High-end piezoelectric material developer "Jiangci Electronics" secures multi-million-yuan Pre-A round financing after winning multi-million-yuan orders from industry-leading enterprises | Exclusive from 36Kr
Text | Zhang Bingbing
Editor | A Zhi
36Kr learned that Jiangci Electronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiangci Electronics") recently announced the completion of a pre-Series A financing of tens of millions of yuan, jointly led by Yijing Capital and Qianrong Holdings, with follow-on investments from Suzhou Venture Capital Group, Guofa Venture Capital, and Suzhou Hi-tech Jingu Capital. Xingshi Capital served as the long-term exclusive financial advisor. The funds raised will be mainly used for capacity expansion and commercialization promotion.
Founded in February 2023, incubated from the Suzhou Sicui Institute of Electronic Functional Materials Technology, "Jiangci Electronics" conducts research and development on high-end piezoelectric materials and devices such as high-performance piezoelectric materials, antiferroelectric materials, and transparent ferroelectric single-crystal materials. Currently, its main products are high-temperature-resistant piezoelectric ceramic materials, high-performance textured ceramic materials, and related derived devices, which are applied in fields such as deep well detection, non-destructive testing, and sonar radar.
Relying on high-end piezoelectric ceramic materials, "Jiangci Electronics" has reached cooperation with leading enterprises in the petroleum and Internet of Things industries, and has received orders worth tens of millions of yuan in multiple scenarios. Currently, the team consists of more than 30 people, half of whom are technical personnel, and a kilogram-scale production line has been established.
I. Breakthroughs in Two Core Technologies: High Temperature and High Performance
Piezoelectric ceramic materials can achieve bidirectional conversion between mechanical energy and electrical energy and have been widely used in daily life. The buzzer of a smoke alarm and the ultrasonic probe of an ultrasonic device largely rely on piezoelectric ceramic materials to achieve their sensing functions. However, for a long time, domestic small and medium-sized piezoelectric ceramic enterprises have been numerous but small in scale, with weak brand influence and strong product homogenization.
With the increasing demand in high-end application fields such as deep earth exploration, industrial inspection, and intelligent Internet of Things, the demand for high-performance, high-stability, and multi-functional piezoelectric materials has increased. Domestic piezoelectric ceramic materials need to enter a new stage of "technological autonomy + high-end application".
Jiangci Electronics' piezoelectric ceramic materials
"Our main products focus on two types of piezoelectric materials, high-temperature and high-performance, and related derived components and devices, which have been verified in multiple scenarios and achieved mass production." Luan Peng, CEO of "Jiangci Electronics", introduced that the two products reflect the two core technologies of "Jiangci Electronics": in terms of formula, a new high-temperature formula has been developed; in terms of process, the texture process is used to improve the performance of the basic materials.
In terms of high-temperature piezoelectric materials, the PZT lead zirconate titanate ceramic used in traditional piezoelectric materials has outstanding performance in terms of piezoelectric performance, Curie temperature, and adjustability, and its preparation process is mature. However, it will fail at around 200°C and cannot be applied in high-temperature environments such as oil well logging. There is a relatively large niche market for high-temperature piezoelectric materials in the 200°C - 300°C environment.
"Jiangci Electronics" has made a brand-new design from the material formula, enabling the piezoelectric material to be used at a temperature of 260°C - 300°C while maintaining consistent performance. "Our high-temperature piezoelectric materials are mainly used in the oil well logging industry, including oil well logging and oil refining. From 2023 to 2024, we have supplied in small batches. Currently, more than a dozen products have completed verification and finalization and are being supplied in batches." Luan Peng summarized.
In terms of high-performance piezoelectric materials, "Jiangci Electronics" has introduced the tape casting process through process transformation and developed textured ceramic materials to achieve grain orientation arrangement, increasing the piezoelectric performance of traditional PZT ceramics by two to three times. It has completed the development of various products such as square sheets, round tubes, and rings, and developed innovative products such as large-size round tubes over 10 cm. The improvement of material performance enables the products to be further applied in scenarios such as detection and inspection.
Luan Peng believes that different from the demand for traditional piezoelectric ceramics, the demand in high-end application scenarios requires enterprises to have a scientific understanding of the material end. Improving product performance through formula and process improvement is an upgrade from the traditional industry to a high-tech and sophisticated industry.
II. Material Performance Upgrade Drives Further Market Expansion
The market application demand has promoted the upgrade of material research and development. Conversely, the improvement of material performance has also promoted the further expansion of application scenarios.
