About This Issue

February — a month of spring's renewal, the energy of the Winter Olympics, and a time for creation and sowing seeds of something beautiful. This issue of the Gaorong Newsletter gathers the latest funding updates from Gaorong Ventures' portfolio companies since the new year, shares key milestones through a data lens, and highlights interesting new products and perspectives from friends of Gaorong through video.

Feb.

Funding

#1

Global E-Commerce SaaS Platform Dianxiaomi Raises $100 Million in Series C, Serving Over 1.2 Million Global Merchants

On March 1, global e-commerce SaaS platform Dianxiaomi announced the completion of a $100 million Series C round. The round was co-led by Tiger Global Management and China Renaissance's New Economy Fund, with existing shareholders GGV Capital, CDH Investments VGC, and Gaorong Ventures participating. Gaorong Ventures, which led Dianxiaomi's Series B+ round in 2021, continued to increase its stake in this round.

Founded in 2014, Dianxiaomi is dedicated to providing global e-commerce sellers with one-stop SaaS services and has become one of the most valuable service providers in the global e-commerce SaaS space. To date, Dianxiaomi serves more than 1.2 million global merchants and has established deep partnerships with over 50 top global e-commerce platforms, more than 800 quality logistics providers, and over 60 overseas warehouses, processing annual order transaction volumes exceeding 300 billion RMB. In recent years, Dianxiaomi has achieved consecutive annual business growth of over 100%.

Dianxiaomi has built out its product matrix across multiple dimensions. Beyond its core product — the free cross-border e-commerce ERP "Dianxiaomi ERP" — the company has successively launched Amazon refined operations management system "Saihu ERP," Southeast Asia local e-commerce ERP "BigSeller," Latin America local e-commerce ERP "UpSeller," cross-border shared warehousing service "Xiaomi Cloud Warehouse," global intelligent customer service system "Duoke," and global logistics tracking platform "17TRACK." Read more

#2

Southeast Asian Beauty Brand Y.O.U Closes $40 Million Series C, Leading Beauty Industry in Emerging Markets

On February 16, Southeast Asia's leading beauty brand Y.O.U announced the completion of a $40 million Series C round. The round was led by Hidden Hill Capital, with SIG, Gaorong Ventures, ATM Capital, eWTP Arabia Capital, and M31 Capital participating. Gaorong Ventures had led the company's Series B round in March 2021.

Y.O.U is an integrated color cosmetics and skincare brand in Southeast Asia. Since launching in Indonesia at the end of 2018, it has expanded to the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and other markets. Y.O.U's founding team comes from the OPPO ecosystem and brings extensive experience in Southeast Asian full-chain retail and beauty, with deep roots in local markets across the region.

In just three years, Y.O.U has built out comprehensive online and offline distribution across multiple channels, including beauty specialty stores, department stores, convenience stores, and major e-commerce platforms, with offline presence at nearly 40,000 points of sale. On product development, Y.O.U leverages China's mature beauty supply chain, giving it significant advantages in product quality, iteration speed, and cost. Tailored to Indonesian skin characteristics, Y.O.U has launched locally developed skincare-integrated complexion products, anti-aging serums, and other product lines. Read more

#3

Huaxan Bio Completes Nearly 300 Million RMB Series B, Accelerating Industrialization of 3D Cell "Smart Manufacturing"

Beijing Huaxan Biotech, a company focused on innovative 3D cell technology, recently announced the completion of a nearly 300 million RMB Series B round. The round was co-led by Gaorong Ventures, CICC Capital's Zhongjin Qide Fund, and Zhongjin Qiyuan National Emerging Industry Venture Capital Guidance Fund, with new and existing shareholders including China SinoVac and CNBG participating.

Huaxan Bio was founded in 2018 by the research team of Professor Du Yanan from Tsinghua University School of Medicine. The company focuses on building an original 3D cell "smart manufacturing" platform, providing comprehensive solutions for large-scale, customized cell expansion processes based on 3D microcarriers, addressing critical pain points in the global cell industry.

