A returnee doctor spent 15 years perseveringly developing future technologies and attracted investments from Tencent and CATL.
In July, on the day when China Entrepreneur interviewed Fan Bin, the chairman of GCL Photovoltaic, the investment funds for the Series C2 round arrived in the account. With nearly 200 million yuan in this financing round, plus the nearly 500 million yuan raised in the Series C1 round at the end of last year, GCL Photovoltaic has become one of the few bright spots in the photovoltaic industry in the past two years.
Fan Bin started preparing for this round of financing in 2023. He foresaw the involution corresponding to the industry's expansion wave at that time. The perovskite (crystal materials with an ABX3 structure) track that GCL Photovoltaic is on is the next - generation technology route for photovoltaics. The current poor market will also have a great impact on its evolution. Fan Bin aimed to raise more funds to push the production line into mass - production as soon as possible and start making profits by leveraging technological advantages.
He has been on this path for more than a decade. In 2010, after returning from overseas studies, Fan Bin identified the perovskite direction and focused on starting a business. In 2016, at the most difficult moment, the team was acquired by GCL Group for 30 million yuan, giving rise to the current GCL Photovoltaic.
Source: Interviewee
He managed to survive three cycles of the photovoltaic industry. He reflected on this. Perovskite was too cutting - edge more than a decade ago, and starting a business was more like an impulsive choice in his youth. If he could go back in time, he would first choose to do some scientific research work at a university and then start a business in 2020. This might have been a better plan.
Compared with his confidence in technology, Fan Bin's challenge over the years has mainly been "money". "We've endured hard times for too long. Unlike other startups that have a smooth start and an air of youthful arrogance and self - satisfaction, all we think about is raising money quickly and achieving mass - production quickly." The logic that sustains him is that as long as the technological direction is right, there will be hope if he perseveres. He firmly believes in the future of perovskite. In his view, the technological ceiling is still high, and as long as they maintain the lead, they can become the future of photovoltaics.
However, this journey has been extremely tortuous. He describes it as walking on a path no one has ever taken, constantly taking risks: from the division of equity in the early days of entrepreneurship; to technological iteration and equipment procurement in the middle stage; to independent financing and facing technological gambling... Now, GCL Photovoltaic has become a company valued at billions of yuan and has entered the first echelon of the perovskite track.
"We plan to run through the mass - production line in 2025, achieve shipments of one hundred megawatts (with revenues exceeding 100 million yuan) in 2026, and reach the break - even point for a single 500 - megawatt line in 2027." Fan Bin said.
Now, in his words, besides the perseverance after the "impulse", entrepreneurship is more about reshaping self - awareness. When he was in school, he always thought that science and engineering were the most awesome and looked down on liberal arts. "But after starting a business, I realized that business and economics are much more complex than science and engineering. I read books every day and even learn these things while driving." As he is about to go into battle, he also needs to quickly make up for his knowledge.
A Lifetime Decision
Fan Bin didn't initially have a clear plan for whether to engage in R & D or start a business for the rest of his life. It wasn't until he was exposed to the third - generation photovoltaic technology at the EPFL Laboratory in Switzerland that he completely fell in love with this field.
At that time, this photovoltaic research institute was the best in the world. At first, he approached his studies with a more scientific research mindset. From 2006 to 2010, four years convinced him that perovskite was the future. Despite the twists and turns later, this judgment has remained unchanged to this day.
The decision to start a business was made in 2010. Originally, he planned to start a business in Europe, but a German investor's words woke him up: "To row the boat fast, you have to enter a fast - flowing river, and China is such a river." At that time, the domestic entrepreneurship boom was rising, and the country introduced a series of talent policies, attracting many overseas talents back to China.
As a Chinese, it was naturally not cost - effective to start a business in Europe. He decided to return to China and started his entrepreneurial journey in his hometown, Xiamen.
The exploration of the technological path was not smooth. Initially, Fan Bin was working on the organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology route and didn't switch to the current perovskite until 2013.
Perovskite was too cutting - edge at that time. The most difficult part was the lack of precedents. Some equipment had to be customized with suppliers. A large part of Fan Bin's work was in this area. From discrete equipment to automated production lines, and from OPV process iteration to perovskite, every step required exploration. The problem was that changing suppliers would result in a large amount of sunk costs.
