Li Hao from Zhongke Chuangxing: China's investment in hard technology is far from enough, with continuous focus on underlying innovation | The Frontline

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Peng Xiaoqiu

"China's investment in hard technology is not overheated; instead, it is far from sufficient." At the site of the 10th "CAS Star - Hard Technology Champion Enterprise Entrepreneurship Camp", Li Hao, the founding partner of CAS Star, said bluntly during an interview with Yingke.

When talking about the difficulty of financing in the hard - technology field, Li Hao pointed directly at the core contradiction: "Although the financial system's confidence in and understanding of technology are constantly improving, it still requires the joint efforts of the whole society." Taking banks as an example, in the past 30 years, the financial industry has paid more attention to corporate financial reports. Now, it needs to judge technological routes, which poses a brand - new challenge to the financial industry. He believes that solving this problem requires policy guidance, but more importantly, it needs the self - iteration of the market.

Founded in 2013, CAS Star is the creator of the "hard technology" concept and has become a pioneer in hard - technology investment. It focuses on research institutes and universities, helps transform excellent scientific and technological achievements from research institutes and universities, and is committed to building a hard - technology entrepreneurship ecosystem integrating "research institutions + early - stage investment + entrepreneurship platform + post - investment services". It provides full - cycle, professional and in - depth investment incubation and financing solutions for technology entrepreneurs.

As of June this year, the managed scale of the fund has exceeded 12 billion yuan, and it has invested in and incubated more than 530 hard - technology enterprises. At a time when US - dollar funds are shrinking and GPs are having difficulty raising funds, CAS Star still maintains a relatively fast investment pace in the industry.

"We may be one of the fastest - acting institutions in the market - the number of projects we invested in last year was equivalent to the total of 30 GPs." Li Hao revealed. Behind this speed, CAS Star adheres to a unique risk - hedging logic: early - stage hard - technology investment must disperse risks through a sufficiently large project pool. Among 100 projects, 50 may fail, but the returns from the top - performing projects can cover the losses.

Li Hao shared with Yingke the investment directions he is currently concerned about: "We continue to pay attention to the AI field. Although this track is very popular, it is still in the early stage of development as a whole." At the same time, Li Hao still attaches great importance to the innovative breakthroughs in underlying technologies, ranging from quantum computing and quantum sensing to photon computing and optical sensing, and then to controllable nuclear fusion, etc.

Li Hao admitted that the hard - technology field requires "patient capital". Many projects of CAS Star have joined hands with government capital such as local future - industry funds to place bets together because the investment cycle of a single project may be as long as 20 years.

In response to the question of "how to balance long - term value and short - term exit", Li Hao gave his answer: CAS Star's solution is to build a flywheel of "research - incubation - industry". In the early stage, it binds project sources from research institutes such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the growth stage, it introduces industrial capital. In the later stage, it achieves liquidity through mergers and acquisitions, old - share transfers, etc.

Li Hao added that technology investment requires looking at both the current financial reports and the technological barriers ten years later.

"The conversion rate of China's scientific and technological achievements is still relatively low. We need more 'last - mile' companions to improve the conversion rate. What we want to do is to turn the papers in the laboratory into products that can change the world." Li Hao said.

Yingke learned that during the period when CAS Star carried out the Hard Technology Champion Camp, from 2015 to 2025, the camp has cumulatively facilitated more than 230 rounds of new financing and more than 300 industrial cooperations, helping a group of excellent student enterprises such as Zhongke Haina, Zhongchu Guoneng, Zhongke Weijing, Guoke Tianxun, Zhongke Huiyuan, Yuwei Semiconductor, Yaoxin Microelectronics, Weiguang Medical, Qixin Optoelectronics, and Ruilai Intelligence to achieve rapid development.