Successfully achieved the first - closing of a new fund worth 2.617 billion yuan, Zhongke Chuangxing is boosting a new round of scientific and technological revolution.
On July 16th, Zhongke Chuangxing Technology Investment Co., Ltd. ("Zhongke Chuangxing"), an early - stage investment institution focusing on "hard technology", held the "First Closing Ceremony of the Leading - Edge Venture Capital Fund and the Press Conference on Hard - Technology Ecosystem Cooperation" in Shanghai, announcing that the Leading - Edge Venture Capital Fund of Zhongke Chuangxing had completed its first - round fundraising with 2.617 billion yuan. This is the first hard - technology venture capital fund established by Zhongke Chuangxing in the Yangtze River Delta. 70% of the fund's capital will be invested in early - stage hard - technology projects, with a focus on the "Artificial Intelligence +" field to boost a new round of scientific and technological revolution.
70% of the Capital Focuses on Early - Stage Hard Technology
The first closing ceremony was held at Zhongke Chuangxing's high - quality incubator in Shanghai. As the manager of the Leading - Edge Venture Capital Fund, Zhongke Chuangxing signed cooperation agreements on - site with 19 limited partners (LPs), including the National SME Development Fund, Shanghai Guotou Leading - Edge Artificial Intelligence Fund, Pudong Venture Capital, Shanghai Future Industry Fund, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Ningbo Kaifa Investment, Taizhou Science and Technology Innovation, and Xike Holdings.
The Leading - Edge Venture Capital Fund of Zhongke Chuangxing is registered in Pudong, Shanghai, with a term of 8 years. The fund plans to complete its fundraising by the end of this year - with a focus on investing in hard - technology projects in the fields of matter, energy, information, life, and space industries centered around artificial intelligence. Among them, 70% of the capital will be invested in early - stage hard - technology projects to support original innovation in the "from 0 to 1" stage; 30% of the capital will be invested in growth - stage projects to promote the application and maturation of technologies from "1 to 10".
The parties to the cooperation agreement will carry out close cooperation around the strategic positioning of "advanced incubation" and "in - depth incubation" of the high - quality incubator, promote the in - depth integration of capital and technology, and jointly build a hard - technology innovation ecosystem cooperation network.
Huang Hong, the deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, said that in less than two years, Zhongke Chuangxing (Shanghai) has continuously explored new paradigms of "advanced incubation" and "in - depth incubation" in the fertile ground of innovation and entrepreneurship in Pudong, successfully invested in and incubated many enterprises and projects, and demonstrated "nuclear - explosion - level" development potential. She said, "The Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission will continue to empower the construction of high - quality incubators such as Zhongke Chuangxing and provide all - around support with a 'one - policy - for - one - entity' approach based on the different professional fields, advantages, characteristics, and target tasks of the incubators."
Wen Zhi, the general manager of Shanghai Guotou Leading - Edge Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., said at the meeting, "Against the backdrop of the deep interweaving of the current economic situation and industrial transformation, Guotou Leading - Edge and Zhongke Chuangxing have joined hands to accelerate the incubation, cultivation, and implementation of technological innovation through diversified means, play a crucial counter - cyclical adjustment role, and jointly inject confidence into Shanghai's leading industries."
Li Hao, the founding partner of Zhongke Chuangxing, said that the first closing of the new fund and the recent issuance of the first science and technology innovation bond by a private equity investment institution in China have made us deeply feel the market's firm confidence in the long - termism of hard technology. He said, "We sincerely express our most sincere gratitude to all the LPs who support us. This trust is not only an injection of capital but also a strategic consensus on the next decade or even a longer cycle of hard technology. We will continue to accompany scientists in starting businesses, transform excellent scientific research results into real productive forces, and believe that the knowledge value brought by technological breakthroughs will eventually be transformed into a double leap in social value and economic value."
Focus on AI Investment Layout
Since its establishment in 2013, Zhongke Chuangxing has continuously focused on research institutes and universities and served scientists in starting businesses, helping to transform excellent scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces. As of now, the total paid - in scale of Zhongke Chuangxing's fund management has reached 13.8 billion yuan, and it has invested in more than 530 hard - technology enterprises with key core technologies.
In terms of areas of focus, Zhongke Chuangxing started investing in photonics in 2013, semiconductors in 2014, commercial space in 2015, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving in 2016, quantum computing in 2018, and controlled nuclear fusion in 2022, forming an "Artificial Intelligence +" industrial layout with computing power as a prominent feature.
As of now, the fund has invested in and incubated a series of artificial intelligence benchmark enterprises, including Zhipu AI, Zhiyuan Robotics, Uisee Technologies, Zhongke Wenge, OSChina, Zidong Taichu, Qingcheng Jizhi, Dongbi Technology Data, etc., covering multiple key core links such as large models, robots, and AI infrastructure.
