Roundtable Dialogue: New Cycle, New Narrative | 36Kr Industry Future Conference 2025

On September 10th, the 2025 36Kr Future of Industry Conference, hosted by 36Kr, grandly kicked off in Xiamen, China. This conference joined hands with the "China International Fair for Investment and Trade" hosted by the Ministry of Commerce. With the core theme of "In the Era of Intensive Cultivation, the Tides Surge in the Land of Plenty", it strived to create a high - standard, high - value, and high - influence industrial event that combines national vision, industrial depth, and market popularity.

The conference closely aligns with national strategic directions and the forefront of industrial development. It focuses on five core sectors: artificial intelligence, low - altitude economy, advanced manufacturing, new energy, and mass consumption. It brings together the top forces in the industry to discuss development paths and outline the future of the industry. During the two - day agenda, with the "industrial cooperation chain" as the main logical thread, the conference focuses on the collaborative mechanism among the government, capital, and industry. It delves into how to break barriers, integrate resources, and precisely solve the pain points, blockages, and bottlenecks in industrial development.

36Kr organized a round - table discussion titled "New Cycle, New Narrative" at the Future of Industry Conference. Li Zheng, Partner and Vice President of 36Kr [Host], Chen Jie, Deputy General Manager of Xiamen Venture Capital, Lin Zhichao, Chairman of Xiamen High - tech Investment, Tan Wen, Deputy General Manager of Guoxing Investment, and Huang Yantao, Partner of SAIF Partners, several industry leaders, jointly explored the new narrative required for industrial investment when the industry enters a new cycle.

The following is the content of the round - table discussion, edited by 36Kr:

Li Zheng: First of all, welcome guests such as Chen Jie, Deputy General Manager of Xiamen Venture Capital; Lin Zhichao, Chairman of Xiamen High - tech Investment; Tan Wen, Deputy General Manager of Guoxing Investment; and Huang Yantao, Partner of SAIF Partners. Please introduce yourselves and your institutions in a few sentences.

Chen Jie: I'm Chen Jie from Xiamen Venture Capital. The parent company of Xiamen Venture Capital is Xiamen Jinyuan Group, a wholly - owned subsidiary of the Xiamen Finance Bureau. The group is a financial service platform in Xiamen with a wide range of licenses. We at Xiamen Venture Capital mainly engage in two types of businesses. One is government - guided funds. We've had investment cooperation in municipal and district - level guided funds with many of the guests here. The other is that we are also managers of market - oriented funds. Currently, the scale of the funds we manage exceeds 3 billion yuan, and we maintain an average of 1 - 2 new funds each year. Thank you.

Lin Zhichao: I'm Lin Zhichao from Xiamen High - tech Investment. Since its establishment in 2013, our company has always adhered to the early - stage venture investment style of "investing in early - stage and small - scale projects". We've invested in more than 50 startup projects in total. At the same time, we also engage in the business of mother funds, mainly participating in small and medium - sized funds. Our core goal is to support technology - based innovative enterprises.

Tan Wen: Hello, everyone. I'm Tan Wen from Guoxing Investment. Guoxing is a mixed - ownership platform established in 2018 with the support of the COFCO Group and the central state - owned enterprise SDIC. We manage a wide variety of funds, including CVCs, government - guided funds, mother funds, and venture capital funds, with a total scale of about 13 billion yuan.

Huang Yantao: I'm Huang Yantao from SAIF Partners. SAIF Partners was established in 2001 and set up its management team in Xiamen in 2013. It has been operating here for 12 years. Four funds have been established in Xiamen with a scale of about 2.5 billion yuan. Currently, we mainly focus on early - to - mid - stage investments in the technology industry.

Li Zheng: Just now, you mentioned different backgrounds such as state - owned capital, mixed - ownership capital, and market - oriented capital. I'd like to ask each of you to share your views on the changes in the investment industry this year and what responses your institutions have taken.

