The gross profit margin is nearly 80%, and three Zhejiang University alumni have created "hidden champions" and are about to IPO
Source丨Venture Bang (ID: ichuangyebang)
Author丨Barry
Editor丨Guan Ju
题图丨Midjourney
Zhejiang University alumni have been active in the business world.
In the recently released "2023 Hurun Alumni Association List", Zhejiang University and Tsinghua University tied for first place, with 32 alumni each. In addition, according to the statistics of the "2022 Zhejiang University Alumni Listed Company List", Zhejiang University entrepreneurs manage or control 280 mainstream listed companies. Backgammon Duan Yongping, Pinduoduo Huang Zheng and others all graduated here.
The Department of Zhejiang University is obviously an entrepreneurial army that cannot be ignored.
Among them, Scantech is a "3D scanner" supplier co-founded by three alumni of Zhejiang University, and its products include handheld 3D scanners, handheld scanners, etc. With the help of a 3D scanner, you can quickly obtain shape and appearance data, realize 3D modeling, and become a member of the virtual world. At present, this technology has been widely used in aerospace, automobile manufacturing, construction machinery and other fields.
Recently, Scantech submitted a reply to the first round of inquiries for the IPO of the Science and Technology Innovation Board, and it submitted a prospectus to the Science and Technology Innovation Board in June 2023.
It is worth noting that from 2020 to 2022 (hereinafter referred to as the "reporting period"), the comprehensive gross profit margin of Scantech is more than 76%, and the gross profit margin of the first main product, the portable 3D scanner, is 80.95%, the unit cost of the product is about 20,000 yuan/set, and the sales unit price is more than 110,000 yuan/set.
According to the estimation of the China Instrument and Meter Industry Association, in the industrial-grade field, Scantech's handheld laser 3D scanner ranks first in the domestic market share in 2021, and has become the "invisible champion" of the industry in the subdivision track.
Three Zhejiang University alumni create "hidden champions"
This is the story of three Zhejiang University alumni working hard to start a business together.
Among them, Wang Jiangfeng and Zheng Jun were born in 1982 and came from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Zhejiang University, and Chen Shangjian was born in 1977 and came from the School of Computer Science and Technology of Zhejiang University, all of whom have master's degrees.
In the professional field, the three have their own strengths. Jiangfeng Wang focuses on automation and computer technology, Jun Zheng focuses on machine vision, and Shangjian Chen specializes in optical metrology.
From 2006 to 2012, Wang Jiangfeng and Chen Shangjian left Zhejiang Dahua Digital Technology Co., Ltd. and UT Starcom respectively, and first went to Hangzhou Pucheng Technology Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Pucheng Teddy Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Pucheng Department"), Wang Jiangfeng served as the sales director, and Chen Shangjian served as the R&D engineer. In 2008, Zheng Jun resigned from the position of structural engineer of Sany Heavy Industry and joined the spectrum as a R&D engineer.
In 2012, the three of them jointly founded Hangzhou Dingre Technology Co., Ltd.
Three years later, Wang Jiangfeng, Chen Shangjian, and Zheng Jun joined forces again and jointly initiated the establishment of Sikan Technology with Gu Zonghua, associate professor of the School of Computer Science of Zhejiang University, with a registered capital of 8 million yuan. The company focuses on 3D vision digital integrated solutions, and its main business includes the research and development, production and sales of 3D vision digital products and systems.
However, due to Gu Zonghua's consideration that the focus of his work is still on the academic side, he decided not to participate in entrepreneurship and transferred 30% of his shares in December 2015. Today, Wang Jiangfeng is the chairman and general manager, Zheng Jun is the director and chief engineer, and Chen Shangjian is the director and deputy general manager.
Wang Jiangfeng, founder of Sikan Technology Source: Innovation Yuhang
Two years after its establishment, Scantech launched the TrackScan 3D scanner and received orders from Boeing, and in 2018, Scantech launched the iReal color 3D scanner to enter the consumer field.
According to the prospectus, in 2022, more than 7% of the revenue of Scantech will come from the top three downstream application fields, namely automobile manufacturing (40.4%), construction machinery (22.38%) and aerospace (10.23%).
At present, the company's 3D digital equipment and solutions have been exported to more than 60 countries and regions, serving thousands of enterprises, including COMAC, CATL, ZTE, Apple, BMW, BYD, Tesla, China Aerospace Aerodynamics Technology Research Institute, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and other well-known enterprises and research institutions.
In addition, Scantech has also cooperated with the Space Application Engineering and Technology Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and related products have been applied to the "China Space Station" in-orbit experiment, and Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of COMAC, has cooperated with related products to be applied to the "C919 Large Aircraft" project.
In October 2022, Scantech increased its registered capital by 1.02 million yuan, and the registered capital of the company after this capital increase was 16.02 million yuan, and introduced a number of investors including China Securities Investment and Hunan Television and Radio Media, with a capital increase price of up to 166.67 yuan per share, financing of 170 million yuan, and a post-investment valuation of 2.67 billion yuan.
Subsequently, these investors also signed a "VAM agreement" with Scantech. According to the requirements, if the company fails to complete the initial public offering and listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange before December 31, 2024, Hunan Television and Radio Media and CITIC Securities will require the company to repurchase all or part of the shares held by them.
Before the issuance, Wang Jiangfeng, Chen Shangjian and Zheng Jun controlled a total of 85.21% of the company's shares and were the actual controllers of Sikan Technology.
