Mobile Core Communications completed a 1 billion yuan Series C financing, led by SoftBank Vision Fund Phase II

Abstract: On January 12, 2022, Mobile Core Communications officially announced through the official WeChat that it has successfully completed a 1 billion yuan C round financing. This round of financing is led by SoftBank Vision Fund Phase II, followed by Kaihui Fund, Cornerstone Capital, GF Qianhe and Qiaobei Capital, and the old shareholders Qiming Venture Capital, Fiberhome Capital, Fupu Investment, Prosperous Investment and Hui tianfu Capital continue to follow suit. The funds obtained from this round of financing will be used for the continuous research and development and continuous innovation of global 5G communication chips in the future of Mobile Core Communications.

On January 12, 2022, Mobile Core Communications officially announced through the official WeChat that it has successfully completed a Series C financing of 1 billion yuan. This round of financing is led by SoftBank Vision Fund Phase II, followed by Kaihui Fund, Cornerstone Capital, GF Qianhe and Qiaobei Capital, and the old shareholders Qiming Venture Capital, Fiberhome Capital, Fupu Investment, Prosperous Investment and Hui tianfu Capital continue to follow suit. The funds obtained from this round of financing will be used for the continuous research and development and continuous innovation of global 5G communication chips in the future of Mobile Core Communications.

The momentum of global 5G commercial development is fierce. According to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), as of April 2021, 153 operators in 64 countries and regions have operated 5G commercial networks. By the end of August 2021, China has built more than 1 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 70% of the world's total, and the number of 5G terminal connections has exceeded 400 million. With the application exploration of 5G smart life in consumer areas such as cultural and sports entertainment, live broadcasting of events, and smart communities, and the increasingly clear application mode of 5G applications in vertical industries such as high-end manufacturing, medical technology, mines and ports, IoT communication chips have played an important role in the process of digitalization, networking, and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the real economy.

As we all know, the development of communication technology from 1G to 2/3/4G to 5G has experienced technological revolutions one after another. Whether it is from analog to digital, from voice to data, from small bandwidth, low rate to large bandwidth, high speed, from connecting people to connecting everything, every change has brought changes to our lives.

As an important part of the network connection infrastructure, 5G communication technology links new intelligent hardware, robots, AR/VR, big data, AI and other technologies, and deeply connects people, process data and intelligent terminals (industrial, medical, transportation and energy) and other industry capabilities and characteristics, so as to achieve 5G ecological transformation.

Mobile Communications is the world's leading cellular mobile communication chip design company, committed to designing the best performance and the highest cost performance of cellular IoT chips. The first product of mobile core communication, NB-IoT series chips, has achieved the first place in new market orders only one year after its launch, and the sales orders in a single month in 2021 exceeded 4 million pieces, and the products were quickly recognized by customers at home and abroad. As we all know, the world's largest module manufacturers are in China, and almost 80% of the major module manufacturers are important partners of core-shifting communications. The products of Core Shift Communications have begun to increase rapidly in subdivided applications such as smart metering, intelligent fire protection, shared bicycles, asset tracking, and white goods, and 5G application scenarios have been empowered.

Mr. Liu Shi, the founder of Mobile Core Communications, established the innovative development concept of "China Core" for the company, not only maintaining the leading position in the industry in terms of products and technologies, but also forming strategic cooperation with the world's best module manufacturers in the market, and at the same time deep strategic cooperation with Qualcomm and sharing overseas markets.

With the continuous emergence of new needs in various industries of global intelligent interconnection of all things, the new technologies and new services of mobile core communication are also constantly developing and upgrading. With innovative R&D technology and excellent commercial landing service capabilities, Mobile Core Communications has been fully affirmed and ordered by the market, but also with the large-scale commercial use of Ultra-high performance NB-IoT series and Cat.1 bis series products and the innovative research and development progress of 5G RedCap/eMBB products, it has also been widely concerned and highly recognized by the capital market.

