Hong Kong MTR Lab's First Investment in a Chinese Enterprise: Co-creating a New Chapter for a Sustainable Smart City, Expanding the Market by Investing in Chinese Enterprises.

On November 5, MTR Lab, an innovation and technology investment institution in Hong Kong, China, announced the completion of its first investment in the Chinese mainland - a strategic round investment in the acoustic AI company Ensonic.

Ensonic is a leading company in the field of acoustic monitoring, headquartered in Beijing. It has been established for 7 years and has been selected as a "Specialized, Sophisticated, Uniquely and New" enterprise in Beijing. The company focuses on using acoustic AI for equipment fault monitoring and predictive maintenance. Through independent research and development and technological innovation, it provides advanced acoustic fault monitoring solutions for industrial, power, transportation and other equipment, achieving accurate sound recognition and data analysis.

As a science and technology innovation investment institution under the MTR Corporation, MTR Lab focuses on investments in the fields of "Smart City" and "Sustainable Development". This first investment in the Chinese mainland reflects the investment style of MTR Lab: it not only aligns with the focus of MTR Lab, but also can generate synergy. Both sides are not only an investment and investee relationship, but also can become partners. MTR Lab has been committed to creating strategic value through technology investment. Ensonic itself intends to develop overseas markets, and MTR Lab can provide an international perspective to help it "go global".

MTR Lab told 36Kr that Ensonic's advanced acoustic AI monitoring technology brings intelligent predictive maintenance solutions to the manufacturing, power, energy and transportation industries, helping to improve efficiency, optimize performance and reduce energy consumption, which is in deep alignment with the vision of MTR Lab. This strategic cooperation with MTR Lab, part of the funds will be used for technology research and development and overseas business development. At the same time, MTR Lab will also assist Ensonic in developing technical solutions that meet international standards to help it expand the international market, further promoting Ensonic's market expansion and technology deepening in the Greater China region and even globally.

Chen Dingbang, Managing Director of MTR Lab (left), and Ding Dongliang, Founder and CEO of Ensonic, jointly announced that MTR Lab has made a strategic investment in Ensonic.

This is the beginning of MTR Lab's development in the mainland. This investment institution in Hong Kong, China will continue to focus on investment opportunities in scientific and technological innovation in the mainland, with a focus on the fields of smart city and sustainable development.

Smart city and sustainable development are the global development focuses in recent years. In the Chinese mainland, smart city-related technologies are significantly reshaping the urban landscape, driving the city towards a more efficient and green direction. In promoting the continuous innovation of smart cities, China has become a global leader in the development of smart cities, providing a strong demonstration for the global smart city development.

Currently, in the era of the globalization of Chinese enterprises, smart city-related science and technology innovation companies are simultaneously opening up the global market. The experience of MTR Lab's team will help Chinese enterprises find business opportunities globally and cope with challenges from different markets.

In the past, MTR Lab has also invested in different enterprises to help them expand into new markets, including Ampd Energy, a Hong Kong energy storage company, and WeMaintain, a French innovation company. For Chinese mainland technology enterprises that hope to explore "going global", MTR Lab may be able to provide assistance to bring high-quality Chinese technology to a broader international market.

MTR Lab stated in an interview with 36Kr that fields such as smart city, smart travel, real estate technology, climate technology, and sustainable development are all areas where it intends to seek investment and cooperation. For Chinese technology enterprises in these areas that plan to "go global", MTR Lab may provide strategic support, such as assistance in meeting international standards, connecting with overseas opportunities, and providing investment to support their technology research and development and overseas development.

"In the future, MTR Lab will look for more suitable investment targets in the mainland region and deeply cultivate the mainland market," said Chen Dingbang, Managing Director of MTR Lab.

Who is MTR Lab?

As a corporate venture capital company, MTR Lab creates strategic value through technology investment and provides innovative solutions to support sustainable community development. The picture shows the vision of MTR Lab, created and painted by a Hong Kong artist, depicting the vision of MTR Lab hoping to work with partners to create a carbon-neutral smart community.

MTR Lab was established in 2021 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the MTR Corporation.

Different from traditional investment institutions that regard financial returns as a key consideration, MTR Lab is an atypical strategic investor. It makes investment decisions based on long-term insights into macro trends and has stronger investment patience and long-term investment.

The strategic investor MTR Lab invests in accordance with the principles of "stability, long-term, and strategic synergy". It pays more attention to the "strategic value" of investment projects, seeks long-term and reasonable investment returns, and is committed to discovering high-potential enterprises that can enhance social value and promote industry development.

In addition, the direction and scope of MTR Lab's investment are very clear. Under the two core themes of "Smart City" and "Sustainable Development", MTR Lab looks for early to growth-stage technology companies. Specifically, MTR Lab's investment focuses include six vertical fields, namely: Integrated Mobility as a Service (MaaS), New Mobility Modes, Railway Technology, New Retail, Real Estate and Construction Technology, and Financial and Data Services.

It should be noted that although MTR Lab is still "young", it has strict standards for the screening of investment targets. MTR Lab requires that the investment target has a good business operation record, and the technology of the invested enterprise should have a high degree of market fit. In addition, MTR Lab expects the invested enterprise to be able to bring incremental value to the society, especially in industries related to "Smart City, Railway Transportation, Real Estate and Construction, and Sustainable Development".

