About Gaorong Post

In this issue of Gaorong Post, we review recent funding rounds in chips, healthcare, and energy storage, and share updates on cutting-edge technology moving into commercial use, the pipelines and manufacturing progress of healthcare companies, and how leading teams are leveraging technical strengths to expand into global markets.

Rowing through the waves, striving upstream. Wishing everyone a healthy and peaceful Dragon Boat Festival!

MAY

Funding

#01

Zunpai Communication Closes Hundreds of Millions of RMB in Pre-A Round

Committed to Providing Full-Series Wi-Fi Chips and Solutions

In May, Zunpai Communication Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. ("Zunpai Communication") announced the completion of a Pre-A round worth hundreds of millions of RMB. Investors in this round include Xiaomi, Lakeside Capital, FutureX Capital, Jiayu Capital, Haiwang Capital under Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation, Pingzhi Information, and other prominent financial and strategic investors. Previously, in May 2021, Zunpai Communication completed a nearly 100 million RMB angel round led by Gaorong Ventures, with Jiangbei Jiakang Technology as co-investor. Gaorong Ventures continued to increase its stake in this round.

Founded in March 2021, Zunpai Communication is dedicated to providing high-performance, full-ecosystem smart scenario chipsets and solutions for homes and enterprises. The company is currently developing Wi-Fi 6 router chips and complete solutions at full speed.

Recently, Zunpai Communication received back and successfully powered on the RFIC taped out late last year. Test results show that this critical component performs at or even beyond expectations. The company expects to launch mass-produced Wi-Fi 6 router chips by the end of 2022. Going forward, Zunpai Communication will continue strengthening its short-range wireless communication products and commercialization capabilities, and rapidly introduce Wi-Fi 6 Station and IoT-side chips to form an "AP + terminal" product layout. Through this end-to-end coordinated approach, the company aims to fully capture the Wi-Fi market.Read more

#02

ProfoundBio Closes $70 Million Series A+ Round

Advancing Clinical Development of Novel Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs)

ProfoundBio, a biotechnology company focused on developing novel targeted therapies, announced the completion of a $70 million Series A+ round led by HSG. To date, ProfoundBio has raised nearly $140 million in total funding. Gaorong Ventures invested in ProfoundBio's Pre-A and Series A rounds in 2021.

ProfoundBio is focused on developing next-generation large-molecule targeted drugs, with a pipeline primarily comprising antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other antibody-based therapeutic approaches.

ProfoundBio will use the proceeds from this round to advance two lead ADC programs (PRO1184 and PRO1160) into Phase I clinical trials. PRO1184 is an ADC targeting folate receptor alpha (FRα), with potential therapeutic applications across multiple solid tumors. PRO1160 is an ADC targeting CD70, covering both hematologic and solid tumor indications. Preclinical studies have shown that both ADC candidates demonstrate favorable clinical benefit-risk profiles.

Additionally, the company will continue accelerating multiple early-stage programs into preclinical and CMC development, further deepening and expanding its innovative ADC technology platform, and building comprehensive end-to-end drug development capabilities from early research through clinical studies.

#03

China Energy Storage (Beijing) Technology Closes 320 Million RMB Pre-A+ Round

Accelerating Layout of New Energy Storage Technologies

Recently, China Energy Storage (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. ("China Energy Storage") announced a 320 million RMB Pre-A+ round led by Huakong Fund, with Gaorong Ventures among the investors.

China Energy Storage is a pioneer and leader in China's compressed air energy storage sector, holding an internationally leading position in large-scale compressed air energy storage. Its core technology originates from the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. While actively responding to national calls to advance 100-megawatt-level compressed air energy storage technology, China Energy Storage is also exploring commercial development models, gradually reducing storage costs, and accelerating its layout in new energy storage technologies.

On December 31, 2021, the "Zhangbei International First 100MW Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage National Demonstration Project" successfully connected to the grid and entered live commissioning, further consolidating China's international leading position in this field. In April 2022, the "100MW Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage System Equipment Manufacturing Project," supported by the National Development and Reform Commission's "Renewable Energy Demonstration Zone Industrial Innovation Development Special Program," officially broke ground in Zhangjiakou. China Energy Storage will thus gain large-scale mass production capabilities, accelerating its commercialization pace.

