Another secret track is becoming popular.
This starts with an inconspicuous financing. Last week, Huanggang Linli New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Linli New Energy") completed a new round of financing of hundreds of millions of yuan, jointly invested by Honeycomb Energy, CITIC Construction Investment , Jiangsu Guoxin , Pengrui Group, and Wuhan Ronghe Technology. What is little known is that the founders behind the company are a professor couple - Zhang Youxiang and Ma Xiaoling.
Honey Zhang Youxiang is a professor in the Department of Chemistry of Wuhan University. He mainly studies lithium battery materials. His wife Ma Xiaoling has been exposed to the industrialization of lithium iron phosphate . In 2015, the couple realized the market prospects of iron phosphate , so they established Linli New Energy, focusing on the industrial development of high-performance iron phosphate materials. After four years of establishment, the company has completed 6 rounds of financing, attracting many investment institutions and listed companies such as Shenzhen Venture Capital, , Huahui Venture Capital, Luojia Wutong, Yunhe Capital, Yunhe Fangyuan, Xiongtao Co., Ltd.
Of course, Linli New Energy is not the most typical case. But behind it, we see a lively financing scene - since this year, the power battery track has been booming, and a large amount of financing has been born - Honeycomb Energy has raised three consecutive rounds, of which the B round financing is as high as 10.28 billion yuan, and the post-investment valuation reaches an astonishing 36 billion yuan; and there is also AVIC Lithium Battery , which completed 12 billion yuan in equity financing this year... After VC/PE invested in the new energy car manufacturing company, it began to enter the battery track in the industrial chain.
Professor Wuhan University joined hands with his wife to make lithium battery materials
So far, he has won 6 rounds of financing
This is the story of a couple of professors working together to start a business.
In 1997, after graduating from the Master of Science Department of Shandong University, Zhang Youxiang came to Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea to study for a master of chemistry. Two years later, he went to the University of California, Santa Barbara to study abroad and obtained a doctorate in chemistry, mainly engaged in the synthesis and research of nanomaterials.
Until 2006, Zhang Youxiang decided to return to China to teach and became a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Wuhan University, and began research on lithium battery materials. At the same time, in 2007, Ma Xiaoling also graduated from Wuhan University with a doctorate. Under the guidance of Academician Li Yadong of Tsinghua University, she was engaged in the industrialization of lithium iron phosphate and taught at Hubei Second Normal University as a professor in the Department of Chemistry.
After that, Zhang Youxiang and his wife Ma Xiaoling participated in some corporate technical cooperation projects and found that there were pain points in the iron phosphate market. In 2015, Ma Xiaoling learned in an exchange with students that it is difficult for domestic lithium battery companies to find high-quality iron phosphate material suppliers, and iron phosphate is the key upstream material of lithium iron phosphate battery , which directly affects the range of new energy vehicles. After a series of market research, the couple judged that iron phosphate would be a good direction for the transformation of scientific research results.
So in July 2017, Zhang Youxiang and Ma Xiaoling raised 2 million yuan to officially establish Huanggang Linli New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., committed to the industrial development of high-performance iron phosphate materials. This young entrepreneurial team consists mainly of doctoral and master's degree, while Academician Li Yadong serves as the company's chief scientist. Soon, after Linli New Energy completed its production line, it produced the first batch of products in May 2018 and applied them to a group of large downstream customers.
Relying on its strong team background, Linli New Energy received a 5 million yuan angel round investment from Huahui Venture Capital in the year it was established. However, entrepreneurship is difficult and requires continuous R&D investment. For this reason, Zhang Youxiang and his wife found the Hubei Technology Exchange and commissioned the latter to find investors and settle in the park for their projects. With the connection between Hubei Technology Exchange, Luojia Wutong and Yunhe Capital completed a 20 million yuan Pre-A round investment in Linli New Energy.
Interestingly, Luojia Wutong happens to be Lin Li New Energy's "family member".This is an investment platform jointly initiated and established by outstanding alumni of Wuhan University, including Chen Dongsheng, Lei Jun, Tian Yuan, Mao Zhenhua, Ai Luming, Yan Zhi and Chen Zuotao, . It focuses on exploring and investing in outstanding alumni scientific and technological achievements and promoting the transformation and implementation of scientific and technological achievements.
Reviewing the reasons for investing in Linli New Energy, Luojia Wutong once said that it is based on the strategic layout of upstream materials in the new energy industry chain and the confidence in the R&D strength of Linli New Energy team. As Ma Xiaoling said before, "There are great bottlenecks in the transformation and implementation of national scientific and technological achievements, but there are also huge opportunities. Linli New Energy will do more technology incubation and implementation from 0 to 1."
