Double Carbon under the Long Shot: Towards a New and Practical Direction in Reshaping
01
Double Carbon 2024: Between Peaks and Valleys, Changes and Constants
In 2024, the double carbon track is undergoing a continuous and profound remodeling.
In the changing primary market, a new venture capital paradigm has been outlined: New-quality productive forces and hard technology have become well-deserved protagonists and the innovative support behind the double carbon industry; Long-termism and patient capital have become buzzwords, accompanying entrepreneurs and investors to view uncertainties and traverse cycles more rationally; IPOs have shown signs of recovery, and the merger and acquisition wave is gradually rising, with institutions paying attention to more diversified exit channels...
In the deep waters, double carbon start-ups are facing more realistic tests - The commercialization and marketization of products - which is not only the hottest venture capital topic but even has become the core competitiveness of the project.
Similarly, this is also increasingly influencing investment decisions. "For a start-up project, the technological maturity and market maturity are two key evaluation dimensions," said Lu Jiangping, Executive General Manager of Dongzheng Innovation. "Technological maturity solves the performance problem of the product, while market maturity solves the cost problem. Between the two, entrepreneurs and investors need to balance according to different stages and institutional positioning."
More and more entrepreneurs are realizing this. While focusing on technological research and development, every step of the enterprise's decision-making is extremely pragmatic, constantly approaching market needs.
"The company has adjusted the product form in recent years to adapt to a richer and more diverse application scenarios and to match the needs of different types of customers," said Li Beite, the person in charge of investment and financing of Yunchu New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a Digital energy storage solution provider. The company's energy storage management system product form has gradually developed from being only applicable to large-scale energy storage scenarios to being directly applicable to the backup power system upgrade of 5G communication base stations and digital PACK in multiple scenarios. And the details involved in materials, circuits, and chip design have been adjusted accordingly according to customer needs.
In 2023, Yunchu New Energy had an annual income of over 200 million yuan and signed orders of over 700 million yuan. On this basis, the company has made greater progress in commercialization in 2024, with orders and revenue showing explosive growth. "This represents that customers have a greater recognition of the company's product and technical solutions, and the market acceptance has significantly improved," Li Beite said.
Having both technological maturity and market maturity points to a key issue - Cost performance. This is the decisive factor for a start-up company to gain a firm foothold in the market, especially in a fiercely competitive red ocean.
Zhejiang Dishi Technology Co., Ltd. is a LED vehicle lighting technology and product supplier. Currently, the company's vehicle lamp products have the highest global market share in the short-distance transportation field, with a 65% share in the mid-to-high-end electric motorcycles priced above 7,000 yuan. It has become a leading enterprise in the electric two-wheel vehicle lamp industry and is the core supplier of vehicle lamp products for many well-known brands.
When it comes to competitive advantages, the company's founder and CEO, Wang Shuang, introduced that the key lies in the company's realization of self-research and self-production of the core optical components of vehicle lamps, and the modular, standardized, and generalized product development around the patent layout. That is to say, the combination of technical strength and the platform-based development concept can reduce costs while ensuring the high quality of lamps, and this excellent cost control ability can create more value for downstream customers, achieving a "two-way pursuit".
Under the hot globalization trend, many double carbon entrepreneurs are actively laying out and expanding overseas markets to Go global and create business growth points.
Especially in the context of global carbon neutrality, green, low-carbon, and energy-saving have become the development trends of many industries, with huge potential market demands behind them. A green energy-saving new material company - Shenzhen Chuangleng Technology Co., Ltd., which focuses on The research and development and application of non-electric refrigeration technology, has seized this market opportunity. The company's core technology, namely passive radiative cooling technology, achieves the cooling effect by applying optics, thermodynamics, and material science, does not rely on traditional electricity, and does not require an external power source or refrigerant, which can provide customers with a zero-energy-consuming green cooling solution.
Zhu Yihao, CEO and co-founder of Chuangleng Technology, introduced that the company's products have now achieved commercialization, landed in more than 20 countries and regions, and have been applied in more than 200 projects worldwide. The application scenarios cover many industry fields such as architecture, chemical engineering, power communication, new energy, logistics, grain storage, and photovoltaics.
"In the current environment of double carbon entrepreneurship, one must Look up to see the way and also Be down-to-earth," said Liu Xiaokang, Managing Director of Dongzheng Capital. "'Looking up to see the way' means to see new policies, new rules, new trends, and new changes; 'Being down-to-earth' means to clearly understand the needs of customers and the market, and truly transform one's own technology and R & D capabilities into real orders and cash flow."
