Reshape future travel with a new generation of commercial aerospace power. "Xingyu Aerospace" has completed an angel-round financing of tens of millions of yuan | Exclusive from 36Kr

Text | Liu Jingqiong

Editor | A Zhi

Cover Source | Provided by the enterprise

36Kr learned that Beijing Xingyu Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xingyu Aerospace") announced the completion of a multi - million - yuan angel round of financing. This round of financing was led by Zhongguancun Qihang Investment, followed by Longding Investment. The funds raised will be used for the design and R & D of commercial aerospace power systems, the construction of wind tunnel test equipment, and AI digital engineering. Wave Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round.

The "Xingyu Aerospace" team focuses on the overall design and R & D of the 3rd - generation aerospace power system. It is currently the only private enterprise in China that simultaneously masters the design of aerospace power systems, engine integrated additive manufacturing technology, and independently builds wind tunnel test equipment. The company is conducting AI digital engineering to explore the intelligent data mining of aerospace power systems, and is committed to the construction of AI digital pneumatic equipment and the digital intelligent manufacturing and assembly engineering of products. Currently, the company has completed the design and R & D of the power performance prototype and the construction of wind tunnel test equipment, and is now designing the full - system AI digital prototype.

Xingyu Aerospace conducts engine ignition tests with its self - built wind tunnel test equipment

The new - generation commercial aerospace power system, the ultimate goal of the power system

Currently, aerospace power technology is one of the cutting - edge technologies in the global commercial aerospace field. Many foreign private enterprises have already made layouts (such as Hermeus and ATRX in the United States), while "Xingyu Aerospace" is one of the few private enterprises in China involved in this technology.

Among many power technology routes, "Xingyu Aerospace" chose the air - breathing aerospace engine route. Dr. Wang, the founder, told 36Kr, "This type of engine is one of the technologies closest to engineering on the international stage at present."

The engine technology used by "Xingyu Aerospace" combines the advantages of turbojet and rocket power, enabling the aerospace plane to reach extremely high speeds and having a "crushing" advantage.

Dr. Wang explained, "This technology has extremely high barriers and a very deep coupling of multiple disciplines and multiple engineering fields. It requires long - term engineering experience and experimental data experience, and the investment cost is also very high. Currently, there are very few teams in the world capable of developing this power system. The team not only needs to have systematic engineering capabilities in fields such as combustion, aerodynamics, materials, control, structure, simulation, and experiments; at the same time, it also needs a large amount of wind tunnel experimental data to repeatedly verify many engineering difficulties such as engine performance, structure, control, and the integration of flight and engine matching."

Dr. Wang, the founder of "Xingyu Aerospace", is a scholar who returned from overseas studies and has long been engaged in the aerospace field. The vice - chairman and technical director is Professor Zhong from Tsinghua University, who has long been engaged in the field of aerospace engines, published more than 150 papers, and undertaken many national projects. The team has more than 20 core members of major national aerospace projects, forming a well - organized R & D team including doctors from aerospace institutions such as Tsinghua University, the National University of Defense Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, with nearly 20 years of technical experience and project cooperation experience.

It is worth noting that the wind tunnel independently built by "Xingyu Aerospace" has been put into use, with a speed of up to Mach 6. Dr. Wang said, "The cost of building a wind tunnel is very high, and the demand for its use far exceeds the supply. The wind tunnel is also the touchstone for commercial aerospace power systems and aircraft, so the company chose to build it by itself. After more than 100 test runs, our wind tunnel has been running very stably."

Three business lines in parallel to rapidly promote commercialization

In terms of business model, currently "Xingyu Aerospace" is simultaneously promoting three business lines: power system development, wind tunnel test, and additive 3D printing. At the same time, it is also laying out AI digital equipment and the digital intelligent manufacturing and assembly engineering of products.

In the company's plan, the wind tunnel test business line will be the one with faster commercialization progress. The first wind tunnel test equipment of "Xingyu Aerospace" was completed and put into use in the fourth quarter of 2024, and the second equipment is currently under construction. After completion, in addition to meeting its own test needs, the equipment will be gradually opened to the outside world, and the company also aims to build a public service platform to provide test condition guarantees for various customers in need . Professor Zhong added, "We will open the wind tunnel test equipment to institutions such as universities, industrial departments, and scientific research institutes."

Additive 3D printing is the company's second commercialization direction from internal use to external sales. Due to the extremely high process difficulty of aerospace power integrated manufacturing, traditional machining cannot meet the requirements, and the drawings involve core technological barriers. Considering yield rate guarantee, core process technology protection, cost, and commercialization, "Xingyu Aerospace" chose to do 3D printing additive manufacturing by itself to supply the core materials for its power system. Currently, the company has built its own high - temperature alloy 3D printing system, and by early April, it will have the capacity of four 3D printers, with a one - time forming size of more than 1 meter. Since the first quarter of this year, this business line has started to undertake commercialization in fields such as low - altitude economy, commercial aerospace, mobile phones, and automobiles.

When it comes to the commercialization of the most core power system, Dr. Wang, the founder, told 36Kr that the team will adhere to the "three - step progressive" strategy of power product R & D, commercial aerospace, and civil transportation. In the early stage, the plan is to deeply cultivate the field of power system R & D and engineering; in the medium - term, the plan is to rapidly promote the engineered aerospace power technology to the commercial aerospace field; in the long - term, the goal is to implement the concept of a global one - hour economic circle and achieve unmanned freight and passenger transportation in the form of air - breathing aerospace planes.

As of now, "Xingyu Aerospace" has invested nearly 100 million yuan, built a large - scale ground wind tunnel test equipment and a power system principle prototype. It is expected that by the end of June, "Xingyu Aerospace" will complete the construction of the second wind tunnel equipment. Before the end of the year, the company also plans to complete the hot - firing test of a full - system engine and conduct flight demonstration and verification at an appropriate time. In the later stage, it will gradually promote the engineering realization of commercial aerospace vehicles and global one - hour vehicles.

Investors' views

Ma Jianping, the managing partner of Zhongguancun Qihang Investment, said: Qihang has been laying out in the aerospace technology track since 2018. We adhere to the investment logic of "aerospace, power first". We have successively invested in the satellite electric propulsion power system - Aotian Technology and the reusable liquid rocket power system - Jiuzhou Yunjian, both of which have established stable and good supporting relationships with many overall customers inside and outside the system as private power system suppliers. Hypersonic vehicles are the strategic high - ground actively laid out by superpowers such as China, the United States, and Russia, and are undoubtedly important national weapons. After Mr. Qian put forward the idea of hypersonic flight in 1950, it has only entered a period of rapid development in the past decade thanks to the great progress of materials science and power technology. We have seen the accumulation and determination of the Xingyu Aerospace team in this field, and fully recognize the core technologies and systematic engineering capabilities mastered by the Xingyu Aerospace team in sub - technical fields such as combustion, aerodynamics, materials, control, simulation, and experiments. We hope that the company will continue to deeply cultivate in this field and continuously contribute to enhancing China's global competitiveness in the field of hypersonic flight.

Wu Yenan, the founder of Longding Investment, said: Longding Investment is optimistic about the long - term accumulation of Xingyu Aerospace in wind tunnel design, aerodynamic simulation, and engine design. Especially, the combination of future simulation design and AI will open up a new track and create a new business form, which is an important move for Longding Investment to lay out in the fields of advanced manufacturing and commercial aerospace.