According to incomplete statistics from the investment community, since its establishment, Linli New Energy has received 6 rounds of financing in four years, including Shenzhen Venture Capital, Huahui Venture Capital, Luojia Wutong, Yunhe Capital, Yunhe Fangyuan Capital and other VCs. The listed company Xiongtao Co., Ltd. has also participated.
One round of financing is more than 10 billion yuan, and the share competition is fierce.
Hundreds of institutions are queuing up to find the door
Interestingly, Honeycomb Energy, which appeared as an investor this time, is the most popular representative of the power battery this year.
At the end of July this year, Honeycomb Energy announced the completion of its Series B financing, with a total financing amount of up to 10.28 billion yuan, and the post-investment valuation of is 36 billion yuan . This is the third round of market-oriented equity financing for Honeycomb Energy, and the investment lineup is very large: led by China Bank Investment , and the joint investment institutions include the National Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Guidance Fund Sub-fund, Country Garden Venture Capital, Shenzhen Venture Capital, Jianxin Investment, IDG, Sany Heavy Industry , Xiaomi Group , Huzhou Haisong, Huaxing Capital , etc., and former shareholders such as Guotou Investment Merchants and Jiuzhi Capital have increased their holdings.
It is worth mentioning that this is only 5 months since Honeycomb Energy completed its A round of financing. In late February this year, Honeycomb Energy received 3.5 billion yuan in Series A financing, led by Bank of China Investment and Guotou Investment. Other investors include Financial Street Capital, Changzhou Venture Capital, Zhejiang University Jiuzhi, IDG, Kaihui Fund, Haitong Kaiyuan, Dezaihou Capital, Great Wall Holdings, etc.
Almost all VC/PEs are eyeing this power battery. After the B round of financing, the number of shareholders of Honeycomb Energy has reached 50. Chairman and CEO of Honeycomb Energy, Yang Hongxin once revealed at the signing ceremony of the A round of financing that during the A round of financing, many institutions did not allocate the sufficient amount they wanted . Wang Zhikun, executive vice president of
, revealed more financing details: "In fact, more than 100 institutions in have actively found us and asked to invest in ." He introduced that held an investment briefing in May, and the list of investment institutions was basically determined at the end of June. But by July, there are still many investment institutions that want to invest in. Considering that the team should calm down, Honeycomb Energy should finish the financing.
Honey Cell Energy Financing is fierce, just a microcosm. In September, another 10 billion yuan financing for power batteries was born - AVIC Lithium Battery announced that it had completed a new round of equity financing, with the amount of reaching 12 billion yuan . Officially disclosed that in addition to the continued increase in holdings of original shareholders such as Changzhou government, Xiamen government, and Aviation Industry Group , this round of financing has also received support from state-owned investment companies in governments such as Wuhan and Chengdu, and the National Manufacturing Transformation Fund. Relevant partners upstream and downstream of the industrial chain also participated in this round of financing.
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Coincidentally, a hydrogen fuel cell company incubated by Shanghai Jiaotong University has just won a financing.
In mid-October, Shanghai Hydrochen New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. announced the completion of A+ round investment, with an amount of over 250 million yuan. This round was led by IDG Capital , Lingang Zhizhao, Beijing Jingneng, Free Trade Equity Fund, etc. This is a startup company incubated from the Shanghai Jiaotong University laboratory, dedicated to developing automotive hydrogen fuel cell stacks and hydrogen fuel cell power systems for drones. The leader is Yi Peiyun, a young professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University.
After long-term research, Hydrogen Chen was officially established in 2017 and was subsequently favored by VCs/PEs. In February 2020, Hydrogen Chen announced that it had received a Series A strategic investment, with Shenneng Neng Chuang Investment. After the completion of the A-round financing, Hydrogen Chen successfully achieved mass production last year, and a number of VCs also came to the door.
investment community learned that in the new round of financing of Hydrogen Morning, multiple investment institutions will visit every week, including both industrial funds and well-known VC institutions. In May this year, Liu Zhihai, managing director of IDG Capital, chatted with Yi Peiyun for more than three hours in a factory in Fengxian Lingang Park in Shanghai, and eventually led to the A+ round of investment.
is not the hottest, it is only more popular. Just half a month later, the power battery ushered in another major financing - Huineng Technology announced that it had completed a new round of financing of US$326 million. The financing was jointly invested by Danfeng Capital, Chunhua Capital, and SoftBank China . The company invented the world's first solid-state lithium ceramic battery. Currently, solid-state battery technology is at the forefront of the world and has nearly 500 solid-state battery patents. Yang Siyu, the founder of
Huineng Technology, is also a veteran in the battery industry. After graduating from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Taiwan University, he could have stayed at the National Taiwan University Materials Institute, but he resolutely chose to join the factory. Because she is optimistic about the development potential of solid-state batteries, Yang Siqiu established Huineng Technology as early as October 2006, and has finally received unprecedented attention from VC/PE.
sorted out this year's financing panorama
Why are investors fighting for a battery?