Chen Jie: Many of the data mentioned by Mr. Li can be strongly felt. One is on the fundraising side. As the representative of government - guided funds for investment, we've also felt that state - owned capital is currently the main force. However, there are new compositional changes. For example, last year, in response to the national call, we established an AIC fund with the four major state - owned banks (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, and China Construction Bank) with a scale of 22 billion yuan. There are new and good investment platforms joining. We also hope to explore cooperation with the social security fund, which will bring a lot of new increments.

Another aspect is the investment strategy. More investments are directed towards technological innovation. For example, last year, when we established a fund with AIC, the first project was an investment in Xiamen's Hanwei Tiancheng, a project also jointly invested by many guests here. We attach great importance to technological innovation.

In terms of exits, in response to the national call, our group and the city government recently set up a merger and acquisition fund. Last year, we launched the first market - oriented S mother fund in China in cooperation with the Xiamen Free Trade Zone. We're also making active attempts in terms of exit channels.

From the exit data, the amount that the sub - funds in which our government - guided funds participate should exit this year is twice that of last year. As managers of market - oriented funds, the distribution to LPs this year will also be more than twice that of last year. We can clearly feel the obvious recovery in exits.

Lin Zhichao: The most intuitive change this year is the recovery of the capital market and the return of confidence. For example, there have been phenomenon - level projects like Unitree and DeepSeek, and people have started to believe in the possibility of "100 - fold return projects". In the secondary market, the consumer and pharmaceutical sectors in the Hong Kong stock market have performed well, which has also driven up the investment enthusiasm in the primary market. Many institutions were in a state of inactivity in the past few years, but now they're all active. Our adjustment is to "lay out in advance" - we can't wait until an industry becomes popular to invest, otherwise, the valuation will already be very high. We need to calm down and study technological trends and exit when there's an explosion.

Tan Wen: I've been in the industry for 25 years and have experienced three cycles. The biggest change this year is the complete shift from "model - driven" to "technology - driven". In the early days, when investing in JD.com at Capital Today, we focused on the business model and didn't care about technology. Now, if you don't invest in technology - related projects, there are basically no opportunities for listing and exiting. Two of the companies we recently invested in on the STAR Market are still in the red, but their technology is excellent. For example, when choosing a large - silicon - wafer project three years ago, we gave up a team led by a scientist with a national subsidy and chose a team of entrepreneurs from a state - owned enterprise. Although the technology was similar, the latter had a stronger market awareness. Now, the company has been listed, while the former is still struggling.

Huang Yantao: SAIF Partners has been investing in technology in recent years. This year, we've felt a shift from "narrative - driven" to "implementation and efficiency - driven". In the past three years, everyone was talking about grand narratives like the metaverse and bottleneck - breaking technologies, and many conceptual sectors in the market became popular. After the market recovered this year, people are more concerned about "whether it can be implemented" and "whether the efficiency can be improved". For example, last year, the concept of large - language models was hyped, but this year, capital has flowed towards application scenarios where they can be implemented. In addition, the division of labor between state - owned and market - oriented institutions is very clear. State - owned institutions have advantages in the later stage: they have application scenarios, infrastructure, and policy support, but their fault - tolerance mechanism is relatively cautious, making them unsuitable for investing in early - stage projects before the technological inflection point. Our advantage lies in the early stage: we're more sensitive in judging the commercialization of technology and can make decisive moves during a project's bottleneck period. For example, in the case of Xiamen's Hanwei Tiancheng, Xiamen Torch High - tech Investment provided support policies and made a seed - round investment in the early stage. Later, when the company encountered a financial bottleneck, we led the Series B investment to help it through the inflection point. Now, Xiamen Venture Capital has joined in to support its mass - production expansion. Everyone plays their own roles, forming a relay. Of course, if state - owned institutions make breakthroughs in incentive mechanisms, decision - making efficiency, and fault - tolerance mechanisms in the future, there may be competition, but currently, it's more about complementarity.

Li Zheng: Mr. Lin focuses on early - stage investments. For early - stage hard - technology projects, not only is the path unclear, but if the technical route is wrong, the project may fail completely. I'd like to ask how you maintain patience in the face of such uncertainties?