The investment in the second phase of the SoftBank Vision Fund is not only a blessing on the capital of Mobile Core Communications, but also will further help Mobile Core Communications to expand globally in the future. After the completion of a new round of financing, Mobile Core Communications is expected to continue to maintain its overall leading edge in the global Internet of Things chip industry and accelerate the completion of the global layout.

Dennis Chang, Managing Partner of SoftBank Vision Fund, said: "Cellular communication chips as core devices are crucial to driving the rapid development of China's Internet of Things market. As an emerging leading enterprise in the industry, Mobile Core has an experienced management team, strong business partners and a top competitive product portfolio. We are delighted to work closely with Mr. Liu Shi and the team, and SoftBank will continue to support Chinese companies in the development of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies." ”

Mr. Ye Guantai, partner of Qiming Venture Capital, said: "In my opinion, Mobile Core Communication belongs to the ultra-low-key and thick chip development team. Under the leadership of Mr. Liu, the team's mission is not simply to develop an Internet of Things communication chip to achieve mass production, but to develop it according to its own in-depth understanding of the market demand side, combined with the pursuit of product innovation and the ultimate cost performance. Following the launch of the industry-leading NB-IoT chip product in 2020, the company successfully launched a new high-performance Cat.1 bis chip product line to the market in 2021. Qiming Venture Capital is very fortunate to be able to lead the previous round of investment and continue to increase investment in this round to support the company's rapid development in the next few years. "

Mr. Li Maoxiang, partner of Cathey Fund, said: "Companies that can independently develop cellular mobile communication chips are extremely scarce in the world, and Core Shift Communication is an innovative company with core technology and IP reverse authorization overseas manufacturers in this field; at the same time, with long-term continuous investment in infrastructure construction, China has formed a development dividend in the Internet of Things and communications, which is also one of the tracks that the Industrial Technology Team of Cathay Fund focuses on. The founding team led by Mr. Liu Shi is very craftsman, focusing on continuous optimization and improvement of product performance, coupled with the team's deep accumulation in the field of Internet of Things and communications, we believe that the company can significantly improve customer expectations for existing industry products, enhance the overall strength of the industry, and become a semiconductor enterprise with global influence. ”

Yang Shengjun, partner of Cornerstone Capital, said: "In the future, the application of Internet of Things communication chips based on 4G/5G standards will become more and more extensive, and only a very small number of manufacturers in the world can design such communication chips. The mobile core communication team has nearly two decades of technology accumulation in the field of mobile phone communication chips, and the Internet of Things communication chips developed by it have unique advantages over their peer rivals in terms of performance and cost, and have been exclusively recognized by global giants. With the rapid growth of market demand and the continuous maturity of technology and products, the Internet of Things chips of mobile core communications have made continuous progress in commercialization and entered the industry's top customers. We look forward to the company's greater progress under the leadership of Mr. Liu and its entry into the global market." ”

Guangfa Qian and Dr. Shi Tuanwei said: "At present, the world has entered the era of internet of everything, and cellular communication chips are the bridge connecting Internet of Things terminals; wearable devices, smart homes, smart cities and other Internet of Things applications will bring a huge market for cellular communication chips. Mobile Core Communication is one of the few teams in China with cellular communication chip research and development capabilities, with strong technical strength and rich product experience; the company's NB-IOT and Cat.1 products have been widely praised by customers. We believe that The core has the ability to achieve greater success in the broader market in the future and is willing to accompany our peers all the time. ”

Dr. Wang Yingbo of Hui Tianfu Capital said: "We are optimistic about the development prospects of domestic local semiconductor design companies in the next few years, mobile core communications seize the opportunity of the times, under the leadership of Mr. Liu, continue to launch more to meet the market demand of the cellular Internet of Things chip products, following last year's mass production of industry-leading NB-IoT products, this year and quickly successful mass production of Cat1 chips, the future will continue to develop high-performance 5G chips, forming a complete product echelon moat, Become an excellent leader in domestic chips that can make the ultimate product. We are honored to make additional investments in this round after the previous round of leading investment in the core, and accompany the rapid growth of the core to become a global semiconductor design company." ”