Currently, China Energy Storage's projects under construction and in planning total over 2,000MW in installed capacity. According to CNESA's "2021 Domestic Newly Operational Energy Storage Technology Provider Rankings," China Energy Storage ranked second nationally in new energy storage and first in the compressed air energy storage category.Read more

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Data Points

#01

Xinhuazhang Unveils Digital Verification Debug System

Breaking Multiple Domestic Gaps, Up to 5x Faster

On May 11, Xinhuazhang, a leading EDA (electronic design automation) intelligent software and systems company, officially released Zhaoxiao Fusion Debug™, a digital verification debug system based on innovative architecture. Built on Xinhuazhang's self-developed debug database and open interfaces, the system is compatible with existing industry solutions, provides comprehensive ecosystem support, and features ease of use and high performance. It helps engineers simplify difficult debug tasks and effectively addresses increasingly challenging design and verification problems.

Fusion Debug™ GUI interface

As the first digital verification debug system launched domestically, Zhaoxiao Fusion Debug™ fills multiple gaps in domestic technology. Compared to mainstream international digital waveform formats, Xinhuazhang's Zhaoxiao Fusion Debug™ uses a fully self-developed high-performance digital waveform format called XEDB. This waveform format leverages innovative data formats and architecture, featuring high performance, high capacity, and high waveform compression ratios. Its efficient encoding and compression scheme delivers over 8x compression compared to mainstream international digital waveform formats in practical testing.

While providing a complete debug solution, Zhaoxiao Fusion Debug™ is powered by an innovative design inference engine and high-performance analysis engine, supporting unified and high-performance compilation, rapid loading of simulation results and signal display, and easy signal connectivity tracing and root cause analysis. According to actual project data, in complete design and schematic modular loading, Zhaoxiao Fusion Debug™ is up to 5x faster than other commercial EDA tools, meeting the demands of large-scale SoC design debugging and significantly improving verification efficiency, thereby accelerating chip design innovation.

#02

Innovusion Drives Safe, Efficient Operations in Autonomous Truck Freight

Image-Level Ultra-Long-Range LiDAR Detects Up to 500 Meters

On May 31, Innovusion, a global leader in image-level ultra-long-range LiDAR, and TSP, a global autonomous driving technology company, announced a formal strategic partnership. The two parties will work closely together, focusing on unmanned logistics freight scenarios from Chinese ports to trunk line logistics and urban transportation. They will explore the deep integration of Innovusion's automotive-grade high-performance LiDAR series and its perception algorithms with TSP's autonomous driving trucks, promoting the construction of a safe and efficient operational ecosystem for the autonomous truck industry and accelerating the development and large-scale mass production of domestic heavy-duty truck autonomous driving technology.

Innovusion's image-level ultra-long-range LiDAR, Falcon, features industry-leading high-precision long-distance detection capabilities, with ROI (region of interest) resolution of 0.06°*0.06° and maximum detection range of 500 meters. In its front-loading designated project with TSP's autonomous driving trucks, Falcon will serve as the main perception radar on TSP's heavy-duty truck models, enhancing perception capabilities and providing safer, more efficient, and more economical autonomous freight transportation. Beyond high performance, Falcon has been verified to meet automotive-grade requirements and can satisfy a wide range of autonomous driving application needs.

Innovusion image-level ultra-long-range LiDAR point cloud

As one of the world's first high-performance LiDAR providers to achieve large-scale mass production, Innovusion is committed to providing the autonomous driving industry and consumers with safer, smarter, and more efficient driving experiences through forward-looking LiDAR products combined with intelligent perception software as complete solutions.

#03

MiRXES Opens Southeast Asia's Largest IVD Industry 4.0 Smart Factory in Singapore

On May 27, MiRXES, a high-tech biotechnology company focused on miRNA technology and dedicated to early disease diagnosis, announced the opening of Southeast Asia's first IVD Industry 4.0 smart factory in Singapore, which it invested in and established. Located in Singapore's JTC MedTech Hub, the 1,300-square-meter facility is the largest-scale IVD Industry 4.0 smart factory in Southeast Asia to date.

MiRXES's Industry 4.0 smart factory combines automation and digitalization while improving data utilization efficiency. The new factory achieves seamless integration of extraction and automated analysis, enabling tracking of production quality and efficiency across all product lines with continuous improvement. Real-time data is captured and analyzed by AI, and the facility also uses real-time data and algorithms to predict supply chain disruption points.

