Promoting the upgrade of electric drive equipment for new energy vehicles, "Juli Automation" has obtained hundreds of millions of yuan in strategic round financing | 36Kr exclusive.
Author | Ye Danxuan
Editor | Yuan Silai
36Kr has learned that Juli Automation Equipment (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Juli Automation") announced the completion of a strategic round of hundreds of millions of yuan in financing. This round of financing is led by SDIC Investment, with CRRC Capital and Fengyun Capital as co-investors. Deepblue Capital served as the financial advisor for this financing. This round of financing will be used for Juli Automation to continuously develop a new generation of electric drive solutions and promote the global capacity expansion layout.
Juli Automation was established in 2011 and is one of the first batch of key "little giant" enterprises with specialized, refined, characteristic and innovative features in China. Its predecessor company was founded in 1989 and has been established for more than 30 years. The company is mainly engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of electric drive equipment. In 2017, it built the first domestic independent flat wire motor stator automated production line. The products are mainly applied in the field of new energy vehicles and have reached cooperation with well-known domestic and foreign OEMs and Tier 1 companies such as Geely, Great Wall, SAIC, LG, Inpower, Aisin, Valeo, etc.
In recent years, the global automotive industry has entered a new stage of the transformation of old and new kinetic energy. The new energy vehicle industry in China is facing challenges of industrial upgrading and transformation. The manufacturing equipment of core components of new energy vehicles will become the most important breakthrough point. In November 2024, Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out at the TEDA Auto Forum that the manufacturing equipment of core components of new energy vehicles is the key to promoting the transformation of old and new kinetic energy and accelerating the construction of a new type of productive forces. It is also an important support for promoting ecological going global and realizing the transformation from "product going global" to "industry going global".
In the new energy vehicle industry, the electric drive system is one of its most core parts, which will directly affect the power output and energy efficiency performance of the entire vehicle. Among them, the flat wire motor technology is the latest technical trend of the electric drive system in recent years.
The flat wire motor refers to a kind of drive motor that uses flat copper wire instead of traditional round copper wire as the winding. Compared with the traditional round wire motor, the flat wire motor has the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency, high power density, good heat dissipation, small weight and volume, etc., which is in line with the development trend of the new energy industry.
According to the data of Huirui Consulting, since 2020, downstream vehicle enterprises have begun to accelerate the replacement of flat wire motors. According to the "2024 Global and China Flat Wire Motor Market Size and Competitive Landscape Research Report", the global flat wire motor market size reached 23.6 billion yuan in 2023, and it is expected to reach 70.8 billion yuan in 2025. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period is 73.21%.
In 2017, Juli Automation successfully developed and produced the first intelligent complete set of equipment for the stator of the drive motor of new energy vehicles with independent intellectual property rights in China, and built the first domestic independent flat wire motor stator automated production line. Currently, the company's first "one-second-level" wire forming equipment in China has reached the international first-class level in core indicators such as production line accuracy, efficiency, and stability, and has received orders from overseas top Tier 1 customers.
For a long time, the technological leading position of the electric drive automation equipment has been occupied by European enterprises, and their equipment is expensive and has a long delivery cycle. Most domestic enterprises are restricted by the technical level and show insufficient delivery capacity, and the market evaluation is not satisfactory.
In response to this situation, Juli Automation has continuously achieved technological breakthroughs in research and development, especially in the research and development of flat wire motor stator equipment. At present, the actual mass production line forming rhythm of the company has stably reached the level of 1s/pin, and has reached the international leading level in indicators such as positioning accuracy and product qualification rate.
36Kr learned that the technological breakthrough of the flat wire motor stator equipment involves several technical challenges such as the whole line simulation design ability, the core numerical control software system ability, and the equipment hardware design ability. The whole process of the flat wire motor stator production line involves many key links and participating equipment, which is a complex systematic project. Each process in the production line interacts with each other, and the yield and process quality of each link will directly affect the subsequent process sections. And due to the extremely long process section, the slightest error in the yield of a single link will be exponentially amplified, resulting in the yield of the entire production line not meeting expectations.
Therefore, Juli Automation adopts the whole line simulation design to simulate the production line process, the core equipment structure, the supporting process equipment, and to make difference adjustments between the simulation and the actual processing. After the design is completed, the operating efficiency of the production line is directly related to the underlying data operation logic of the numerical control system. At the same time, the company's accumulation of nearly ten years of technology and historical debugging experience in the flat wire motor stator production line makes it possible to achieve precise and rapid production line research and development and delivery.
In terms of global business, in 2024, Juli Automation received orders for 2 overseas whole-line automated production line equipment. The company is establishing its first overseas factory in Serbia and will conduct a more in-depth layout around the European market in the future.
Investor opinions:
Quan Suhan, Partner of Fengyun Capital, said: "Juli Automation has mature key technologies, a highly stable production line and an excellent reputation in the industry in the field of electric drive equipment, and is an important partner of the Great Wall Motor ecosystem. As a new energy industry capital, we will pay long-term attention to and support excellent industrial companies, and look forward to jointly opening up more market opportunities in the future to promote the further development of the electric vehicle industry."
Bi Xiaolu, Executive Director of CRRC Capital, said: "With more than 30 years of technological accumulation, Juli Automation has successfully broken the foreign technology monopoly and become a leader in the field of new energy vehicle equipment manufacturing. In the future, we look forward to deepening cooperation with Juli, continuously climbing the technological peak, and jointly promoting the Chinese new energy vehicle industry to move towards the global market."
Liu Yalei, Partner of Deepblue Capital, said: "The Chinese new energy vehicle industry is actively exploring innovative paths and leading the global industry development. In the past year, despite the complex and changing global macro environment, Juli Automation has continued to win the trust and support of more and more customers, and its business has grown steadily. Behind this achievement is the Juli team's unremitting pursuit of the spirit of craftsmanship and a long-term global vision. Deepblue Capital will continue to firmly support Juli, accompany it to grow into a leading enterprise in the global equipment manufacturing field, and contribute to promoting the transformation and upgrading of the global new energy vehicle industry."