new experiences; future applications may also include HUD (head-up displays), 3D printing, maskless lithography, and more.
Robotics · Flexiv Unveils Composite Mobile Adaptive Robot Solution for Automated EV Charging
As the new energy vehicle industry develops, demand for automated and widely available car charging has grown increasingly significant. To meet this demand and further empower partners in the smart mobility sector, Flexiv has introduced a highly versatile, flexible, safe, reliable, and easily deployable composite mobile adaptive robot solution for automated new energy vehicle charging.
Adaptive robots feature high-precision, high-frequency force sensing and control capabilities, tolerating positioning errors from mobile platforms and surrounding environments. During insertion, they achieve flexible connection through force-controlled wobbling, completing the plug-in action within 5 seconds.
After moving near the charging port, the robot uses machine vision to capture the charging port's specific location, employing pixel-level fine-grained convolutional neural network algorithms for deep learning, supplemented by data-driven environmental adaptability, to achieve efficient and accurate secondary positioning of the charging port and equipment.
Additionally, Flexiv's independently developed general grasping algorithm enables the robot to quickly grasp unknown objects without prior modeling, with low sensitivity to lighting conditions. This allows the solution to universally adapt to charging guns of different brands and models, and to perform grasping tasks stably even under poor lighting conditions.
Ronghui · Beijing Stock Exchange Opens: Strategic Choices and Keys to Success for Innovative Companies' A-Share IPOs
On November 15, the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) rang its opening bell. Li Xudong, Executive Committee Member and Managing Director of CITIC Securities' Investment Banking Division, drew on his extensive experience with the registration-based IPO system and deep involvement in the New Third Board and BSE reforms to share his interpretation of BSE policy with entrepreneurs at a Ronghui online session, offering practical and rational guidance on listing planning. (Click to view the full presentation)
Li noted that the significance of the BSE extends beyond adding another stock exchange — more importantly, by shifting and expanding its service scope, it pushes forward further reform of the registration-based system in both substance and scope, meeting the needs of the national innovation-driven development strategy and stimulating the vitality of innovative SMEs.