The gross profit margin exceeded that of its peers by 20%, and the largest customer turned into a "competitor"
According to reports, the main products of Scantech include handheld 3D visual digital products, tracking 3D visual digital products, industrial-grade automated 3D visual inspection systems, etc., among which, handheld 3D visual digital products are specifically subdivided into portable 3D scanners and color 3D scanners.
According to the prospectus, from 2020 to 2022 (hereinafter referred to as the "reporting period"), Scantech achieved operating income of 91.5087 million yuan, 161 million yuan and 206 million yuan respectively, net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company of 30.2736 million yuan, 67.544 million yuan and 77.635 million yuan respectively, and comprehensive gross profit margin of 78.89%, 76.92% and 76.40% respectively.
Among them, portable 3D scanners are the company's largest main products, contributing 86.70%, 78.19% and 68.87% of the main business income during the reporting period, while the gross profit margin reached 82.26%, 79.94% and 80.95% respectively, which is the company's highest gross profit margin of the subdivision products. In addition, the gross profit margins of color 3D scanners were 65.12%, 63.37% and 56.69%, respectively, and the gross profit margins of tracked 3D visual digital products were 62.15%, 71.75% and 73.69%, respectively.
Although the gross profit margin of Scantech decreased slightly during the reporting period, it still far exceeded the average level of its peers. In the prospectus, Scantech listed four companies, including Xianlin 3D and BLT, as comparable companies in the same industry. During the reporting period, the average comprehensive gross profit margin of comparable companies was 53.89%, 52.00% and 54.83% respectively. It can be seen that the comprehensive gross profit margin of Scantech exceeds the average of the industry by more than 20%.
Comparative analysis of the comprehensive gross profit margin of Sikan Technology and comparable listed companies in the same industry Source: Company prospectus
This has also triggered a high degree of regulatory attention. In the first round of inquiry, the Shanghai Stock Exchange asked Sikan Technology to explain "the reasonableness of the company's high gross profit margin and whether it is in line with the characteristics of the industry".
Scantech said that because the company's main competitors are not independently listed, the relevant competitors are not selected as comparable companies in the same industry of the company, and because the competitors are listed on the New Third Board, only the comparable companies in the same industry are selected and have similar products with the company, and there are certain differences between the products of other comparable companies in the same industry and the company's products, and there are also certain differences in gross profit margin.
As a high-tech enterprise, Scantech's R&D investment is lower than the industry level, and its sales expenses are higher than the industry average.
In terms of R&D investment, the prospectus shows that during the reporting period, the company's R&D expenses were 13.7924 million yuan, 23.3177 million yuan and 36.7215 million yuan respectively, and the R&D expense rates were 15.07%, 14.48% and 17.82% respectively. In the same period, the average R&D expense ratio of the industry was 15.91%, 18.31% and 19.68% respectively.
During the reporting period, the sales expenses of Scantech were 21.1476 million yuan, 31.4285 million yuan and 43.9817 million yuan respectively, and the sales expense rates were 23.11%, 19.51% and 21.35% respectively. In the same period, the average sales expense ratio of the industry was 13.27%, 13.89% and 15.23% respectively.
In this regard, Scantech said that the company is a non-listed company with relatively weak financial strength. In the future, with the investment of raised funds in investment projects, the company's R&D expense ratio is expected to further increase.
Scantech also believes that the lower sales expense ratio of comparable companies in the same industry, BLT and Lingyunguang, is mainly due to the small proportion of its sales personnel. As of December 31, 2022, there were 113 sales personnel and 89 R&D personnel respectively, accounting for 41.39% and 32.6% of the total number of 273 employees.
In addition, Venture Capital also found that the customer concentration of Scantech is low. During the reporting period, the sales revenue of the company's top five customers accounted for 14.84%, 14.38% and 17.02% respectively, mainly because the company's products are general-purpose products, and the downstream application fields are widely distributed, and the customers are relatively scattered.
At the same time, Scantech is facing the risk of losing large customers. Germany's ZEISS HOLM has been the largest customer for three consecutive years, and the ZEISS Group behind it is the world's leading optical giant.
During the reporting period, Zeiss Gaomu contributed 5.9345 million yuan, 13.1213 million yuan and 15.5381 million yuan respectively, accounting for 6.49%, 8.15% and 7.54% respectively. In the first half of 2023, ZEISS Gaomu has disappeared from the list of the top five customers of Skan Technology.
It is reported that Scantech and Gaomu Optics adopt an ODM cooperation model, but the cooperation agreement has expired in November 2022. After the termination of the ODM cooperation agreement between the two parties, in the first half of 2023, ZEISS Gommer has launched its self-developed T-SCAN hawk 2 handheld 3D scanner, and the number of sales of this product in China in 2023 will be about 50 units.
Scantech said that the R&D and expansion of ZEISS Gaomu's handheld 3D laser scanner products will not have a significant adverse impact on the market competition of the company's related products.
According to the disclosure of Scantech, from January to June 2023, Zeiss Gaomu did not generate new ODM orders, and in this context, the company's operating income increased by 41.25% year-on-year, still maintaining rapid growth.
According to the IPO plan, Scantech plans to raise 851 million yuan, of which 197 million yuan will be used for the capacity expansion project of 3D visual digital products and automatic detection system, 343 million yuan will be used for the construction project of R&D center and headquarters building, 111 million yuan will be used for the construction project of marketing and service network base, and 200 million yuan will be used to supplement working capital.
2024 has arrived, the time limit of the "VAM agreement" is approaching, and it remains to be seen whether the three Zhejiang University alumni can successfully IPO.