In the past year, the power battery track has been unprecedentedly popular.
There is a data here: According to incomplete statistics, in the first half of 2021, the backbone enterprises announced nearly 100 investment projects in the power battery industry chain, with a total investment amount exceeding 490 billion yuan, of which the investment amounts of batteries and the four major materials exceeded 310 billion yuan and 180 billion yuan respectively. The financing scene is even more spectacular - the VC/PE institutions behind
are even more magnificent. In the past year, dozens of VC/PE institutions including Sequoia China, Shenzhen Venture Capital, IDG Capital, Hillhouse Venture Capital, Junlian Capital , Chunhua Capital, Kaihui Fund, Lightspeed China, SoftBank China, etc., as well as industrial funds such as CATL , Great Wall Motor , Xiaomi Yangtze Industry Fund, and Guang Investment Capital have all extended their tentacles to the power battery track.
track is very popular, and the battles are happening frequently. An investor who just squeezed into a power battery project Pre IPO round of financing revealed: "This year we contacted a battery company. They are preparing for the last round of financing before listing. The valuation has reached 50 billion, and they cannot get the direct investment quota. Finally, we still get some shares through the transfer of old stocks."
So the question is: Why are investors fighting for a battery?
This starts with the new energy industry. Against the backdrop of the national " carbon peak and carbon neutrality " strategy, the transformation and electrification of the automobile industry are becoming the mainstream trend. When VC/PE invests in new car-making forces, it naturally focuses on the industrial chain, while power batteries take the lead. .
"The future of mobile travel will definitely be zero emissions, smarter and safer.", founder of Chunhua Capital Group, , , Dr. Hu Zuliu, , said that solid-state batteries are likely to grow into a force to promote the transformation and large-scale popularization of the electric vehicle industry, and are a very important investment field.
An investor in the new energy field in Beijing also said: "At present, the mainstream on the market is still fuel vehicles, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is still very low. But everyone is optimistic about the future of new energy vehicles and believes that new energy vehicles will continue and quickly increase their penetration rate, and the high growth of the battery industry will continue for quite some time. "Data released by EV Volumes shows that the global installed capacity of automobile power batteries in the first half of this year achieved a significant increase of 155.8% compared with the same period last year, reaching 115.1GWh.
In addition to new energy vehicles, investors also saw another application market for power batteries. Under the influence of national power restrictions, the energy storage industry has risen with the trend, driving the growth of energy storage business revenue of more and more power battery companies. "By 2030, new energy storage will be fully marketed, and the energy storage industry may be a trillion-level market. From this calculation, the power battery market will also reach the level of 100 billion or 100 billion, and such a market magnitude can completely absorb the high valuation of companies. "The above-mentioned investors analyzed this.
Interestingly, in addition to the crazy layout of VC/PE, industrial capital has also entered the market. The reason behind
may be related to the battery shortage in the new energy industry. Due to supply chain pressure and raw material costs, China's new energy vehicles and energy storage industries are facing the problem of supply in short supply of power batteries, and battery suppliers are running at full capacity and it is difficult for battery suppliers to meet the needs of downstream manufacturers. In order to ensure their production capacity, battery companies and new energy vehicle manufacturers downstream of the industrial chain such as CATL, Honeycomb Energy, and AVIC lithium battery have begun to conquer the power battery field.
"This battery shortage may continue until 2025. New energy vehicle manufacturers are worried that the supply chain will be affected, so they will naturally go upstream to invest in some power battery companies. Moreover, they are more worried that battery production capacity will be held by a few companies and lose their bargaining power. "An investor who has been paying attention to the automotive field for a long time pointed out the trick. Therefore, we see that behind every battery financing is a group of industrial giants.
There is no doubt that power batteries are a track with a lot of imagination, but the investment threshold is extremely high. Based on his years of experience, Jingwei China shared: "This field is greatly affected by national policy subsidy policies. Therefore, investors should have strong policy sensitivity. In addition, we must deepen and thoroughly implement the new energy sub-sector to find enterprises with high technical content and strong core technologies. "
Investment is to invest in the future, and new energy is a direction that concerns the future. It can be foreseen that more and more VC/PE institutions will set up special new energy investment teams to participate in this historical tide.