Huaxan Bio's core product, 3D TableTrix® microcarrier tablets, is an independently innovated, first-in-class pharmaceutical excipient-grade microcarrier suitable for cell drug development. Building on 3D microcarrier cell culture technology, Huaxan Bio has further developed the 3D FloTrix® large-scale fully automated cell preparation process system. Compared to traditional manual 2D cell culture, Huaxan Bio's 3D cell large-scale "smart manufacturing" system can help customers save approximately 90% of production space, 90% of labor, 60% of reagent and consumable costs, and 60% of time costs.

Huaxan Bio's products and services can be widely applied to upstream process development for gene and cell therapy, extracellular vesicles, vaccines, and protein products. They also have broad application prospects in regenerative medicine, organoids, and food technology (cultured meat, etc.). To date, Huaxan Bio has served hundreds of leading industry clients in stem cells, vaccines, gene therapy, and immunotherapy. Read more

#4

Cascadia Therapeutics Closes Nearly 100 Million RMB Pre-A+ Round, Accelerating Nuclear Receptor and GPCR Innovative Drug R&D

On February 8, Cascadia Therapeutics (Shanghai) announced the completion of a nearly 100 million RMB Pre-A+ round. The round was led by Westlake Innovation Investment, with existing shareholders Gaorong Ventures, Fuhui Venture Capital, and Gemdale Capital continuing to participate. Gaorong Ventures had led Cascadia Therapeutics' Pre-A round in October 2020.

Founded in 2017, Cascadia Therapeutics specializes in original innovation in nuclear receptor and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targeted drugs, focusing on unmet clinical needs in metabolic and inflammatory diseases, with an emphasis on early drug discovery, development, and subsequent commercialization.

Cascadia Therapeutics' R&D team is co-led by internationally renowned structural biologists and top scientists in the nuclear receptor field. Founder Dr. Xu Huaqiang has long been engaged in structural research and drug development of nuclear receptors and GPCRs, having resolved the three-dimensional structures of nearly one-third of nuclear receptors and a series of important GPCRs.

Cascadia Therapeutics has established a rich and risk-balanced pipeline of Class I new drugs. Among them, CS0159, a non-bile acid full agonist targeting FXR, received clinical trial approvals from the FDA and China's National Medical Products Administration in October 2021 and January 2022 respectively. The company has initiated Phase I clinical trials in the U.S. for primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), recently completing Cohort II dosing, with potential to provide safe and effective treatment options for patients. This candidate has received FDA orphan drug designation for PSC. Read more

#5

Aozhe Network Completes Hundreds of Millions of RMB Series C, Making Digitalization Accessible Through Low-Code

Enterprise digitalization service provider Shenzhen Aozhe Network Technology announced the completion of a Series C round of hundreds of millions of RMB. The round was led by Maixing Investment and Oriental Fortune Capital, with existing shareholders Huatai Innovation, Gaorong Ventures, and CE Innovation Capital participating. Gaorong Ventures had led Aozhe's Series B round in 2019 and has continued to invest in subsequent rounds.

In the era of digital-native business, low-code has become the "optimal solution" for enterprise digitalization. Nearly six years since its first low-code product "Chuan Cloud" launched on DingTalk in 2016, Aozhe has entered the full commercialization stage of low-code. The company has built a comprehensive PMF matrix: "Chuan Cloud" for digital administrators, "Aozhe · Yunshu" digital engine for professional developers, process management engine "Aozhe · H3 BPM," and "Aozhe · Youge" digital management tool for business personnel.

As of 2021, Aozhe has served more than 200,000 enterprise organizations, including 60% of China's Fortune 500 companies and numerous industry benchmark enterprises. Among them, Yunshu serves more than 300 large and medium-sized enterprise clients, covering over 2 million end users. Chuan Cloud, launched on DingTalk's app marketplace in 2016, has consistently ranked first in sales, capturing one-third of the market share among similar low-code products. Read more

#6

Xiruan Technology Completes Over 100 Million RMB Series B, Leading Digital Innovation in Hospital Operations Management

Shanghai Xiruan Technology, a leading domestic provider of digital services for operations management in the healthcare industry, announced the completion of a Series B round of over 100 million RMB. The round was led by Taikang Life Insurance, with Langmafeng Venture Capital participating, and existing shareholders HSG and Gaorong Ventures continuing to increase their stakes. Gaorong Ventures had invested in Xiruan Technology's Series A round in 2020 and has continued to invest in subsequent rounds.