Fortunately, the advantages of the domestic manufacturing industry are obvious, especially in the panel industry, which has some common features with perovskite and has a strong industrial foundation.
After 2018, almost all of GCL Photovoltaic's equipment supply chain was in China. Fan Bin mentioned that as long as he made a phone call to modify the equipment, the supplier would arrive the next day, which was impossible in European and American countries.
As a result, GCL Photovoltaic has the fastest R & D iteration speed globally. It is currently the only perovskite company capable of producing components larger than two square meters and building demonstration power stations. At present, the 100 - megawatt pilot line has started shipments, and the 500 - megawatt mass - production line will be operational by the end of the year.
As time goes by, Fan Bin is getting a better "feel". The upper limit of perovskite is very high. The theoretical upper limit of the light conversion efficiency of its tandem technology with crystalline silicon is 45%. "I believe that with an annual improvement of one percentage point, we can reach the 36% mark within ten years. If we can maintain the technological lead, the market competitiveness of our team will be extremely strong."
A Lifetime Decision
Fan Bin didn't initially have a clear plan for whether to engage in R & D or start a business for the rest of his life. It wasn't until he was exposed to the third - generation photovoltaic technology at the EPFL Laboratory in Switzerland that he completely fell in love with this field.
At that time, this photovoltaic research institute was the best in the world. At first, he approached his studies with a more scientific research mindset. From 2006 to 2010, four years convinced him that perovskite was the future. Despite the twists and turns later, this judgment has remained unchanged to this day.
The decision to start a business was made in 2010. Originally, he planned to start a business in Europe, but a German investor's words woke him up: "To row the boat fast, you have to enter a fast - flowing river, and China is such a river." At that time, the domestic entrepreneurship boom was rising, and the country introduced a series of talent policies, attracting many overseas talents back to China.
As a Chinese, it was naturally not cost - effective to start a business in Europe. He decided to return to China and started his entrepreneurial journey in his hometown, Xiamen.
The exploration of the technological path was not smooth. Initially, Fan Bin was working on the organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology route and didn't switch to the current perovskite until 2013.
Perovskite was too cutting - edge at that time. The most difficult part was the lack of precedents. Some equipment had to be customized with suppliers. A large part of Fan Bin's work was in this area. From discrete equipment to automated production lines, and from OPV process iteration to perovskite, every step required exploration. The problem was that changing suppliers would result in a large amount of sunk costs.
Fortunately, the advantages of the domestic manufacturing industry are obvious, especially in the panel industry, which has some common features with perovskite and has a strong industrial foundation.
After 2018, almost all of GCL Photovoltaic's equipment supply chain was in China. Fan Bin mentioned that as long as he made a phone call to modify the equipment, the supplier would arrive the next day, which was impossible in European and American countries.
As a result, GCL Photovoltaic has the fastest R & D iteration speed globally. It is currently the only perovskite company capable of producing components larger than two square meters and building demonstration power stations. At present, the 100 - megawatt pilot line has started shipments, and the 500 - megawatt mass - production line will be operational by the end of the year.
As time goes by, Fan Bin is getting a better "feel". The upper limit of perovskite is very high. The theoretical upper limit of the light conversion efficiency of its tandem technology with crystalline silicon is 45%. "I believe that with an annual improvement of one percentage point, we can reach the 36% mark within ten years. If we can maintain the technological lead, the market competitiveness of our team will be extremely strong."
The Hardest Part: Raising Money
Compared with technology, the biggest challenge Fan Bin faced after starting a business was actually money.
Early - stage financing was like a "big gamble" for him. When raising funds in Xiamen in 2010, he raised less than 20 million yuan but gave away 50% - 60% of the equity. Looking back, the local bosses who were willing to invest at that time didn't understand the photovoltaic industry well. They were more like making small - scale "trials", thinking "it's not much money, so let's take a chance".
At that time, crystalline silicon products were still the absolute mainstay in the photovoltaic market. Perhaps only he firmly believed that perovskite would replace crystalline silicon and become the mainstream in the future.
Entrepreneurship in the early stage was very difficult. 2016 was an important node. GCL Group acquired Fan Bin's company for 30 million yuan, and the team moved from Xiamen to Suzhou and became a wholly - owned subsidiary of GCL Technology. At that time, GCL Group was optimistic about the next - generation technology route and was looking for perovskite enterprises across the country and conducting due diligence on them one by one.
