Code Moment | "Singularity Energy" Closes Over RMB 700 Million Series B Round, Source Code Capital Continues to Double Down

Recently, Xi'an Qidian Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qidian Energy") announced the completion of a Series B financing round exceeding RMB 700 million, led by Goldstone Investment, with participation from Jinyi Capital, Hillhouse, GF Xinde Investment Management, Huanghe Industrial, Huajin Capital, Waneng Capital, ChaoXi Capital, Xinshang Capital, Keshi Capital, and Xigao Investment. Previous investors IDG Capital, Source Code Capital, CASSTAR, and CD Capital continued to increase their stakes. Lighthouse Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor. Following the financing, the company will accelerate production line expansion and R&D investment. Founded in 2018 by Weizeng Liu, a PhD and senior engineer from Xi'an Jiaotong University, together with multiple senior engineers with master's and doctoral degrees and over ten years of product development experience, Qidian Energy is dedicated to the technical research and product development of advanced energy storage systems, providing solutions to facilitate large-scale clean energy integration and energy internet construction. The company has established R&D and manufacturing capabilities for battery PACKs, BMS, PCS, EMS, and integrated energy storage products including the eBlock smart energy block, as well as system integration and intelligent O&M capabilities for industrial and commercial energy storage power stations, solar-storage-charging stations, and new energy storage power stations, enabling it to provide users with complete turnkey energy storage solutions and one-stop energy management services.

01

Policy and Market Tailwinds Propel Energy Storage Into High-Speed Growth

Over the past century, global industrial and economic development has driven sharply rising energy demand, while environmental problems from fossil fuel use have become increasingly prominent. Following the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries began incorporating clean energy utilization and environmental improvement into national development strategies. At the UN General Assembly, China committed to its "3060" dual carbon goals. Achieving these targets requires vigorously developing clean energy and continuously increasing its share of the energy mix.

However, as penetration of variable clean energy sources — primarily wind and solar — increases, grid carrying capacity has become a bottleneck. According to the International Energy Agency's definitions of low-carbon transition stages, China's variable renewable energy (VRE) generation has reached 13.9% of total generation, placing it in the third phase of low-carbon transition. The defining characteristic of this stage is that optimizing the existing power system can no longer accommodate further VRE penetration increases. Energy storage is therefore needed to enhance grid carrying capacity and security, providing more solid backing for clean energy development. Per the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, China's new energy storage installed capacity will reach over 30 million kilowatts by 2025. Additionally, in a signed article in People's Daily, State Grid Corporation of China Chairman Xin Baoan proposed that to address the practical requirements of improving power system regulation capability through energy storage development, the company will vigorously strengthen technically mature pumped storage hydroelectric construction while actively supporting scaled application of new energy storage, aiming to increase pumped storage capacity in its operating areas from the current 26.3 million kilowatts to 100 million kilowatts by 2030, and electrochemical energy storage from 3 million kilowatts to 100 million kilowatts.

According to GGII statistics, as of June this year, 12 provinces have explicitly defined new energy storage installation targets for the 14th Five-Year Plan period, with combined planned new energy storage capacity exceeding 40 GW by 2025. Domestic new energy storage thus has unprecedented development space. As the central link in energy transition and a key sector for carbon reduction, the low-carbon transformation of power holds global significance for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Standing at the inflection point of energy storage industry dividends, the sector has more opportunities and development space, while also testing enterprises' professional competitiveness in their pursuit of system economics and safety.

02

Pioneering the "All in One" Product Design Philosophy

Delivering Dual-Effect Solutions for Safety and Economics

Qidian Energy was founded by renowned power electronics technology experts and senior engineers with master's and doctoral degrees and over ten years of development experience. During the company's first three years, the founding team conducted comprehensive market research, deeply investigated pain points in the energy storage industry, and — addressing widespread problems of poor safety, low economics, and short lifespan — devoted themselves to product development. Three years of refinement culminated in 2020 with the industry's first launch of Qidian's eBlock distributed energy block energy storage system solution.

Technology is the core driver of energy storage industry development and the ultimate means of resolving the cost, lifespan, and safety challenges facing the sector. Addressing the critical safety and economic issues of centralized and distributed-collected system solutions, Qidian was the first in the industry to propose and adopt an "All in One" design philosophy, integrating long-lifespan battery cells, battery management system (BMS), high-performance power conversion system (PCS), active safety system, and efficient thermal management system into a single cabinet to form an integrated, plug-and-play smart energy block product, eBlock. Each energy block possesses both energy storage and AC/DC power conversion capabilities, and can achieve elastic capacity expansion and modular construction of energy storage power stations through multi-unit parallel connection, defining a new standard for energy storage system integration.

