Yan Han of Heart Capital: Going All-In on China's Hard Tech, Capturing the "Tip of the Pyramid" in Non-Consensus | Heart News

On January 15, 2026, the 15th China Capital Annual Conference and Greater Hongqiao Sci-Tech Investment Summit opened as scheduled. In this year's equity investment rankings, Heart Capital was honored with "2025 China's Most Growth-Potential Investment Institution."

At the event, Yan Han, founding partner of Heart Capital, was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with several guests on "Value Investing from an Industry Chain Perspective."

Below is Yan Han's sharing:

Rooted in China, All In on Hard Tech for the Next 50 Years

Heart Capital is a dual-currency fund focused on early-stage hard tech. My team and I have been working in this space for over two decades. Our investment rhythm has a clear generational imprint: before 2015, we focused on the convergence of mobile internet and industry, making a Series A investment in Full Truck Alliance, the world's largest digital freight platform; after 2015, technology became our central theme, and we became the earliest investor in Xpeng Motors, a leading smart EV company in China, as well as AeroHT, a pioneer in the low-altitude economy. In 2018, we began deeply building out our aerospace and semiconductor footprint, making early bets on LandSpace, Micro-nano Star, and domestic GPU leader MetaX, among others.

Many people ask me: in this era of dramatic volatility, which sectors do we favor? My answer is simple: technology is the only tool that can deliver hundredfold or even thousandfold efficiency gains for humanity. And globally, only China and the US are capable of leading technological development. We've had the privilege of working in China for 20 years, so our underlying logic has never changed: going all in on Chinese hard tech is going all in on the next 50 years.

Seizing the "Tip of the Pyramid" in Non-Consensus

Today, the "syllabus" for hard tech investing is well established: artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, aerospace, the low-altitude economy, and advanced semiconductors. But having this syllabus is merely an admission ticket. The real challenge is: how to complete a tip-of-the-pyramid layout at the early, non-consensus stage.

Take semiconductor investing as an example. We're not a sector-specific fund, so we had to find the "crown jewel." Five or six years ago, the industry was fiercely divided on whether China could build large chips and whether it possessed GPGPU know-how. Our decision then was straightforward: if we're going to do it, take the hardest path. That's why we chose to invest in MetaX at that time, and witnessed its successful STAR Market listing at the end of last year. The same applied to aerospace: when there were many rocket companies on the market and everyone was hesitating, we firmly chose LandSpace, which was tackling liquid oxygen methane technology, and Micro-nano Star, which focused on medium and large satellites. In 2025, both companies have completed STAR Market guidance and their IPOs are imminent.

When the market is hot, we exercise restraint. When others are fearful and hesitant, we dare to double down. Finding value where no one else is looking — this is our first principle. Second, we hold ourselves to extremely high standards in "reading people and judging situations." In this industry, the truly investable opportunities and the people capable of achieving great things are always exceedingly rare. We need to cut through the fog to discover excellence at the tip of the pyramid. If we're fortunate enough to encounter people and opportunities worth backing, then cast aside loneliness and doubt, and persist all the way through.

Where Intention Begins, There the Destination Lies

The reason I named my second brand "Heart Capital" is because I firmly believe: whether as an investor or an entrepreneur, where your original intention lies, there your destination lies.

As a VC, if from day one you're only staring at the ledger calculating "small accounts," it's difficult to achieve distal value. Paradoxically, it's precisely when you stop counting and fully devote yourself to the core problems you truly want to solve that you can reach your destination with composure. The starting point of investment logic is determined at the very moment of intention; capital is merely a companion along this journey.

This "intention" also extends to our latest investment deployments. Take AI as an example: while the trinity of "compute, energy, data" has become industry consensus, true value lies in the "non-consensus within consensus." In 2025, we invested in Xi Wang, a full-stack self-developed compute chip company, and Star Energy Xuan Guang, a controlled nuclear fusion enterprise. These fields are currently still in the "non-consensus" stage — just like our investments in MetaX and LandSpace five or six years ago. What we value is their core position in future industry chains.

Finding and Defining the Leaders of the Next Era

Regarding industry chain integration, I've always held a clear view: VCs must be "leaders," not "reviewers." If an industry has already entered large-scale consolidation, that means it's already mature. As early-stage VCs, what we always focus on is the moment when "consensus has not yet formed and consolidation has not yet begun." Whether MetaX or LandSpace, these were seeds we planted five or six years ago, even ten years ago, when the market was most confused.

But where lies the core of this positioning? I believe that only "chain masters" have the ability to drive integration when an industry reaches maturity. So our investment logic works "backwards": in order to have the opportunity to integrate an industry five or six years from now, we must today, five or six years in advance, precisely identify that future "chain master." This means that when a founder is still just one person with a single PowerPoint, we have to understand from his original intention whether he has the potential to become a "Jensen Huang of China" or an "Elon Musk of China." What value is he pursuing? Can he make correct decisions through cycles of change? Does he have the ability to assemble elite talent and turn vision into reality?

What ultimately supports this predictive power and penetrating insight? In the end, it comes down to two words — intention. At Heart Capital, choosing to accompany those souls with the courage and capability to change the world — this is how Heart Capital changes the world. In the deep waters of non-consensus, it is precisely this intention that allows us to find and elevate the leaders who define their era.

Founded in 2022, Heart Capital is an early-stage Chinese venture capital fund focused on technology and digitalization. The Heart Capital team is primarily composed of Yan Han, founding partner of Lightspeed China, core investors, a CFO, and senior investors from industry backgrounds. The team's past investments include Series A investments in Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV, 09868.HK) and Full Truck Alliance (NYSE: YMM), a Pre-Series A investment in MetaX (688802.SH), as well as RoboSense (02498.HK), FinVolution (NYSE: FINV), LandSpace, Micro-nano Star, AeroHT, Xi Wang, Rox Motor, Sunmi, World Logistics, Baichuan, Manbang Cold Chain, Fan Deng Reading, Lanhu, Starfield, and others. Rooted in China with a global outlook, Heart Capital is committed to finding true value in non-consensus. Heart Capital respects the value of "people" and advocates for the potential of "heart," looking forward to accompanying more young Chinese entrepreneurs in strengthening China and going global.