However, GCL Group was also afraid of backing the wrong technology route. So, from the intention agreement in 2015 to the completion of the transaction at the end of 2016, GCL Group hesitated for a long time. Fan Bin and his team joined the GCL system in the form of a department. For some time, they still had relatively high autonomy in R & D and technology.
But soon, a crisis hit in 2018.
On May 31st of that year, the National Energy Administration issued the Notice on Issues Related to Photovoltaic Power Generation in 2018, which directly abolished the new subsidy standard introduced at the end of 2017 and significantly reduced the subsidies per kilowatt - hour for both centralized and distributed power stations.
Naturally, GCL Group was greatly affected. GCL Photovoltaic, which had sufficient funds the previous year, had to find ways to "borrow money" from various sectors of the group every month in the second half of 2018. By 2019, a large number of projects were put on hold due to funding issues. There was only enough money in the account to pay salaries, and the team could only conduct some simple R & D, and new equipment could not be purchased.
The trough lasted until 2020, and GCL Photovoltaic even struggled to survive at one point. During that period, the payment cycles of a large number of GCL Group's power station projects changed, and funds were also tight.
Fan Bin faced two choices: one was to sell the whole company, and the other was to raise independent financing. In the then sluggish market environment, the former option didn't work out after several attempts, and the team was forced to start looking for external financing channels.
He met with two or three hundred institutions in two years. It wasn't until 2020, when shareholders such as Kunshan High - tech Group and CATL were introduced, that he could breathe a sigh of relief.
After that, the team moved to Kunshan, expanded from more than 20 people to 60 people, and restarted the suspended R & D plan. It was also after this that the company became more financially stable. It was very difficult at that time, but looking back, almost all perovskite enterprises stagnated during those years, and many even went bankrupt. Fan Bin is also glad that there were no major strategic mistakes in this process.
In the Series B and Series B + financing rounds in 2021, institutions such as Tencent Capital, IDG Capital, and Sequoia Capital China also joined. The investors in these two rounds put forward a hard requirement: by January 2023, they must achieve a conversion efficiency of 18% for two - square - meter components and pass the certification; otherwise, the valuation would be adjusted.
Fan Bin was under great pressure at that time. Although in retrospect, it was just "very dangerous", this "gambling" was only barely achieved by the end of 2022.
He seriously reflected on this. The cost of technological gambling was too high. At that time, in order to meet the standard, the team had to carry out some short - term optimization projects. "For example, there is a new structural design that has higher long - term efficiency, but in the short term, due to system mismatch, it will actually reduce efficiency." Fan Bin said that the gambling also slowed down technological progress to some extent.
"Making the Impossible Possible"
After GCL Photovoltaic achieved the certified conversion efficiency of 18%, it caused quite a stir in the industry. Coincidentally, it was also around that time that an investment wave emerged in the perovskite track.
Although this was an inspiring thing, and Fan Bin had finally waited for the opportunity after persevering for so long, he had already seen the hidden dangers: in 2022, the new production capacity in the photovoltaic industry increased explosively, and it was expected internally that the market situation might reverse in 2023, and there might even be large - scale losses. Perovskite is the next - generation photovoltaic technology, and the overall downward market would also have a great impact on it.
In 2023, Fan Bin started preparing for the Series C financing. At that time, his idea was to raise more funds as soon as possible. Based on their technological advantages, the mass - production line would start shipments, and the company would start making profits. Fan Bin also hoped to get a batch of orders before the market price dropped, but the actual rhythm didn't meet the expectations, and this round of financing lasted for more than a year.
He met with nearly 300 investment institutions, and the most intuitive feeling was that the market was cold. Some institutions were interested, but the valuations they offered were not high. The internal contradiction at that stage was whether to pursue a higher valuation or to quickly raise funds for the production line.
The market situation also promoted internal consensus and led to an adjustment of the financing strategy. The core was to have the ability to make money.
With the funds in place, Fan Bin's goal is clear: in 2027, rely on a single 500 - megawatt production line with an investment of 500 million yuan to reach the break - even point.
In his view, the business model of perovskite is very clear. They aim to develop "general - purpose platform technology" to cover all scenarios such as centralized power stations, rooftop distributed power generation, and building - integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).