With the formal commissioning of this newly delivered Industry 4.0 smart factory, MiRXES can now carry out fully automated intelligent pipeline production, complete capacity scale upgrades, and accelerate the productization of its pipelines in multi-cancer early screening, cardiovascular disease detection, scientific research services, and infectious diseases.

Currently, MiRXES is conducting clinical registration in China for its miRNA gastric cancer early diagnostic kit, pushing for early screening products and services to reach the Chinese market as soon as possible.

#04

Antiomics's AND017 for Cancer-Related Anemia Approved for China Phase II Clinical Trial; 2019 Nobel Laureate Gregg L. Semenza Appointed Chair of Scientific Advisory Board

On May 23, Antiomics's self-developed AND017 for a new indication — cancer-related anemia (CRA) — was approved for China Phase II clinical trials. This is the company's third clinical trial program.

AND017 is a small-molecule oral prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor self-developed by Antiomics. Its mechanism of action was recognized with the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. AND017 overcomes the adverse reactions of blood transfusions and the risk of potential blood-borne viral infections. Preclinical experiments have confirmed that AND017 does not stimulate tumor growth and has tumor growth inhibitory effects.

Successful clinical development of AND017 will provide a new anemia treatment option for the broad cancer patient population, better improving anemia conditions in tumor patients, enabling full efficacy of anti-cancer drugs, improving patient compliance with drug therapy, and extending cancer patients' survival.

In March this year, 2019 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine Gregg L. Semenza was appointed chair of Antiomics's Scientific Advisory Board. Semenza's Nobel-winning achievement was his pioneering discovery of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), revealing how life senses and regulates oxygen levels in the body. His joining will provide collaboration and guidance for the company's ongoing development of cancer, neurology, and ophthalmology projects targeting oxygen regulation pathways.

#05

Innorna Bio's First-in-Class Ophthalmic Drug for Dry AMD Enters Phase II Clinical Trials in the US

On May 16, Innorna Bio announced that its investigational product — QA102, a First-in-Class small-molecule ophthalmic drug for dry age-related macular degeneration (Dry AMD) — has entered Phase II clinical trials in the United States and is about to begin dosing enrolled patients.

QA102, developed by Innorna Bio, is a First-in-Class innovative drug based on a novel disease mechanism and with complete independent intellectual property rights.

Innorna Bio has more than ten products in development across ophthalmic drugs, recombinant protein botulinum toxin, small-molecule immunological drugs, and cell therapy, the vast majority of which are breakthrough First-in-Class innovative drugs. Currently, Innorna Bio is conducting eight new drug clinical trials simultaneously in China and the United States, covering multiple therapeutic areas including ophthalmology, botulinum toxin, and tumor immunology.

#06

OPay Announces Strategic Partnership with Mastercard

Opening Digital Commerce to Millions in Middle East and Africa

On May 19, fintech company OPay announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard. Through Mastercard's virtual payment solutions, OPay consumers and merchants in the region — including Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and the UAE — will be connected to brands and businesses globally through their OPay wallets. This initiative will open digital commerce to millions in the Middle East and Africa, driving broader financial inclusion and economic prosperity.

From the outset of the partnership, OPay users, whether or not they have bank accounts, will benefit from Mastercard virtual payment solutions linked to their OPay wallets, enabling easy and secure shopping across multiple global brands spanning leisure, travel, accommodation, entertainment, streaming services, and more. The service will also help small business owners procure from foreign suppliers and make payments using secure virtual payment solutions.

Since 2018, OPay has grown to 15 million active users across dozens of markets where it operates. The company processes millions of transactions daily. In Nigeria alone, where OPay holds significant market share, users have saved billions of dollars over the past four years through credit-linked savings accounts in mobile wallets and microloans offered on the platform. Going forward, OPay plans to expand to more markets within three to five years, vigorously advancing digital adoption and e-commerce expansion while bringing more OPay users into the global economy.

#07

Geekplus Expands European Business Footprint

Projects Successfully Deployed Across 16 European Countries

With rapid overseas business growth, Geekplus, a global AMR leader, has successfully deployed projects across 16 European countries, continuously expanding its service footprint and leading the industry to a higher stage of development. Recently, Geekplus's standard goods-to-person solution was successfully deployed in Hungary, once again reinforcing its competitive moat in the European market through innovative technology.

As early as 2019, Geekplus began laying out the European market, successively partnering with major European clients including UK retail giant ASDA, European知名集成商 FDL Group, UK independent online retailer RangePlus, Dutch fruit and vegetable processing expert Hessing Supervers, Italian 3PL leader Life365, a major French building materials retailer, and global freight forwarding giant DB Schenker, jointly driving intelligent transformation and upgrading of logistics and supply chains.