Looking at a longer time dimension, since the proposal of the double carbon goal, the relevant industries and venture capital markets have jointly gone through a spiral upward path and are also facing new turning points and remodeling. For double carbon entrepreneurs, precipitating the unchanged underlying logic and methodology, while flexibly adjusting strategies in changes to adapt to customers and the market, can traverse the peaks and valleys of the cycle.
02
Innovation + Product Power, the Growth Code of Double Carbon Rising Stars
Under the theme of double carbon, the fierce market competition is like a great wave that washes away the sand. How can start-ups cultivate their internal strength and forge Differentiated competitiveness?
Yunchu New Energy, established in 2012, is an energy Internet core network equipment, solution, and operation service provider. In the energy storage track where giants are competing to layout and new industry players are emerging, Yunchu New Energy focuses on the core practical needs of the energy storage industry and market, and has blazed a differentiated innovation path.
In the energy storage industry, safety and economy are two topics that have long received attention and are also the focus of each project to build competitive advantages and barriers. It can be said that whoever can take the lead in achieving phased breakthroughs in safety and economy can break through in the market.
The digital energy storage core technology mastered by Yunchu New Energy, namely the "Dynamic Reconfigurable Battery Network", is precisely aimed at the above needs and pain points, providing a new generation of solutions different from the traditional energy storage management system.
Under the traditional energy storage management paradigm, the battery system is a fixed series and parallel connection of a large number of battery cells, and the weakest battery cell determines the performance of the entire network. This means that once the weakest battery cell fails and needs to be removed, the entire network system will stop operating. Under this short-board effect, the energy storage management system cannot balance safety and economy.
In contrast, Yunchu New Energy's dynamic reconfigurable battery network technology solution can accurately estimate the operating status of the battery, conduct real-time and finer-grained control of electrothermal safety, and the control cycle can reach the millisecond level. In principle, this battery management capability with a higher degree of refinement can eliminate the battery short-board effect.
While mastering this innovative technology, Yunchu New Energy has been closely following market dynamics, continuously adjusting and upgrading the product form according to the diversified customer needs and application scenarios, and truly achieving the transformation and application of technological achievements with a strong product capability. It has not only established cooperative relationships with large-scale leading enterprises such as China Mobile, Three Gorges, and State Grid, creating multiple industry benchmark projects, but also made breakthrough progress in commercialization.
Grasping Technological innovation and product upgrading is also the "winning code" of Dishi Technology.
As a component supplier in the two-wheel electric vehicle and automotive industry chain, Dishi Technology, since its establishment in 2016, has gradually developed into the core supplier of vehicle lamp products for well-known brands such as Honda, BYD, Volkswagen, Yadea, Ninebot, and Niu. This is precisely because Dishi Technology has always insisted on effective innovation.
This "effective innovation" is specifically reflected in the company's long-term in-depth market research. After finding the pain points and user needs of customers at different stages, the product R & D end promptly follows up and continuously iterates and optimizes product performance. For example, the SIRIUS optical system for the front lighting of vehicle lamps invented by Dishi Technology can increase the optical efficiency of LED front lights by 22%, the field of view by 50%, and the road illumination brightness by 76%.
Behind effective innovation is the solid technical strength support. Dishi Technology has taken the lead in realizing the self-research and self-production of the core optical components, and the importance of optical components for lamps can be compared to the role of the engine for the entire vehicle. Therefore, mastering this key technology not only builds the company's moat but also brings cost advantages to the products.
36Kr learned that Dishi Technology, based on its own patent matrix, has the ability to build a platform-based product. At present, the company's main products include: OTA customizable light effect taillights, HIAS curve self-balancing headlight system based on gyroscope, AFS adaptive lighting system, V2X digital light interaction system, Mini LED pixelated intelligent taillights, etc.
It is reported that Dishi Technology is actively planning to layout the new energy vehicle market, conducting software and hardware technology reserves and preliminary production construction according to the intelligent development trend and market characteristics of the industry, so as to create a second growth curve.
For a younger start-up company, transforming technological innovation into a product that can be applied on the ground is a crucial step in the growth process.
Chuangleng Technology, established in 2022, mainly uses new materials to achieve green and energy-saving refrigeration. And the company's core technology - passive radiative cooling technology - is inspired by an imaginative innovation story.