The high-performance piezoelectric materials of "Jiangci Electronics" can significantly improve the piezoelectric performance, which means an improvement in the conversion efficiency between electricity and sound, manifested as higher sensitivity in devices. Based on this, "Jiangci Electronics" provides acoustic modules for a leading enterprise in the Internet of Things industry to develop non-destructive testing products for detecting the leakage risk of pipelines.
In addition, in fields such as fish-finding radar, sonar detection, equipment inspection, and sensors, "Jiangci Electronics" is also continuously in contact with leading customers and developing new products based on high-performance materials.
Jiangci Electronics Company
In terms of product strategy, "Jiangci Electronics" has two major routes based on its material research and development advantages: in a more competitive market, it only focuses on the component level, using performance advantages to gain business space; in a relatively closed and less competitive market, it focuses on the device level, adopting classic device designs and achieving product optimization and commercial implementation through material upgrades.
Luan Peng believes that the current industry is in a window period with both opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, the demand for improving the performance of piezoelectric materials and devices is obvious, especially the demand for high-performance products in extreme environments has increased significantly; on the other hand, the customers in the high-end market are mainly state-owned enterprises and large customers. After the market demand is clear, more players will enter. "We need to quickly achieve large-scale production and industrialization while maintaining our R & D advantages and leading position."
It is reported that the kilogram-scale production line of "Jiangci Electronics" is located in Suzhou and is mainly used for small-batch verification of application scenarios. After this round of financing, part of the funds will be used for capacity expansion, increasing the production capacity from kilogram-scale to dozens of kilograms. In the first half of 2025, "Jiangci Electronics" delivered products worth nearly 10 million yuan, and the annual sales revenue is expected to exceed 20 million yuan.
In the future, "Jiangci Electronics" will focus on increasing the supply to existing customers, further finalizing, improving, and increasing the supply according to customer product requirements, and exploring new market demands.
Views of Investors
Yijing Capital: As a key area of the country's long-term strategic layout, advanced ceramic materials are the core cornerstone supporting the high-quality development of China's industry. The core team of Jiangci Electronics comes from the Key Laboratory of Electronic Ceramics and Devices of Xi'an Jiaotong University. They not only have solid technical accumulation and rich engineering implementation experience but also have successfully developed high-performance piezoelectric ceramic materials, antiferroelectric materials, and ferroelectric single-crystal materials, accurately overcoming the technical bottlenecks and industrialization problems in China's next-generation underwater acoustic equipment, energy and chemical industry, high-end medical care, optical communication, and other fields. Adhering to the core concept of independent research and development and continuous product iteration, Jiangci Electronics will continue to inject core impetus into the high-end upgrade of China's industrial basic materials.
Qianrong Capital: Currently, the localization rate of high-end piezoelectric materials and devices is still at a low level. Especially in the field of piezoelectric ceramics for acoustic logging transducers, the domestic market has great potential, and there is a broad space and urgent demand for domestic substitution. Relying on years of deep technical accumulation, Jiangci Electronics has achieved a key leap in industrialization. Its core products have been verified by orders from leading customers, successfully filling the domestic gap. We believe that based on continuous breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies such as transparent ferroelectric single crystals and antiferroelectric ceramics, Jiangci Electronics is expected to trigger a material revolution in the energy exploration and other tracks, helping the independent and controllable development of China's high-end piezoelectric industry chain.
Suzhou Venture Capital Group, Guofa Venture Capital: Jiangci Electronics has years of positive R & D accumulation in the field of electronic functional materials and has completed the entire process of technology from 0 to 1. Its core products are currently applied in fields such as petrochemical, underwater acoustic equipment, and optical communication and have been recognized by leading customers, with considerable future market growth. We believe that with the expansion of the team and the improvement of mass production capacity, Jiangci Electronics is expected to become a leader in the niche industry in the future, contributing to the independent and controllable development of piezoelectric materials.
Suzhou Hi-tech Jingu: In recent years, the rapid growth of the demand for ultrasonic detection equipment in various domestic industries urgently requires piezoelectric ceramic solutions with stronger performance and better cost. Jiangci Electronics not only has the research ability on the underlying mechanism of ceramic materials but also has the ability of mass production and rapid commercial implementation of products. It is a relatively rare platform-type technology company. We look forward to that with the continuous efforts of the team, Jiangci Electronics can achieve large-scale delivery of products in other fields such as military, power, and new energy on the basis of deeply cultivating the petroleum exploration industry, becoming the "clairvoyant and clairaudient" for ultrasonic detection equipment.
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This article is from the WeChat public account "36Kr Future Industries". Author: Zhang Bingbing, A Zhi. Published by 36Kr with permission.