In its globalization expansion, Geekplus practices a "localization" strategy, achieving both team and product localization. Geekplus has not only established localized sales teams, channel and service partners, but also provides products and services in local languages to meet customer needs and habits. Over the past three years, Geekplus's European subsidiary has achieved leapfrog development, expanding from an initial three-person team to a professional local operations team of over 120 employees.

#08

Dianxiaomi, XTransfer, and Wiz.AI Selected for Bessemer Annual Report

Recently, global top-tier investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners released its global cloud economy industry report, State of the Cloud 2022. Gaorong Ventures portfolio companies — Dianxiaomi, China's leading SaaS software service provider for e-commerce; XTransfer, a one-stop cross-border financial and risk control services company for foreign trade enterprises; and Wiz.AI, an AI voice services company — were selected for the report.

The State of the Cloud 2022 report notes that China's best cloud economy and SaaS startups are true innovators, not imitators. As enduring enterprise-grade consumer products, SaaS products represent an irreversible industry trend, and global SaaS will certainly be among the most important global assets over the next 5-10 years.

In the global e-commerce SaaS field, Dianxiaomi leverages its professional R&D technology and comprehensive service system to provide global e-commerce enterprises with scenario-based, intelligent solutions as a new engine for growth. Since its founding in 2014, Dianxiaomi's user base has grown exponentially, now serving over 1.2 million global e-commerce sellers. The company has established deep partnerships with over 50 top global e-commerce platforms, 800+ quality logistics providers, and 80+ overseas warehouses, processing over 300 billion RMB in annual order transaction value.

XTransfer leverages China's unique supply chain advantages in the cloud economy and SaaS fields to bring cross-border financial services on par with large multinational corporations to China's small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises. Since its founding in 2017, XTransfer's client base has grown rapidly to over 200,000 small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises.

Wiz.AI is dedicated to helping call centers undergo intelligent transformation and providing complete solutions, with business coverage in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, and the United States. As a leader in localized SaaS applications in Asia-Pacific, Wiz.AI has significant potential to become a globalized software company.

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Horizons

#01

Flexiv Officially Releases Robot Development Kit Flexiv RDK

Fully Empowering Innovative Development

#02

Dingdong Maicai Fully Resumes Operations in Shanghai

Thank You for Being With Us

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Recognition

On May 30, ChinaVenture released its 2021 annual rankings. Gaorong Ventures was named among the Top 10 Best Foreign VC Institutions in China 2021, Top 20 Best Internet/Mobile Internet Sector Investors in China 2021, and Top 20 Best Enterprise Service Sector Investors in China 2021.

Ma Xiaoyu, Managing Director at Gaorong Ventures, was named to Cyzone's 2022 40 Under 40 Investors list.

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Gaorong Community

#01

"Globalization" Growth Series

Driven by favorable macro policies, companies seeking new growth curves, and capital support, Chinese enterprises are accelerating their overseas expansion. Hotspots for going global are spreading from consumer internet to industrial internet, and an increasing number of startups are embarking on a "born global" development path.

At the Gaorong Community "Globalization" growth series events, Wu Zhuohui, VP at Anker and CEO of Oceanwing E-commerce, analyzed the fundamental capabilities that brands going global must cultivate over the long term, using Anker's brand globalization journey as a case study and examining the changes and pain points facing出海 brands today.Read more

Shou Dong, Co-founder of Advance Intelligence Group and CEO of ADVANCE.AI, shared the global growth path for a new generation of technology enterprises as a benchmark case representative.Read more

#02

Co-Creating New Possibilities in Healthcare + Computing, Accelerating Commercialization of Leading Technologies

Healthcare will be one of the industries with the greatest demand for computing power worldwide. High-performance computing and artificial intelligence are helping solve critical problems in drug discovery, medical device development, genetic testing, and smart healthcare. Gaorong Community, in partnership with NVIDIA Inception, co-hosted an online forum in May.

NVIDIA shared prospects for AI-accelerated healthcare innovation and the application of NVIDIA computing platforms in the healthcare startup ecosystem. Gaorong Ventures portfolio companies Unknown, Qitan Technology, and MemVerge jointly discussed how to fully extract data value and accelerate technology-to-market under the wave of healthcare + computing.