Source Code Capital portfolio company "TenaFe" announces $58 million Series B funding round, with existing investor Source Code Capital continuing to increase its stake

源码资本·October 23, 2021·0·2

Provides end-to-end solid-state drive (SSD) controller solutions, with its chip products approaching mass production.

TurnaFly, a developer of solid-state drive (SSD) controllers and total solutions, announced it has raised $58 million in Series B funding led by Shunwei Capital, with participation from Northern Light Venture Capital, Tyche Partners, Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Development Co.,Ltd., Eight Roads, and Source Code Capital. Source Code Capital is a returning investor from the company's Series A+ round.

The funding will be deployed across four priorities: launching its new TC2200 PCIe Gen4 DRAMless SSD controller in the consumer PC OEM market in Q4 2021; financing development of next-generation solutions for consumer and data center applications; securing production capacity and building chip inventory amid the global chip shortage; and expanding the team to accelerate market development.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Beijing, TurnaFly was established by storage industry veteran Mike Lee (Li Mengkun) alongside several seasoned storage specialists. The company provides total SSD controller solutions and has already secured pre-orders from multiple customers, with chip production scheduled to begin by the end of 2021.

A solid-state drive consists primarily of NAND flash memory, a controller chip, and a host interface. TurnaFly currently focuses on providing total controller chip solutions. The firmware embedded in the controller handles host protocol processing, NAND flash management, and automated error correction and early warning functions.

According to company data, the SSD market breaks down into four segments: consumer (retail channel), consumer (OEM), data center (entry-level enterprise SSD), and enterprise (high-end enterprise SSD). By 2023, these segments are projected to account for 33%, 56%, 7%, and 4% of the market respectively, with corresponding volumes of 163 million, 273 million, 35 million, and 20 million units — meaning consumer products will command 89% of total market opportunity.

TurnaFly's flagship TC2200 PCIe Gen4 DRAMless SSD controller features FlexLDPC, a proprietary advanced error-correction engine that delivers best-in-class zero-latency performance, quality of service (QoS), and endurance for the latest TLC and QLC NAND flash technologies. The chip targets laptops, gaming consoles, and edge computing devices.

The company cites four competitive advantages:

First, product positioning. The TC2200 is the only domestically developed PCIe Gen4 DRAMless controller chip on the market. Development began in 2019 — around the same time Intel was preparing to launch its own Gen4 products — and the DRAMless architecture is increasingly becoming an industry trend in consumer storage.

Second, power efficiency. The TC2200 achieves 20–40% lower power consumption than competitors. It requires no heatsink, experiences fewer thermal throttling events under comparable operating conditions, and draws less than one milliwatt in standby mode.

Third, manufacturing expertise. The TurnaFly team has repeatedly developed storage chips that have reached mass-market deployment, with deep know-how accumulated through high-volume production experience.

Fourth, secured foundry capacity. Given the chip shortage, foundries began planning next-year capacity allocations by mid-2021, finalizing reservations for masks and wafers. As CEO Xiu Chen noted, companies that have completed full-mask tape-outs stand the best chance of securing capacity — and TurnaFly was the earliest among its domestic competitors to reach this milestone.

The founding team brings together Mike Lee, founder of Ted Systems, and multiple experienced storage industry experts who have collaborated across five companies over more than a decade, successfully bringing numerous storage products to market. TurnaFly currently employs over 100 people across offices in Campbell, California; Shanghai; Wuhan; and Shenzhen.