Mr. Niu Jijing, partner of Qiaobei Capital, said: "The core shift team has accumulated deep knowledge in the field of cellular communication chips, with very comprehensive technical capabilities such as algorithms, baseband, RF, SoC, etc.; strategically focuses on cellular communication of the Internet of Things; the ultimate product definition, leading the opponent generation; performance, power consumption, and cost are fully dominant." We are very optimistic about the development of the mobile core, which is expected to become a leading supplier of cellular communication chips in the AIOT era. ”

Mr. Dong Qianghua, the managing partner of Fiberhyear Industry Fund, said: "From the perspective of the industry, the field of IoT chips has the industry characteristics of "long slope and thick snow", and diversified application scenarios bring massive market scale. The IoT industry will form a development pattern in which NB-IoT, 4G (Cat1) and 5G technology echelons carry all kinds of Internet of Things connections. Since our investment in core communication in 2019, we have continued to invest additionally, and we are optimistic about the track and the excellent enterprise core communication in the track for a long time, and the company stands out in the industry with its comprehensive and extreme products, steady and rapid growth, and is unstoppable. ”

Mr. Cao Huinan, Partner of Fupu Investment, said: "Fupu Investment is very happy to participate in the company's current round of financing, which is also an important increase in Fupu after the angel round as the lead investor. The company's large-scale mass production from a single product of angel wheel to multiple product lines at present proves the company's technical research and development strength. At the same time, it is also very happy to see that as a Chinese chip design company, it has been recognized by chip giant Qualcomm and has developed strategic cooperation with it. The company is undoubtedly the current leader in the field of cellular communication chips in the Internet of Things, and we look forward to the company's increased investment in research and development in the field of cellular communications and continuous iteration of products after this round of financing. I wish the company a 100-foot pole in the future and further development! ”

Ms. Li Yuanfei, Founding Partner of Xingwang Investment, said: "Under the tide of the Internet of Everything, we have invested in Mobile Core Communications again this year. The core shift team adheres to independent innovation in the field of Internet of Things chips, pursues the ultimate in hardware optimization, has a solid and complete software stack capability, has successfully produced the most cost-effective NB-IoT chip solution in the industry, Cat1 chip is also about to be shipped on a large scale, and has demonstrated its unique advantages in the strong 5G communication chip track. Adhering to the open and cooperative mentality, we believe that The Core can go further in the future and become an IC design company with global influence. ”

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With the update of 5G technical standards and the improvement of infrastructure, network construction and security guarantees, 5G is reshaping the production methods, communication channels, marketing policies and channels of content, and deeply linking cultural and entertainment, education, industry, transportation, medical care, government affairs and other scenarios. Driven by the continuous scale of 5G networks, the application of 5G smart wearable devices has gradually matured, the application of vertical industries such as medical health and industrial Internet has continued to progress, operator private network projects have landed, and the commercial process of the 5G industry is accelerating. From public digital infrastructure to transportation digital facilities, from industrial digital facilities to cultural tourism digital facilities, building a 5G ecological future city, improving the intelligent and high-speed vehicle-road collaboration, realizing industrial digital management and pursuing the ultimate user experience have become important research topics and directions for the application and development of the 5G digital industry. As a leading domestic explorer of communication chip technology, Mobile Core Communications will continue to study, continuously surpass, improve technology, consolidate barriers, and continuously empower and stimulate more possibilities for the new era of global 5G Internet of Everything. Mobile Core Communication uses the "core" to do practical things, continuous efforts for China to achieve common prosperity, and continuous innovation for the harmonious coexistence of the world.

Source: Mobile Core Communications