Chuangleng Technology was inspired by the unique hair structure of the Saharan silver ant. The research observed that the cross-section of the hair structure of this organism is similar to a prism, which can emit the body's heat in the form of mid-infrared radiation while insulating against external heat, thereby achieving self-cooling of the skin without the aid of external forces.
Since then, the Chuangleng Technology team has carried out years of early technology incubation, specially designed the material structure, and invested in the development of passive radiative cooling technology. More importantly, Chuangleng Technology has enabled this technological innovation achievement to move from the laboratory to the market, and successfully realized the application and landing of the first commercial product, the non-electric refrigeration coating iPaint.
At present, the core products of Chuangleng Technology mainly include the non-electric refrigeration coating iPaint and the non-electric refrigeration film iFilm. Among them, the non-electric refrigeration coating iPaint can be used on the exterior walls and rooftops of buildings, with a solar light reflectance and mid-infrared radiation rate of up to 95%, which can reduce the surface temperature of over 70 degrees by about 30 - 42 degrees and the indoor temperature by about 6 - 8 degrees, saving energy consumption by up to 40%. The non-electric refrigeration film iFilm is more suitable for the glass curtain walls of buildings, with a UV blocking rate of up to 99.9%, and its variable light transmittance can meet the cooling needs in different scenarios.
36Kr learned that Chuangleng Technology is building a diverse new product system and has several products under research and development, such as thermochromic smart windows, biodegradable thermal management textiles, and passive radiative cooling pavement materials.
With their respective innovation advantages and product advantages, the three start-ups have grown step by step into shining double carbon rising stars. In October this year, in the The Third "Double Carbon Star Species · Sustainable Innovation Competition" jointly held by 36Kr, Orient Securities and its subsidiaries Dongzheng Innovation and Dongzheng Capital, Yunchu New Energy, Dishi Technology, and Chuangleng Technology stood out in the fierce competition and professional evaluation and became the Top 3 of the third Double Carbon Star Companies.
03
Standing at the Intersection of the Double Carbon Industry, Seeking Structural Opportunities
"The competition projects cover many cutting-edge technology fields, and the overall technological content is very high. Many projects are original, providing me with a broader perspective," said Lu Jiangping, Executive General Manager of Dongzheng Innovation, when talking about his feelings about the 2024 Double Carbon Star Species Competition.
This competition has left a deep impression on Liu Xiaokang, Managing Director of Dongzheng Capital: "The competition schedule is tight, and the information volume of the participating projects is very large, covering a wide range of application scenarios. The three tracks each have their own focus, and at the same time, there are high-quality representative enterprises showing up, which surprises me."
Not only from the above evaluation perspectives, but also cutting-edge, innovative, and professional are the common feelings of the participants towards the competition.
"Throughout this competition, I have seen many cutting-edge technologies, and the project innovation is very strong. Whether it is in the same industry or other fields, entrepreneurs have a deep accumulation of cognitive experience and hard strength support for technology and products, as well as in-depth thinking and layout for the market and commercialization," a representative of a participating project told 36Kr. "The judges have a deep insight into the industry and the market, and the communication and questions are very professional."
It can be seen from the situation of the competition that despite the constantly changing external market environment, the double carbon industry still contains new venture capital opportunities.
"We have been paying long-term attention to investment opportunities in directions such as basic materials, components, parts, and software technology platforms, and observing and selecting the appropriate investment timing from them," Lu Jiangping said. "We attach more importance to start-up projects where the technological maturity has been completed and the products are moving towards the market, and find the appropriate entry point in the process of the project's commercialization - this is very important. If we enter the game too early, the risk is too great, and if we are late, we will miss the best time window."
"According to the current development of the double carbon industry and the changes in the financial market policies, our investment strategy will also be adjusted accordingly," Liu Xiaokang told 36Kr. Currently, Dongzheng Capital is moving the investment stage of the overall project forward, starting to focus on early-stage start-up enterprises in the double carbon industry, hoping to find enterprises with technical capabilities, team management capabilities, good development potential, and considerable market space for investment.
In June this year, Orient Securities and its subsidiaries Dongzheng Innovation and Dongzheng Capital, together with 36Kr, jointly launched the Third "Double Carbon Star Species · Sustainable Innovation Competition". The competition focuses on the three tracks of "Wind, Solar, Hydrogen, and Energy Storage Industry Chain, New Energy Vehicle Industry Chain, and Low-Carbon Technology Industry Chain". A professional evaluation panel