Source丨IT orange
Author丨Fok Yingxian
Editor丨Wu Meimei
Cover picture source: Wenxin Yige
In the past decade, the number of financing events in the primary market of the new energy industry has shown a fluctuating growth trend, which reflects the continuous attention and confidence of the capital market in the new energy industry.
In 2023, there will be 39 unicorns in the domestic new energy industry (excluding new energy vehicle manufacturers), among which Envision Technology Group has the highest latest valuation, with a valuation of US$15 billion.
In terms of geographical distribution, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces dominate the rankings, which is highly consistent with the ranking of regional financing activity in the new energy industry. Jiangsu leads the country with 9 new energy unicorns, followed by Guangdong and Zhejiang with 8 and 5 respectively.
These unicorn companies are mainly concentrated in the eastern part of the mainland, showing a strong regional agglomeration effect. In contrast, there are only five unicorns in the central region, including Anhui's Huasheng New Energy, Wuhu Jiana Energy, Qingdian Photovoltaic, Hubei's Rongtong Hi-Tech, and Hunan's Zhongwei New Energy. In the western region, CNGR New Energy in Guangxi has become the only representative of unicorn enterprises in the new energy industry in the region. It is worth mentioning that unicorns in the new energy industry have emerged after 2021, especially in 2022, the number of new unicorns in the new energy industry has reached its peak, with a total of 24 companies among the unicorns. Analyzing the establishment time of each unicorn company, it can be found that there are many early established companies, such as EcoCeres established in 2010 and Zhongrun Solar established in 2011.
In 2023, 10 domestic new energy companies will be newly promoted to unicorns. Among them, 70% of the enterprises are enterprises established in the past five years. Only Zhongrun Solar and EcoCeres were established earlier and were promoted to unicorns after more than ten years, while Daqin Digital Energy and Qingdian Solar, which were established in 2022, were promoted to unicorns in less than a year after their establishment, and their growth rate is extremely fast. Behind these unicorns are 312 companies, mainly state-owned. Among them, the National Green Development Fund, CCB Investment, Goldstone Investment, and CICC Capital each invested in 4 unicorns, which is the institution that has invested in the most unicorns. Analyzing the subdivided industries of new unicorns in 2023, the energy storage and solar photovoltaic tracks show that they are relatively bright. The following is a brief introduction to the unicorn companies in these two subdivisions: Unicorns born in the energy storage track: Daqin Digital Energy, Maitian Energy, and Weijing Energy Storage
With the transformation of the global energy structure and the continuous progress of new energy technology, the energy storage industry has ushered in unprecedented development opportunities. In 2023, China's energy storage track will be particularly hot. In this year, three companies, Daqin Digital Energy, an energy storage technology company, Maitian Energy, a manufacturer of inverters and energy storage systems, and Weijing Energy Storage, an intelligent manufacturing company for energy storage batteries, stood out and became high-profile unicorn enterprises. Daqin Digital Energy started in 2017, and its headquarters was moved from Xi'an to Jiangsu, and Jiangsu's mature photovoltaic industry cluster provided fertile soil for the development of Daqin Digital Energy. Daqin Digital Energy focuses on user-side energy storage in overseas and Chinese markets, and its products have been exported to many countries and regions, including Australia, Dubai, Belgium, Japan and Cambodia. In 2023, Daqin Digital Energy will continue to complete Series B and C rounds of financing, with a cumulative amount of billions of yuan and a post-investment valuation of 1.5 billion US dollars, backed by 18 well-known investment institutions such as Youshan Capital, Zhongding Capital, CICC Capital, Qingke Venture Capital, and Jinqiu Fund. This shows that the capital market has confidence in the future development of Daqin Digital Energy. Founded in 2019, Maitian Energy focuses on photovoltaic + energy storage systems, integrating the research and development of energy storage inverters and lithium battery PACKs, and its products are mainly sold to major global new energy markets, especially in Europe and the United States. In terms of financing, Maitian Energy has received strategic investment from Tsingshan Holdings, the world's largest stainless steel manufacturer and nickel metal producer, since its inception, and the two sides have synergies between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. In July 2021, the headquarters of Maitian Energy was officially completed and put into use, with a designed annual production capacity of 1 million sets of inverters and 1 million sets of energy storage batteries. In 2022, Maitian Energy will complete the A round of financing of hundreds of millions of yuan, which will be injected by CITIC Securities Investment, Guohe Investment, Chaoxi Capital and other institutions. In May 2023, Maitian Energy completed a Pre-IPO round of financing with a scale of more than 1 billion yuan, with a post-investment valuation of more than 10 billion yuan, led by Chaoxi Capital and participated by many institutions. From Series A directly to Pre-IPO, Maitian Energy's financing road can be described as smooth sailing. At the end of December 2023, Ruipu Lanjun, a lithium-ion battery manufacturer under Tsingshan Holdings, officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first IPO in Tsingshan Holdings' territory. Wheatfield Energy is expected to be the second IPO. Founded in 2018, Weijing Energy Storage focuses on the R&D and intelligent manufacturing of new energy storage batteries, and has emerged in the energy storage industry with its innovative zinc-based flow battery technology, which is favored by the market for its advantages of high safety, low LCOE and long-term storage. Weijing Energy Storage has received the attention of investors. In September 2022, Weijing Energy Storage has completed