While improving product safety and economics, Qidian Energy has resolved core supply chain bottlenecks and achieved mass production and delivery capabilities through continuous technological innovation and deep industrial collaboration. The company currently has an expert technical team of over 200 people and has established complete electrochemical energy storage technology and power electronics laboratories, having obtained more than 100 invention patents and technical certifications. On the product front, Qidian Energy consistently adheres to creating value through innovation and driving transformation through technology. In 2021, it launched the user-side energy storage product eBlock-200, which addressed the inflexibility, weak safety, cumbersome O&M, and charging difficulties of traditional energy storage solutions on the user side, attracting considerable industry attention. Subsequently, in 2022, Qidian Energy launched the grid-source side energy storage product eBlock-372, featuring 1500V DC-side voltage and rated capacity of 186 kW / 372 kWh, employing industry-advanced liquid cooling technology and, at the time, industry-leading pack-level immersion fire suppression. The product signed contracts exceeding 800 MWh in the same year, receiving broad industry recognition. In December 2022, the world's first energy storage power station fully employing distributed modular energy storage technology — the 100 MW / 200 MWh Tongli Substation in Ningxia — was successfully commissioned. The project was assembled like building blocks from 538 independently operable eBlock-372 units. Each energy block product can run autonomously, while also responding to grid dispatch as a single device through advanced parallel cluster control algorithms. The project's construction time, actual charge/discharge volume, and operational efficiency all ranked at the leading industry level. In April 2023, Qidian Energy heavily launched its new 4-hour energy storage product — eBlock-745. Addressing 4-hour long-duration energy storage needs in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and other regions, the eBlock-745 features rated power of 186 kW and rated energy of 745 kWh, with direct outdoor installation capability. With 690V AC output enabling direct AC-side parallel expansion, it can be stepped up through transformers for 10 kV or 35 kV grid connection, making it the optimal choice for large-scale, long-duration energy storage on the power source and grid sides. Meanwhile, Qidian Energy is about to release a new residential product to meet European and American household market demands. By 2023, Qidian Energy will have established a full-scenario product portfolio and corresponding global online and offline service systems. Empowered by technical capabilities and industrial resources, Qidian's distributed energy block energy storage solutions have been deployed at scale in energy storage projects implemented by State Grid Corporation of China, China Southern Power Grid, PowerChina, and China Energy Engineering Corporation, with annual shipment volume growing nearly 30-fold and receiving broad customer recognition. Going forward, Qidian Energy will maintain its original aspiration of driving transformation through innovation, devoting itself to product refinement, advancing technology upgrades and system optimization, consolidating long-term advantages in product economics and safety, promoting the energy storage and new energy industries, and contributing corporate strength toward achieving the "dual carbon goals."

Dr. Weizeng Liu, founder of Qidian Energy, stated: "Qidian Energy will always center on maximizing customer value, adhering to the design philosophy of engineering productization and product modularization, analyzing and resolving the safety and economic issues facing the energy storage industry from a systems perspective, and continuously bringing differentiated leading solutions to the industry through innovations in software architecture and hardware topology, as well as applications of new materials and devices."

Under the guidance of dual carbon and energy security goals, China's renewable energy has entered a new development stage characterized by large scale, high proportion, marketization, and high quality, with electrochemical energy storage playing a pivotal role in this process. The energy storage industry is still in its ascendancy, with a long road ahead. Qidian Energy will always uphold the philosophy of product-centricity and customer value-centeredness, continuously creating safer, more economical, higher customer value products and solutions, contributing Qidian's strength to the healthy, high-quality development of the energy storage industry and the realization of dual carbon goals!

Source Code Capital team commented: "Energy storage is a field that Source Code has researched and followed as an investment focus for the long term. Qidian Energy possesses a very rare team in the industry that masters both DC-side and AC-side technologies while covering both grid-side and user-side scenarios: deep industry insight, strong strategic execution, robust productization capabilities, and continuous lean iteration in technical solutions, organizational form, and delivery capability. We believe that Qidian's energy block energy storage products — characterized by high safety, extreme efficiency, standardized delivery, and long-term cost advantages — will continuously build a strong brand, drive the company's advancement, and consistently play a positive role in industry development."