This hottest track has run a number of tens of billions of unicorns this year

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THECAPITAL

China's power battery manufacturers have become brilliant in the world.

This article totals 4333 words, about 6.1 minutes

Author | Ash Editing | My people

Source | Rongzhong Finance

（ID：thecapital）

This is a common scene on the power battery track.

The valuation of Honeycomb Energy in the four years of establishment is 46 billion yuan; wanxiang 123 is expected to have a post-investment valuation of more than 40 billion yuan after completing the latest round of financing; Ruipu energy is seeking to raise about 3 billion yuan from new and old investors with a valuation of nearly 30 billion yuan; Weilan new energy is valued at 15 billion yuan; and Sunwoda auto battery is valued at 12.4 billion yuan...

On May 5, the power battery industry added another unicorn. Juwan Technology Research, a power battery enterprise incubated by GAC Group, completed a round of financing of nearly 1 billion yuan. In just over a year, it became an 8 billion valuation unicorn.

This unicorn originally originated from the advanced energy storage materials research team within the GAC Group. After years of intensive research, the "XFC Extreme Speed Battery" developed by Juwan Technical Research Institute has basically matured. At present, the company's self-developed 6C magnification XFC extreme speed battery has been installed on gac Aean models, and created a world record of "the fastest electric vehicle charging technology".

Under the fiery wave of new energy, not only Juwan Technology Research, but also many companies have obtained capital blessings in the past year, and China's power battery companies have risen. In addition to the Ningde era, which is firmly at the top of the list, BYD has also ranked among the best, and second-tier manufacturers such as the new dark horse Hive Energy are catching up.

The market competition has been very fierce, in this protracted war, there is not much time left for Juwan Technology Research.

01

Dr. Led the team

Make 8 billion unicorns

On May 5, Juwan Technology Research Institute announced on its official public account that it had completed a round of financing of nearly 1 billion yuan. That means the company jumped from a startup to an 8 billion unicorn in just over a year.

According to the data, Juwan Technology Research Institute was established in September 2020, is the first privately held mixed ownership high-tech enterprise incubated by GAC Group, focusing on the research and development, production, sales and service of XFC power batteries and next-generation high-performance energy storage devices and their systems.

In fact, the company's roots go back even further.

Starting from the GAC Group, GAC Group is a veteran of the automotive industry, and it is also the first large-scale state-controlled automobile group listed on the A+H shares in China, and its market value has now exceeded 120 billion. In the context of the era when car companies are exploring new energy, GAC Group has laid out early. In 2007, Dr. Pei Feng graduated from South China University of Technology and joined the GAC Research Institute. Under the strategic needs of the company, he was appointed to set up a research team of advanced energy storage materials, mainly engaged in the research and development of electric vehicle energy storage devices and their systems. In the process of conducting research, the team realized that breaking through the core three-electric technology is a necessary proposition for the development of new energy vehicles. As a result, Pei Feng began to lead the team to do the basic research and development of The Three Electric Appliances, and the company also invested heavily.

After years of intensive research and development, the team successfully completed the functional test of the super fast-charging battery sample in 2019, and announced the basic maturity of the "XFC extreme speed battery" developed the following year.

In 2018, in order to better transform the research results into products and empower new energy vehicles, GAC Group decided to incubate this team. At that time, the government was also promoting the reform of state-owned enterprises "Double Hundred Action", and under this opportunity, Juwan Technology Research Institute was established in accordance with the trend.

Under the leadership of GAC Group, GUANGZHOU AUTOMOBILE Capital, the leading technical team of GAC Research Institute and a third-party strategic partner jointly funded the establishment of Guangzhou Juwan Technology Research Co., Ltd. As a high-tech enterprise, the core team is a veteran in the field of new energy vehicles. Dr. Pei Feng, who once served as the director of the pilot technology department and the new energy department of the GAC Research Institute, is the company's legal representative and CEO; the chairman and CTO is Huang Xiangdong, a professor and doctoral supervisor of South China University of Technology, a fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, and the first president of the GAC Research Institute.

Interestingly, Pei Feng also revealed a small detail at the beginning of its establishment: "When Juwan was established, the GAC Group accounted for 49% of the shares, and we joked that we would take 49% of the salary." Therefore, the people who came in later, including me, basically cut their salaries in half. ”

This self-paid team quickly ushered in the fast track of development. In 3 months, the negotiation and signing of the first R&D and production base to settle in the national high-tech zone were completed; in 5 months, the construction of the Nansha battery system factory was completed; in 6 months, the authorization of the second generation of hard-core technology - giant capacitor / battery core basic patent was completed...... At the same time, in one year, the Juwan team has also expanded from the initial 10 people to more than 100 people.

02

GAC incubation, Tencent blessing

Accelerate the development of supercharge

The completion of the A round of financing has made Juwan Technology Research a celebrity in the venture capital circle.