a Series A financing of 400 million yuan, with investors including Gaorong Capital, Songhe Capital, Dashu Evergreen, Zhen Fund and other well-known investment institutions. In March 2023, the company announced the completion of Series A financing, with a financing amount of more than 600 million yuan, jointly led by SDIC High-tech and Zhuhai Dahengqin Group, followed by Songhe Capital, with a post-investment valuation of 8 billion yuan, and Weijing Energy Storage was promoted to a unicorn. The funds are mainly used for the construction of multiple gigawatt-level "super G factories" of Weijing Energy Storage to increase the production capacity of zinc-iron flow batteries. On the one hand, the popularity of the energy storage track stems from the urgent global demand for clean energy and policy promotion, and on the other hand, because of the important role of energy storage technology in improving energy efficiency and balancing the supply and demand of the power grid. With the continuous innovation of technology and the reduction of costs, energy storage solutions are becoming more and more economical and practical, and the market prospect is broad. In addition, the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry and the maturity of the photovoltaic industry have also provided a huge market demand for the energy storage industry. Although more and more entrepreneurs and capital have poured into the energy storage track, the market competition is fierce, and there are challenges such as overcapacity and price wars, the long-term development prospects of the energy storage industry are still generally optimistic. Unicorns born in the solar photovoltaic track: Qingdian Photovoltaic, Yiyi New Energy, Chint New Energy, Zhongrun Solar, and Huasheng New Energy
On the new energy track in 2023, the solar photovoltaic industry is undoubtedly one of the most high-profile areas. Among the 10 unicorns born in the new energy industry, photovoltaic companies occupy "half of the country", and 5 companies have emerged: Qingdian Photovoltaic, Yiyi New Energy, Chint New Energy, Zhongrun Solar Energy and Huasheng New Energy. These five companies have their own core competitiveness in the photovoltaic field. Qingdian PV is the photovoltaic division of Qingdian Group, which has established its competitive advantage in the field of monocrystalline silicon wafer production by adopting industry-leading improved Siemens process technology, as well as Tianjin University's unique distillation and tail gas recovery technology. Located in Hefei, Anhui Province, Qingdian Photovoltaic Technology has invested 16 billion yuan to build a 30GW monocrystalline silicon wafer production base, demonstrating its strong strength and development potential in the middle of the photovoltaic industry chain. Yiyi Xinneng focuses on the N-type technology route, and its high-efficiency N-type TOPCon cell and module technology has enabled it to occupy an important position in the global photovoltaic market, and its products have been sold to more than 60 countries and regions around the world, and have become a supplier of many central state-owned enterprises. Backed by Chint Group, CHINT is a leader in the photovoltaic field, especially in the field of perovskite/crystalline silicon tandem cell technology. CHINT New Energy's business covers the whole country, and its influence in the middle and upstream links of the global photovoltaic industry chain continues to increase. Founded by Xu Xiaohua, Huasheng New Energy focuses on the development and application of HJT cells and modules, and its products occupy a place in the middle and upstream markets of the photovoltaic industry chain. The core competitiveness of Zhongrun Solar lies in the R&D, production and sales of high-efficiency solar cells, and its shipments rank first among professional cell manufacturers. In the capital market, these photovoltaic unicorns have also performed well. In May 2023, Qingdian PV received a round A investment of 1.5 billion yuan co-led by Hefei Industrial Investment and Jingneng Group, followed by Borun Capital, Doug Capital, Sany Zhongneng, etc.; 17 well-known institutions such as State Power Investment Corporation, Chint New Energy will receive 1.5 billion Series B and 2 billion Series C investments in 2023, Yunhao Capital, Hillhouse Venture Capital, CICC Capital, Yuexiu Industrial Fund, etc. participate in the investment, Chaoxi Capital has placed three consecutive bets since the A round, Huasheng New Energy has received three consecutive rounds of financing of 4.4 billion yuan, of which the B+ round is exclusively invested by Hongtai Fund with 400 million yuan, the B round and C round are led by China National Building Materials New Materials Fund and China Green Development respectively, Hefei Industrial Investment, Richu Capital, Bank of China Assets, Wuxi Financial Holding and other follow-up investments, Zhongrun Solar has received billions of B round and Pre-IPO round investment, investors include Xizi United, Shanda Investment, Jiuyi Investment, Yingke Capital, etc., in early 2024, Zhongrun Solar IPO will be approved, and plans to land on the GEM. Unicorn companies in the photovoltaic industry are leading the rapid development of the industry with their excellent technical strength and market performance, demonstrating the rapid progress of photovoltaic technology and the vigorous development of the new energy market. In the next few years, with the continuous innovation of technology and the continuous improvement of efficiency, the photovoltaic industry is expected to maintain its growth momentum, and the future development space is broad. This article is the middle part of the "2023-2024 China New Energy Track Investment and Financing Report", the first part has been released, and the next part will continue to be released on the IT Orange official account, so stay tuned. The first part includes: macro statistics such as investment and financing trends and regional distribution of the new energy track, and the next part includes: the financing distribution of each link of the new energy industry chain, the top 20 new energy companies with the most financing in the new energy track, and the most active investors in the new energy track......
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