Amid the push for high-quality hospital development, Xiruan Technology has redefined the hospital operations management information platform, becoming the first in China to launch a self-developed hospital-grade PaaS platform — Xiruan Cloud Platform — effectively connecting and reconstructing front-end operations management with back-end information systems.

Based on its platform-plus strategy, Xiruan Technology has launched applications for hospital operations management, smart management, operations big data, health commission supervision cloud, primary care management cloud, medical groups/medical alliances, and medical community systems. The company has successively released its next-generation hospital smart operations platform 3.0 and the "12580 framework" solution for hospital smart management. The next-generation hospital smart operations platform 3.0 covers three-layer architecture of PaaS, SaaS, and DaaS, with 32 product sub-modules and over 1,360 management application scenarios. The "12580 framework" solution fully supports the Level 5 evaluation standards for hospital smart management.

#7

Intelligent Industrial Design SaaS Provider Shexu Technology Completes Series A, Enabling Efficient Collaboration Through Cloud-Native Architecture

On February 24, Shanghai Shexu Technology announced the completion of its Series A round, having raised over 100 million RMB cumulatively within one year. The round was led by ByteDance, with Lianchuang Yongjun participating, and existing shareholders Gaorong Ventures, SIG, K2VC, and Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group continuing to increase their stakes. Gaorong Ventures had invested in Shexu's angel round in early 2021 and has continued to invest in subsequent rounds.

Shexu is an innovative enterprise providing intelligent design and manufacturing software products and services, establishing an intelligent design technology system for industrial mechanical design scenarios. Its core business is cloud-native intelligent industrial design SaaS services and engineering services. Shexu's intelligent industrial design SaaS software is the first AI+CAD industrial R&D design software on the market.

Shexu's products are currently mainly applied in automotive welding fixture design and stamping die design. It is also the first domestic manufacturer to implement cloud-native intelligent design services in the complete vehicle and automotive equipment sectors. In terms of value chain integration, Shexu starts from the design process and gradually covers design collaboration and subsequent simulation stages. Thanks to its cloud-native architecture, Shexu's software has strong feasibility in collaborative technology.

Shexu's SaaS product usage is growing steadily, having served nearly 30 professional clients with design plan downloads exceeding 10,000 sets. Read more

#8

Zhuanxin Semiconductor Completes Nearly 100 Million RMB Angel Round, Leading Innovation in High-End Network Chips

On March 1, Zhuanxin Semiconductor (Nanjing) announced the completion of a nearly 100 million RMB angel round, with investors including Gaorong Ventures and Xinya Fund.

Zhuanxin officially began operations in August 2021 and is dedicated to developing self-owned intellectual property high-performance programmable network chips, creating flexible and open network solutions for cloud service providers, equipment manufacturers, operators, and large enterprises. Leveraging its strengths in high-end network chip architecture and innovative design, Zhuanxin's product performance benchmarks against international leading levels, with product features optimized for the domestic market. To date, Zhuanxin has established branches in Nanjing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Silicon Valley. The R&D of Zhuanxin's first-generation chip is fully accelerating.

Feb.

By the Numbers

#1

BOSS Zhipin: Winter Sports Industry Creates Diversified, Sustainable Employment Opportunities; 2021 Talent Demand Up 57% Year-over-Year

Following the closing ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, BOSS Zhipin — the official exclusive human resources service provider for Beijing 2022 — released the "BOSS Zhipin Winter Sports Industry Talent Development Observation Report." The study found that improving skill levels of talent in related industries, breaking through geographical constraints to expand employment absorption, and creating diversified, sustainable employment opportunities were significant contributions of the Beijing Winter Olympics in the field of employment promotion.

The report notes that since 2017, talent demand in the winter sports industry has continued to grow, reaching a peak in 2021 with a 57% year-over-year increase in talent demand scale. Average recruitment salary was 8,200 RMB, up 7.5% year-over-year.

Across the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the winter sports industry, at least 15 sub-sectors are developing rapidly. Beyond winter sports events and competitions, there are multiple composite models and consumer demands including "winter sports + manufacturing," "winter sports + construction," "winter sports + tourism," "winter sports + services," and "winter sports + content." The "winter sports +" composite development model has effectively enhanced China's winter sports professional talent reserve and skill levels, while creating large numbers of diversified employment opportunities for workers from other fields.

