Author | Wang He
Edit | Pan Lei
Image source | Juwan Technical Research official website, public number
Another domestic power battery unicorn was born.
Not long ago, Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, revealed at the media communication meeting of the group's annual report that Juwan Technology Research, a technology enterprise jointly funded by GAC Group, GAC Capital, the pilot technical team of GAC Research Institute and a third-party strategic partner shareholding platform, has completed a round of financing with a valuation of 8 billion yuan.
In September 2020, GAC Group and GAC Capital invested 60 million yuan to incubate and establish Juwan Technology Research Institute.
The head of GAC Capital revealed at the public forum that in the pre-A round of financing in July 2021, GAC Capital's investment in Juwan Technology Research increased by 26.5 times.
Juwan Technology Research Institute is the first mixed ownership technology innovation company incubated by GAC Group, specializing in power battery technology. Since its establishment, Juwan Technology Research Institute has completed a total of 3 rounds of financing, and investors include GAC Group, GAC Capital, GF Securities subsidiary GF Xinde, BOC Yuecai, Potential Energy Capital, etc.
As one of the A-round investors, Tencent Investment holds 2.26% of the shares of Juwan Technology Research, and Ma Huateng also enjoys 1.36% of the ultimate beneficiary shares.
Zhang Xiang, dean of the New Energy Vehicle Technology Research Institute of Jiangxi New Energy Technology Vocational College, told Chuangbang that GAC wants to transform from a traditional car company to a technology company, "GAC is now developing in this direction and laying out some core components." ”
Huang Xiangdong has long been optimistic about battery fast charging technology
The establishment of Juwan Technology Research Institute is closely related to Huang Xiangdong, the first president of GAC Research Institute.
Huang Xiangdong joined GAC Group in 2004 as Chief Engineer and became Deputy General Manager of GAC Group in May 2005.
In 2006, the GAC Research Institute was established under the leadership of Huang Xiangdong, who served as the first president.
Yuan Feng, director and general manager of GAC Capital, told Chuangbang that Huang Xiangdong found in the early days of the GAC Research Institute that using graphene as an anode material and adding one or two percentages to the battery can improve the charging speed very well.
As a lithium battery anode material, graphene has a large specific surface area (2630m2/g), which can reduce the polarization of lithium batteries and thus reduce energy loss. In addition, because of its high conductivity, thermal conductivity and other attention in the field of energy storage, its composite materials as a lithium battery anode material significantly improve the electrochemical properties of lithium batteries.
In 2014, GAC Group began to study the large-scale preparation of graphene, and now has independent intellectual property rights of 3DG graphene preparation technology, and also applied graphene materials in fast-charging lithium-ion batteries, super capacitors, lithium-sulfur batteries and lightweight body materials and other fields.
Huang Xiangdong retired from GAC Group in 2016 and joined Evergrande Automobile in 2019 as the president of the Vehicle Research Institute.
Different from the concept of small input and fast output of gac research institute, Evergrande Automobile has made great efforts, taking the lead in acquiring Swedish NVES (Saab parent company) in 2019, and then forming a joint venture with the supercar brand Koenigsek, and then entering the main power battery company Kanai New Energy, holding the most advanced wheel hub motor technology company, relying on "buying, buying and buying" to complete the layout of the upstream and downstream industrial chain of the car.
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2020, Evergrande Automobile released 9 Hengchi models in one go.
However, with the outbreak of Evergrande's debt crisis, Evergrande Automobile has also fallen into difficulties, and the mass production of Hengchi Automobile is also far away. Evergrande is even preparing to sell part of evergrande automobile's stake to resolve the debt crisis.
Evergrande Automobile, which is facing turmoil, also made Huang Xiangdong feel unexpected. In May 2020, Huang Xiangdong left Evergrande Automobile.
At that time, Huang Xiangdong believed that the charging speed was very important for the future development of electric vehicles, and there was an opportunity to use this fast charging technology to make a more influential enterprise in the battery industry.
In September 2020, GAC Group took the lead and jointly established Guangzhou Juwan Technology Research Co., Ltd. with GAC Capital Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Juwan Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), Huang Xiangdong and Pei Feng.
