When VCs start "group-buying" projects: Unveiling the 13 most crowded financing rounds in 2025. Who is paying for the high valuations?

In 2025, a peculiar "queuing to get on the bus" phenomenon emerged in China's primary market:

More and more hard - tech companies were attracting a dozen or even dozens of investment institutions in a single round of financing. Investors no longer pursued the superiority of "sole investment" or "lead investment." Instead, they scrambled to get on the same boat.

Data from IT Juzi showed that there were at least 13 typical projects with over 15 investors in a single round throughout the year, covering strategic sectors such as AI chips, commercial space, robotics, semiconductors, and biomedicine.

These 13 companies are as follows:

MuXi Co., Ltd. (Series C, nearly 50 investors) and QingWei Intelligence (Series C, 24 investors) in the AI infrastructure layer;

Hainan Commercial Space Innovation Center (Angel round, nearly 30 peer companies participated) in the commercial space field;

XinShang Micro - Equipment (Strategic investment), JuXin Microelectronics (Series D++), KunLun Chip (Strategic investment), and ZhiAoTong (Series A) in the integrated circuit sector;

New Stone Autonomous Vehicle (Series D) and Leju Robotics (Pre - IPO) in the robotics field;

HeJian Industrial Software (Series A) in the industrial Internet software field;

AiPuQiang (Series B) and ShengYin Biotech (Series B) in the healthcare field;

And JuWan Technology (Series A++) in the new energy battery industry.

MuXi Co., Ltd.: 50 capitals support the first domestic GPU stock

In February 2025, MuXi Co., Ltd., a domestic GPU unicorn, completed a record - breaking financing:

In the Series C and Pre - IPO rounds, nearly 50 investment institutions flocked in, raising a total of over 7.2 billion yuan. This became the equity transaction with the largest number of investors in the primary market in 2025. Behind this "epic" fundraising was the collective bet of state - owned capital, market - oriented funds, and industrial capital on the domestic AI computing power sector.

The lineup of investors in this round was luxurious, covering almost all types of market participants.

Among them, institutions with state - owned backgrounds occupied important positions, including "national team" players such as the Yangtze River Delta Fund of the National Social Security Fund, the State - owned Capital Operation and Management Fund, the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, and Pudong Venture Capital, as well as local state - owned platforms such as Henan Investment Group, Xiangjiang State - owned Investment, and Yuhang State - owned Investment.

Among market - oriented VC/PEs, there were not only institutions with a US - dollar fund style such as Sequoia Capital China, Matrix Partners China, and Lightspeed China Partners, which had made early bets and continued to increase their investment, but also professional investment institutions such as Primavera Capital Group, Orient Fortune Capital, and CICC Capital, which entered later.

In terms of industrial capital, well - known enterprises such as Lenovo, Zhongke Lanxun, Chunzhong Technology, Septwolves, and Wahaha all appeared, indicating the recognition of MuXi's technology implementation ability by the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

Most notably, private equity tycoon Ge Weidong and his Hundun Investment invested over 800 million yuan in total in this round, becoming an important shareholder with nearly 4% of the shares.

The investment motives of all parties in MuXi were highly consistent:

Against the background of restrictions on the entry of NVIDIA's high - end chips into China, domestic substitution of AI computing power had changed from an "optional item" to a "must - have item."

As a member of the first echelon of domestic GPUs, the pre - listing financing of MuXi was the last ticket for capital to share the dividends of domestic substitution. State - owned capital undertakes the strategic mission of promoting semiconductor self - controllability, industrial capital seeks business synergy, and financial investors value the valuation premium ability of the STAR Market for hard - tech enterprises.

On December 17, 2025, MuXi Co., Ltd. listed on the STAR Market at an issue price of 104.66 yuan per share. On the first day, it staged a sharp rise: opening at 700 yuan and closing at 829.90 yuan, with a increase of 692.95%. Its market value once exceeded 330 billion yuan. The profit from winning a lottery for a new share exceeded 360,000 yuan, setting a record for new shares in the A - share market in the past decade.

Ge Weidong's stock market value soared to 22 billion yuan at one point, with a floating profit of over 12 times the cost. The book returns of early institutions such as Matrix Partners China and Sequoia Capital China also reached over 10 times. However, after the frenzy, the stock price quickly returned to rationality. As of late January 2026, MuXi's stock price had fallen back to around 570 yuan, a 36% drop from the peak, and its market value shrank to about 225.7 billion yuan. This listing feast supported by 50 capitals not only demonstrated the money - attracting ability of the domestic GPU sector but also foreshadowed the long - term value test that these shareholders were about to face.