Before this investment in Ensonic and entering the Chinese market, MTR Lab has completed a number of strategic investments globally. This time, as a new science and technology innovation investor entering the mainland market, MTR Lab will further seek more science and technology innovation investment and cooperation opportunities in the mainland.

36Kr noticed that in terms of team configuration, the MTR Lab team has many years of global and cross-industry investment experience.

Moreover, "the team is organized in a streamlined and flexible manner, and can quickly adjust and expand the cooperation network according to the project needs," said Shi Jing, the Investment Director of MTR Lab.

Not Just an Investor, But Also a Strategic Partner and Collaboration Platform

"Not just an investor, but also a strategic partner," this is the role positioning that MTR Lab emphasized many times in an interview with 36Kr.

In the view of MTR Lab, whether an investment project can bring potential synergy to large enterprises is an important consideration factor for this institution when considering investing. At the same time, MTR Lab also hopes to enable the invested enterprises to have more opportunities to access actual application scenarios, helping the project to further develop technical application solutions and explore a broader market.

To some extent, it is this attitude and pattern that has brought abundant project resources to this still young institution. MTR Lab told 36Kr that in 2023, MTR Lab evaluated more than 1,000 investment proposals and opportunities, which are distributed in multiple fields such as smart city, sustainable development, and smart travel. In 2024, the project sources continue to increase. From January to August this year, MTR Lab has received nearly 700 investment proposals.

A good reputation of an investment institution in the project end often comes from its past service cases. If we count the service cases of MTR Lab, then Ampd Energy, an energy storage company, isBIM, a building information modeling company, and WeMaintain, an intelligent elevator maintenance company, are the three most representative ones.

These companies are all technological innovation companies in the entire system. The investment and cooperation of MTR Lab have provided support for the key development links of these companies, including overseas expansion and technology research and development. Among them, MTR Lab, together with other investors, jointly funded the battery energy storage company Ampd Energy to further open the international market, including entering the United Arab Emirates and the United States markets, and consolidating its business in Australia and the United Kingdom.

The artificial intelligence-driven SaaS (Software as a Service) platform JARVIS of isBIM can improve the operational efficiency and energy efficiency of construction projects, make the project safer, and help improve the reporting work related to environment, society and governance (ESG).

The investment of MTR Lab in the building information modeling company isBIM supports the technology research and development of isBIM, especially the further development of its artificial intelligence JARVIS building project management platform, strengthening the artificial intelligence and data analysis capabilities. With the support of MTR Lab and other investors, isBIM launched a new generative artificial intelligence product "JARVIS AI" this year. This product integrates cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, computer graphics, large language models (LLMs), CDE unified data platform and digital twin (DT), aiming to provide intelligent services for the entire life cycle of the construction industry, greatly improving the collaborative operation efficiency, and achieving intelligent risk assessment and cost control. Finally, the French intelligent elevator maintenance company WeMaintain, with the help of MTR Lab, introduced its intelligent elevator maintenance solution to the Hong Kong, China market.

It can be said that MTR Lab is not only a strategic partner of investment projects, but also plays the role of a collaboration platform. MTR Lab told 36Kr that it hopes to build a "carbon-neutral" smart community with like-minded partners, "through investment and cooperation, to create a smarter, greener future, achieve positive value, and benefit the community".

Investing in the Mainland, Connecting the World

The most crucial driving force behind MTR Lab's expansion into the mainland is "the opportunities contained in national policies".

The two investment themes that MTR Lab focuses on, "Smart City" and "Sustainable Development", happen to be highly consistent with national policies.

In addition, the science and technology innovation ecosystem, the vitality and market competitiveness of innovative enterprises are important considerations for MTR Lab to decide to invest in the mainland region.

After years of policy support and industrial cultivation, the mainland has a complete and mature science and technology innovation ecosystem, a complete industrial chain, and gathers many innovative technology enterprises. According to the "Global Innovation Index 2024" recently released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China is one of the economies with the fastest innovation capacity in the past 10 years, ranking 11th in the global innovation capacity. China has 26 of the world's top 100 science and technology innovation clusters, ranking first in the world, and the patent application volume in the Greater Bay Area ranks second among the global science and technology city clusters.

In the vertical industry fields that MTR Lab focuses on, such as Integrated Mobility as a Service, New Mobility Modes, Railway Technology, New Retail Business Model, Real Estate and Construction Technology, and Financial and Data Services, the innovation power in the mainland is very active, and even some fields are at the world's forefront.

Moreover, after the profound changes in the venture capital industry in recent years, the enterprises that have survived have shown stronger resilience, execution ability, competitiveness and market adaptability. For investment institutions, this is the best time to capture high-quality investment projects, especially for strategic investment institutions that can adhere to the "long-term and stable" investment strategy.

"Market fit, synergy, innovation and sustainability" are the soft considerations of MTR Lab in selecting projects in the mainland. "We give priority to enterprises with a high degree of innovation ability, especially those technologies and projects that can bring a long-term positive impact on smart cities and sustainable development. We hope that the technology solutions of the invested enterprises have the potential for development in wider market applications and cross-border cooperation," Chen Dingbang told 36Kr.

MTR Lab said that it will deeply cultivate the mainland market, especially in the fields related to "Smart City", "Smart Travel" and "Sustainable Development", and gradually accelerate the pace of investment and cooperation.

This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr", and 36Kr is authorized to publish it.