According to incomplete statistics, in 2021, at least 86 cities had begun to establish a certain foundation for "winter sports +" talent demand, distributed across Northeast China, Northwest China, North China, the Yangtze River Delta, Central China, and the Pearl River Delta regions.

#2

Dingdong Maicai: Q4 2021 Revenue Up 72% Year-over-Year; Shanghai Region Achieves Overall Profitability; Approximately 1,400 Front Warehouses Built

On February 15, Dingdong Maicai released its Q4 2021 financial results as of December 31, 2021. The report shows Dingdong Maicai's Q4 2021 revenue increased 72.0% year-over-year from 3.19 billion RMB to 5.48 billion RMB; full-year 2021 revenue increased 77.5% year-over-year to 20.12 billion RMB. The Shanghai region achieved overall profitability in December, with the Yangtze River Delta region turning unit economics positive in Q4.

Dingdong Maicai positions "product strength as the primary driving force." In Q4, private label products accounted for 10.2% of total GMV, and self-developed and processed products accounted for 6.5% of total GMV.

Dingdong Maicai continues to increase investment in infrastructure. It currently operates approximately 1,400 front warehouses and owns 10 food R&D and processing factories, with plans to begin construction of three large-scale modern fresh food complexes in 2022. Through strengthened R&D investment in cutting-edge technology, Dingdong Maicai will also help drive digitalization and scientific development in agriculture, directly or indirectly increasing farmer incomes. In 2021, Dingdong Maicai launched its "Green Mountains and Clear Waters" agricultural assistance project, driving 2.09 billion RMB in sales of agricultural products from assisted regions nationwide.

#3

Inming Bio: Novel CD19-Targeted CAR-T Product Achieves 73% Complete Remission Rate in Exploratory Clinical Trial

Recently, at the 4th European CAR-T Cell Conference hosted by the European Hematology Association (EHA), Inming Bio's research team presented preliminary clinical data for its novel CD19-targeted CAR-T product "XYF19" in treating adult relapsed or refractory precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

This product was developed using "T-cell HPK1 protein expression reduction technology." HPK1 is a key kinase regulating tumor-infiltrating T-cell function. CAR-T cells with reduced HPK1 expression can slow CAR-T cell exhaustion to a greater degree, thereby enhancing anti-tumor activity.

Preliminary clinical trial data shows: among 11 patients treated with XYF19, the proportion achieving complete remission (CR or CRi) reached 73%; no subjects experienced Grade 3 or higher cytokine release syndrome (CRS), and no subjects experienced neurotoxicity reactions.

CAR-T products developed using T-cell HPK1 protein expression reduction technology not only have potential for treating blood cancers, but also show promise for progress in solid tumors.

#4

Unknown: Completes Asia's First Synthetic Biology and Genetically Engineered Bacteria Drug Pipeline License-In Collaboration

Recently, AI-driven microbiome therapeutics company Unknown and synthetic biology company Aurealis Therapeutics announced a Greater China license-in agreement for the genetically engineered bacteria drug AUP-16.

The new drug AUP-16 is a genetically engineered Lactococcus lactis, administered topically at wound sites with dressing coverage, for treating chronic wounds including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, and pressure ulcers. This collaboration is Asia's first license-in collaboration based on a synthetic biology and genetically engineered bacteria drug pipeline.

This also marks an important milestone for Unknown as it fully launches its "AI × BT" strategy, actively using partnership models to internationally deploy its R&D pipeline, and empowering the global microbiome therapeutics industry with its AI-driven drug development platform.

Feb.

Horizons

#1

Genki Forest: Partnered with three winter athletes — Eileen Gu, Su Yiming, and Xu Mengtao — as representatives of "Genki New Youth" to cheer for the Winter Olympics!

#2

Flexiv: Launched Flexiv Elements, an adaptive robot operating system that simplifies task editing and execution for adaptive robots.

#3

Qiyuan World Yuan Quan: The metaverse is more than digital entertainment — it is a spiritual home co-created by humans and machines.