Hainan Commercial Space Innovation Center: 30 peers "compete and cooperate symbiotically"

In July 2025, Hainan Commercial Space Innovation Center was established in the rare form of an enterprise alliance. Nearly 30 industrial chain enterprises, including LandSpace, iSpace, Tianbing Technology, Dongfang Space, and Galaxy Space, collectively participated in the shareholding, setting a precedent for "competitors to jointly build an innovation platform" in China's aerospace field.

The investors covered the entire chain of rocket launch, satellite manufacturing, and measurement and control communication: there were leading rocket companies, supporting enterprises such as Aotian Technology and Yidong Aerospace, and upstream component suppliers such as Guoguang Electric and Skynet Technology.

This "whole - industrial - chain shareholding" model broke traditional barriers.

The motives of each enterprise for shareholding were clear:

First, to take advantage of the low - latitude launch advantage and tax policies of the Hainan Free Trade Port and share test facilities to reduce R & D costs;

Second, to establish a technical standard alliance through equity binding to avoid redundant construction;

Third, to pre - occupy the resources of the Hainan commercial space launch site and lock in future launch windows.

This innovative organizational form of "competing and cooperating symbiotically" marked a new stage in China's commercial space industry from scattered competition to ecological synergy.

QingWei Intelligence: 24 investors bet on reconfigurable chips

In December 2025, QingWei Intelligence, a leading enterprise in reconfigurable chips (CGRA), completed a Series C financing of 2 billion yuan. Twenty - four institutions, including Beijing Venture Capital, CIC Investment, Chengdu Science and Technology Innovation Investment, and Zhongguancun Science City, collectively entered, setting the largest single - transaction financing record in the domestic AI chip field in recent years.

The investors in this round showed the characteristics of "dominated by state - owned capital and coordinated by the industry":

Capital platforms of the capital city such as Jingneng Group and Beijing State - owned Assets Management led the investment, and local state - owned and market - oriented institutions such as Chengdu Industrial Investment and Wuyuefeng Ventures followed up;

On the industrial side, Hekang New Energy, a leading intelligent controller enterprise, made a strategic investment, opening up the downstream application scenarios of the chips.

The betting logic of all parties lies in QingWei Intelligence's unique reconfigurable computing architecture -

Compared with traditional GPUs/ASICs, its chips have generational advantages in energy efficiency ratio and flexibility, meeting the dual needs of edge AI and intelligent computing centers. Against the background of the increasing urgency of domestic computing power self - controllability, these 24 investors, through the form of a capital alliance, jointly bet on this "alternative" that is different from the mainstream GPU route, trying to gain a first - mover advantage in the next - generation AI chip architecture transformation.

Why did the "crowding of investors" phenomenon occur?

The financing phenomena of these 13 companies were not accidental but a concentrated manifestation of the structural changes in China's primary market in 2025.

First is the anxiety about the scarcity of sectors.

In fields such as AI chips, commercial space, and humanoid robots, there were only a handful of players with real technological barriers and mass - production capabilities. When "domestic substitution" changed from a policy slogan to an industrial reality, there was a serious "asset shortage" on the capital side - there were too few good projects and too much money.

Behind the nearly 50 investors in MuXi Co., Ltd. and the 24 investors in QingWei Intelligence was the reality that hundreds of institutions were "squeezed out."

Second is the risk - sharing mechanism.

Hard - tech projects require large R & D investments, have long cycles, and high uncertainties. A single institution can hardly bear the full - amount risk. Through "group investment," institutions can not only share the sector's dividends but also disperse individual risks.

The model of 30 peers participating in the shareholding of Hainan Commercial Space Innovation Center was an extreme case - the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain formed an interest community through equity binding to jointly spread the infrastructure costs.

Third is the dominance of state - owned capital under policy guidance.

In 2025, the proportion of local state - owned capital platforms and industrial guidance funds in hard - tech investments increased significantly. State - owned capital investments have clear industrial implementation requirements and tend to "gather together" to support key local projects, which also pushed up the number of investors in a single round.

Finally is the inertia of Pre - IPO arbitrage.

The wealth - creating effect of MuXi Co., Ltd.'s 693% surge on the first day of listing strengthened the speculative mentality of "getting in in the last round before listing." Even though the valuation was already very high, institutions were still willing to obtain the listing ticket in a "group - buying" way, gambling on the liquidity premium in the secondary market.

However, the 36% decline in MuXi Co., Ltd.'s stock price after listing also reminded the market: when 50 institutions "get on the bus" at the same time, who will take over becomes a new problem. The "crowding of investors" phenomenon in 2025 was not only a witness to the upsurge of hard - tech investment but also may foreshadow the accumulation of valuation bubbles and exit pressures in the primary market.

This article is from the WeChat official account "IT Juzi" (ID: itjuzi521), author: IT Juzi, published by 36Kr with authorization.