In fact, at present, Juwan Technology Research has completed a total of 3 rounds of financing. In addition to the incubation funds of 60 million yuan invested by GAC Group at the beginning of its establishment, in July 2021, Juwan Technology Research Institute also completed the Pre-A round of financing led by GF Xinde, GF Qianhe and GF Financial Holdings Fund, followed by BOC Yuecai, Guangzhou Fund and Potential Energy Capital.

However, it was not until early April 2022, when it was reported in the market that Juwan Technology Research had completed nearly 1 billion yuan of A round financing, the company attracted widespread attention.

In this round of financing, 11 shareholders such as Tencent, Shanghai Shunwei, Guangzhou Shengjing Entrepreneurship, Borun Capital, Xinxin Group, Guangzhou Financial Holding Group, Kejin Holdings, Guangzhou Urban Construction Investment Group, Guangzhou Nanyue Fund Group, Hanhui Capital, Guangzhou Development Zone Investment Group participated, and the nearly 1 billion yuan of capital injection directly made Juwan Technology Research enter the unicorn ranks.

Among the well-known investment institutions, Tencent's investment has attracted attention. Tianyancha equity penetration chart shows that as an A-round investor, Tencent Investment holds 2.26% of the shares of Juwan Technology Research.

On the one hand, Tencent began to lay out the new energy track many years ago, investing in new energy vehicle projects such as Weilai Automobile and Tesla; on the other hand, as early as 2017, Tencent began to cooperate with GAC Group. At that time, the two sides cooperated and launched the iSPACE Zhilian electric concept car independently developed by GAC Group.

Subsequently, Tencent, together with investors such as GAC, jointly funded the establishment of a mobility platform such as Qiqi Travel, with a total investment of more than 1 billion yuan. The project was officially launched in June 2019 and has now entered Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhuhai and other cities. According to Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, Ruqi Travel plans to launch an IPO in 2023.

In the past two years, the two sides have also carried out in-depth strategic cooperation in product digitization, business digitalization, information security system construction, construction of a new travel ecosystem, and autonomous driving technology.

For this investment, although Tencent did not disclose the specific investment logic behind it, it is worth noting that some institutions mentioned that "Juwan's XFC fast charging technology was first launched in the industry and took the lead in entering the fast lane of industrial landing, firmly believing that it can become a new leader in the industry in the future." It's curious, what is XFC fast charging technology? Where exactly is it stronger?

In simple terms, the mission of this technology is to achieve "charging as fast as refueling", which can charge the battery with a large amount of electrical energy in a short period of time. According to the definition of the U.S. Department of Energy, the ultra-fast charging XFC is a power battery with an energy ≥ of 200Wh/kg, and the charging pile power is ≥ 400kw, which can be charged to 80% of the SOC of the vehicle battery in 10 minutes, adding more than 55 kWh of electricity or more than 322 kilometers of vehicle endurance (average charging rate of 6C and above).

Juwan Technology Research has been focusing on the research and development of fast charging technology. At present, the charging rate of Juwan XFC ultra-fast battery products covers 3C to 6C, the vehicle/battery pack is charged at 3C or 6C, and it only takes 15 minutes or 8 minutes to complete 0-80% SOC extreme speed charging at room temperature, which is faster than the 2023 short-term target set by the US Department of Energy.

In terms of market, the 6C magnification XFC extreme speed battery independently developed by Juwan Technology Research Institute has been installed on GAC Aean models and created a world record of "the fastest electric vehicle charging technology". According to third-party data, in April 2022, GAC Aean sold 10,212 new cars, the only new brand with sales of more than 10,000 vehicles; in the first four months, the cumulative new car sales volume was 55,086, much higher than xiaopeng Motors, which ranked second. Behind the excellent data, in addition to the endorsement of GAC Group, it is also inseparable from its fast charging technology.

In addition, the GAC AION V plus model is equipped with a Juwan 3C multiplier XFC extreme speed battery, which is currently sold to the market. With the blessing of technology, the model can achieve "charging for 5 minutes and driving 207 kilometers"; on September 30, 2021, the same brand model equipped with Juwan 6C magnification XFC extreme speed battery has also received national announcements and is expected to be listed in the near future.

After the completion of this round of financing, Juwan Technology Research will continue to strengthen the research and development of XFC ultra-fast charging technology, accelerate the production capacity of XFC ultra-fast batteries, and actively promote the promotion of XFC supercharging ecology. It is expected to complete the construction and commissioning of the first phase of the Nansha District project in 2023, and add 8GWh of XFC ultra-fast battery production capacity, which can provide supporting services for 120,000 new energy vehicles. By 2025, the production capacity will reach 120GWh, and it will be deployed in central, southern, southwestern and northern China. At the same time, Juwan Technology Research Will take the Greater Bay Area as the starting point to actively promote the promotion of XFC supercharging ecology.

03

Power battery track, unicorns appear frequently

The popularity of new energy vehicles no longer needs to be described. As the most core component of new energy vehicles, the power battery track has also been surging.

At present, domestic power battery manufacturers are mainly divided into three categories: such as Yiwei Lithium Energy, Sunwoda and other enterprises that come from the cross-border consumption of lithium batteries; such as Hive Energy, Juwan Technology Research and other independent divisions that are split from car companies; such as China Innovation Airlines, Fu Neng Technology, Guoxuan Hi-Tech and other "native" power battery manufacturers.