GAC has laid out the industrial chain in a big way
In Yuan Feng's view, GAC Capital has undertaken the function of taking the road of capitalization of GAC Group enterprises.
In 2020, GAC Capital explored ways to help enterprises plan the capitalization process at different stages. It not only invests in external enterprises, but also helps internal enterprises to do the role of capital operation.
Yuan Feng introduced that GAC has three major logics around the "new four modernizations" layout of the automotive industry: one is to assume the position and role of the technical outpost of GAC Group; the other is to support the development of some supply chains in the field of new energy through investment; and the third is to make up for some technical shortcomings through investment.
In 2020, GAC Capital has invested in chip company Horizon, battery company Qingtao Technology, automotive electronic system technology service provider Jingwei Hengrun and other domestic new energy and intelligent driving car related enterprises.
At the same time, GAC Capital also incubated Juwan Technology Research Institute, which holds graphene industrialization technology, and jointly established Galaxy Zhilian, a provider of overall solutions for automotive intelligent digital cockpits, with GAC Group and iFLYTEK. In addition, in 2020, GAC Capital will achieve the exit of three projects, including ArcSoft Technology, Channel Technology, and Radio and Television Metering, through IPO.
At present, GAC Capital manages more than 24 funds with a capital scale of more than 4 billion. According to reports, of the nearly 38 projects that have been invested so far, 9 have been withdrawn from listing or implemented mergers and acquisitions.
What is worth 8 billion
Zhang Xiang believes that there are three major reasons for the current valuation of Juwan Technology Research Institute to reach 8 billion yuan. First, with the investment background of car companies, car companies can invest in battery products that Juwan Technology Research can not worry about orders, and the first batch of products can be sold to GAC, which is a big customer.
At present, the XFC (eXtreme Fast Charge) ultra-fast battery developed by Juwan Technology Research Institute has achieved mass production. In September 2021, GAC AION V Plus 70 Super Fast Charging Edition is equipped with Juwan XFC extreme speed battery "3C Edition" (that is, 3 times the rate battery), with a 0-80% charging time of 15 minutes and a 30-80% charging time of 10 minutes.
XFC ultra-fast batteries have set a world record for "the fastest electric vehicle charging technology" and are planning to build 1,000 supercharging stations in 100 key cities across the country.
Second, the funds of car companies are very strong, and Juwan Technology Research does not have to worry about the shortage of funds. In the absence of financing, GAC can provide a steady stream of financial support for Juwan Technology Research.
"In addition, Tencent, China's largest Internet company, has taken a stake to endorse Juwan Technology Research, which is why it is now valued at 8 billion." Zhang Xiang said.
Zhang Xiang pointed out that including GAC's spin-off and listing of Aean, the model of incubating independent brands has been recognized by capital, so GAC's strategy is correct. "Great Wall's previous investment in Hive Energy has also been successful, and now Hive Energy has entered the top ten in the installed capacity of batteries in the Chinese market."
He judged that the power battery field is in an era of accelerated technological upgrading, the first two years are dominated by ternary lithium batteries, and the Ningde era has occupied a technical advantage and a high market share. In the past two years, lithium iron phosphate batteries led by BYD blade batteries have begun to innovate, and the technology is also updating and iterating. GAC Investment Juwan Technology Research is easy to find new business opportunities in the process of technological upgrading, but there are also certain risks, and it is difficult to surpass the Ningde era in the short term, after all, the Ningde era has formed a high barrier.
At present, batteries have become the core resources in the field of new energy vehicles, the market demand is very large, and the value of the battery business is also very high. The company with the highest market value in China's automotive industry chain is not a car company, but a battery supplier Ningde era, which just shows that the battery industry chain has special characteristics and has certain technical barriers and thresholds.
Since its listing in 2018, the stock price of CATL has risen all the way, and its market value has exceeded one trillion yuan, becoming the first trillion-dollar market value company in more than 10 years on the ChiNext board, and BYD's market value has now exceeded 600 billion yuan.
Zhang Xiang said that car companies investing in battery companies can make their supply chains unaffected by changes in the battery industry, deliver goods in a more timely manner, and meet customer needs faster, which is also the core business model of car companies.