Currently, a new round of scientific and technological revolution is rapidly developing in the directions of ultra - micro, ultra - macro, ultra - complex, and ultra - extreme, showing a trend of multi - disciplinary cross - integration. Mi Lei, the founding partner of Zhongke Chuangxing, gave a speech titled "Patient Capital Boosts the Artificial Intelligence Revolution - Building a New Ecosystem for Hard - Technology Investment" at the event. He said, "Artificial intelligence is the core driving force of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and will comprehensively reshape the development patterns of the five key fields of information, energy, materials, life, and space."
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In the information field, the rapid development of artificial intelligence requires computing power, algorithms, and data as support, all of which are in a state of rapid iteration. Especially at the computing power level, as the parameters of large models increase, higher requirements are placed on high - end chips. Technologies such as photonics and quantum, as the infrastructure of artificial intelligence, can contribute to the development of artificial intelligence in the fields of computing, interconnection, and communication. On the other hand, the training of artificial intelligence consumes a large amount of electricity, thus also placing greater demands on energy. In the long run, the development of new energy technologies such as controlled nuclear fusion provides a potential solution to the huge energy demand of artificial intelligence computing power centers. This cross - field cooperation and innovation will help solve the energy bottleneck problem in the development of artificial intelligence.
In the fields of materials and life sciences, AI for Science is rewriting the scientific research paradigm, greatly shortening the discovery and iteration cycle of new materials, accelerating technological progress in the directions of new materials, life sciences, synthetic biology, etc., and promoting rapid changes in high - end manufacturing in collaboration with embodied intelligence.
Mi Lei said, "The Leading - Edge Venture Capital Fund of Zhongke Chuangxing will focus on investing in hard - technology projects with knowledge value, social value, and economic value in the fields of matter, energy, information, life, and space industries centered around artificial intelligence. We will coordinate multiple resources to jointly build a hard - technology entrepreneurship ecosystem, boost the breakthroughs of hard technologies represented by artificial intelligence, photon technology, quantum computing, controlled nuclear fusion, etc., and promote the occurrence of a new round of scientific and technological revolution in China."
At the event site, Zhongke Chuangxing also signed an agreement with the Shanghai Angel Investment Association. The two parties will carry out in - depth cooperation in aspects such as "project discovery and sharing", "project investment and incubation", and "capital network coordination". In the last session of the event, Zhongke Chuangxing invited Lightelligence, Orange Semiconductor, Singular Computing, Yaoxin Microelectronics, LightGuide Technology, Huake Cold Core, Qingcheng Jizhi, Dongbi Technology Data, Xinyi Information and other invested AI representative enterprises to conduct on - site roadshows.
High - Quality Incubator - Advanced Incubation and In - Depth Incubation
Shanghai is rich in scientific and technological resources and witnesses continuous emergence of innovation achievements. It is one of the cities in China with the highest competitiveness and vitality in scientific and technological innovation. In recent years, the funds under Zhongke Chuangxing have invested in more than 60 hard - technology enterprises in Shanghai, with a total investment of billions of yuan. At the end of 2023, Zhongke Chuangxing established its Shanghai incubator company. With the innovative concept of "advanced incubation + in - depth incubation", focusing on the application and implementation of original innovative hard - technology achievements and the cultivation of frontier future technologies, it was approved as one of the first batch of high - quality incubators in Shanghai.
The high - quality incubator shifts its focus from the "valley of death" stage with a technology readiness level of 4 - 6 to the stage of 1 - 3. On the one hand, it actively explores "advanced incubation", intervening from the principle and paper stage to support scientists in carrying out principle design and concept verification; on the other hand, it selects the best for "in - depth incubation", participating in team building, product R & D, and business operation, realizing the whole - process incubation from PI (principal investigator) - IDEA - IP - IPO, and is committed to promoting the industrialization of top - notch scientific and technological achievements first.
Currently, the construction of Zhongke Chuangxing's high - quality incubator in Shanghai has achieved positive results. Seven projects, including Yuanjiwei and Huake Cold Core, have entered the "advanced incubation" or "in - depth incubation" stage. Among them, after Zhongke Chuangxing noticed the great potential of two - dimensional semiconductor technology in 2024, it began to discuss the possibility of commercializing two - dimensional semiconductor integrated circuits with the team of Professor Bao Wenzhong from Fudan University. After completing the concept verification, it decided to conduct in - depth incubation of Yuanjiwei, assisting the team in building a startup team in early 2025, and has now completed two rounds of early - stage investment in Yuanjiwei. In April this year, the joint team of Professor Bao Wenzhong and Professor Zhou Peng published a paper in the journal "Nature", announcing the development of the world's most integrated two - dimensional semiconductor processor "Wuji", which is expected to replace traditional silicon - based chips in the future.