According to Tianyan, as of April 1, 2022, there are more than 9,500 power battery-related enterprises in the mainland. From the perspective of the time of establishment, 67.7% of the power battery-related enterprises were established within 5 years. Among them, 1100 new registered enterprises will be added in 2021, with a growth rate of 13.0%.

This situation is reflected in the primary market, that is, manufacturers need a huge scale of funds to complete the expansion and development, and the capital is also optimistic about this track and has invested many times. For example, on April 11, Markerson Energy completed a B+ round of financing, invested by GGV Jiyuan Capital. Founded in 2018, this new energy battery company has completed 4 rounds of financing within one year since it obtained angel financing in April 2021, including in-house in-house angel funds, source code capital, Legend capital, GGV source capital and other well-known institutions.

On March 29, as an important battery business segment of Wanxiang Group, Wanxiang 123 received a capital injection of 900 million yuan from shareholders such as Yingke Capital.

On March 28, Weilan New Energy received strategic financing. At present, the company has completed 7 rounds of financing, and the capital camp behind it is also luxurious, including Chinese Academy of Sciences Venture Capital, IDG Capital, NIO Capital, Hubble Investment, Shunwei Capital, Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund, Geely Holdings, etc. In addition, there are Sunwoda auto batteries, Zhongke Haina, Ruipu Energy, Hive Energy and other enterprises to obtain financing in the first quarter of this year.

In the case of the continuous influx of hot money, according to incomplete statistics, in the first quarter of 2022, a total of 29 new domestic power battery projects were invested and built, with a total investment of 339.11 billion yuan and a planned power battery production capacity of nearly 877GWh.

On the other hand, under the fiery atmosphere of the new energy track, valuation surge is inevitable. Unicorns have emerged in the field of power batteries: on the same day that Yingke Capital announced its stake in Wanxiang 123, Wanxiang Qianchao also issued an announcement that it intends to invest 4 billion yuan in Wanxiang 123. According to media reports, after Wanxiang 123 completes this round of financing, it is expected that the post-investment valuation will exceed 40 billion yuan; Honeycomb Energy has completed 7 rounds of financing, and the officially disclosed transaction amount alone has exceeded 20 billion yuan. After completing its strategic financing in January 2022, Hive Energy was valued at 46 billion yuan, and media reported that Ruipu Energy is seeking to raise about 3 billion yuan from new and existing investors at a valuation of nearly 30 billion yuan.

In addition, the value of Sunwoda Automobile batteries invested by Xiaopeng Automobile, IDG Capital, Ideal Automobile, WEIlai Automobile and others is 12.4 billion yuan; the valuation of Weilan New Energy has reached 15 billion yuan; Guohong Hydrogen Energy, which focuses on the industrialization of hydrogen fuel cells, is opening a new round of financing, and the pre-investment valuation has reached 7 billion. The current valuation of The sodium-ion battery company Invested by Hubble Investment, Zhongke Kechuangxing, Guokejiahe and other institutions has exceeded 5 billion yuan, an increase of 800% compared with the same period last year.

Heavily invested in research and development, power battery manufacturers from China have been brilliant in the world. According to the latest data from the global market research agency "SNE Research", the top ten companies in the global power battery in the first quarter of 2022 are CATL, LG New Energy, BYD, Panasonic, SK On, Zhongxin Airlines, Samsung SDI, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Hive Energy, and Ewell Lithium Energy. It is worth noting that in the top ten rankings, Chinese power battery manufacturers occupy six seats. The market share of the top ten power battery manufacturers is 91.8%, while China's power battery manufacturers account for 55.7%.

Behind this, we can see the strong growth of China's power battery companies. However, as the market share continues to be grabbed by leading enterprises, the power battery industry has also shown a trend of "strong and strong, weak and weak".

Back to Juwan Technology Research, the advantages compared with the above enterprises are not obvious. It can be seen that the customer structure of leading enterprises is very diversified. The first major customer of the Ningde era is Tesla, and the "circle of friends" also includes Volkswagen, SAIC, SAIC-GM, WM, Great Wall, Changan, BMW Brilliance, Dongfeng Motor, Yutong and other domestic mainstream car companies.

Although BYD's power batteries are mostly used for its own brands, there are rumors that BYD has received an order for Tesla's 10GWh. In addition to Great Wall Motor's own brands, the new Dark Horse Hive Energy's customers also include 25 domestic and foreign car companies such as Geely, Dongfeng, Nezha and Zero Run.

The XFC ultra-fast battery of Juwan Technology Research Institute is currently mainly used in GAC Aean's models. In order to catch up with the giants, while researching and developing, it is also necessary to open up the market and cooperate with more car companies. To be fair, only one year after its establishment, the establishment of Juwan Technology Research Institute has been very eye-catching, compared with giants, Juwan Technology Research Institute still needs to go through a necessary and common dormancy period. But in the market that is constantly being squeezed, how much market and time is left for it?

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