Lin Zhichao: The core is to control risks from three dimensions. First, in terms of technology judgment, although we're not experts, we must have a 60% - 70% grasp of technological trends. If we're not confident, we'll never invest. Second, in terms of team configuration, a team composed solely of technical experts won't work. There must be people who understand the market. Otherwise, even if the technology is developed, the products can't be sold. Third, in terms of market space, we must confirm that the market corresponding to the technology is large enough to support the growth of the project. If all three conditions are met, we're patient enough to wait, even if the cycle is long. If there's any uncertainty in one of these aspects, we won't follow the trend even in a popular sector.

Li Zheng: Just now, several of you mentioned the importance of technology. However, in the example of the large - silicon - wafer project mentioned by Mr. Tan, when the technology is similar, the team with stronger market capabilities goes further. I'd like to ask you, how do you balance technology and the market? Does better technology necessarily mean better returns?

Tan Wen: Definitely, better technology doesn't necessarily mean better returns. We're looking for "technology with market demand", not "technology for the sake of technology". Many scientists start businesses with excellent technology, but they only focus on technology and ignore the market. In the end, their products can't be sold, and investors can't get returns. On the contrary, some entrepreneurs, although their technology isn't the most advanced, can accurately find application scenarios and transform technology into profitable products. Such projects are more reliable. For example, in the perovskite project we invested in, we didn't choose the most popular tandem route but the thin - film route because it can cooperate with Toyota for vehicle - energy conservation, which provides an immediate application scenario. This is more important than just having leading technology.

Li Zheng: Mr. Tan mentioned that funds need to balance strategy and returns. Many industrial funds have government or corporate backgrounds, so they inevitably have to consider the key points of the industrial chain. However, financial returns are the foundation for an institution's survival. How do you balance these two?

Tan Wen: The fundamental principle is to "base on financial returns and align with strategic directions". First of all, whether it's a government - guided fund or a CVC, if you don't make money for LPs, no one will give you money again. This is the bottom line - in 2013, the Xingzheng Strategic Fund I managed had an IRR of 31%. Three out of ten projects went public, and two were acquired. It's all about returns. Secondly, national strategic directions themselves have market potential. For example, hard technology and new - quality productivity don't mean sacrificing profitability for the sake of strategy. Instead, there are long - term opportunities hidden in strategic directions. In addition, when conducting investment promotion, we can't be blind. We need to achieve a win - win situation for enterprises, the government, and funds. For example, we introduced an electric heavy - truck project to Xiamen because Xiamen has good export policies, and the project can open up markets in the Middle East and Africa. It not only conforms to Xiamen's industrial orientation but also allows the fund to get returns.

Li Zheng: SAIF Partners, where Mr. Huang works, is an established market - oriented institution. Now, the proportion of state - owned capital investment is increasing. Do you feel a lot of pressure? Is there more competition or cooperation?

Huang Yantao: At this stage, there's definitely more cooperation than competition. The advantages of state - owned capital lie in the later stage: they have application scenarios, infrastructure, and policy support, but their fault - tolerance mechanism is relatively cautious, making them unsuitable for investing in early - stage projects before the technological inflection point. Our advantage lies in the early stage: we're more sensitive in judging the commercialization of technology and can make decisive moves during a project's bottleneck period. For example, in the case of Xiamen's Hanwei Tiancheng, Xiamen Torch High - tech Investment provided support policies and made a seed - round investment in the early stage. Later, when the company encountered a financial bottleneck, we led the Series B investment to help it through the inflection point. Now, Xiamen Venture Capital has joined in to support its mass - production expansion. Everyone plays their own roles, forming a relay. Of course, if state - owned institutions make breakthroughs in incentive mechanisms, decision - making efficiency, and fault - tolerance mechanisms in the future, there may be competition, but currently, it's more about complementarity.

Li Zheng: Will the entry of state - owned LPs change your investment genes and decision - making mechanisms? For example, in the past, you pursued excessive returns. Now, do you need to consider strategy more?

Huang Yantao: There will be constraints on the investment direction. For example, state - owned LPs may require 60% - 70% of the funds to be invested in specific sectors (such as semiconductors and the low - altitude economy), but the decision - making logic remains market - oriented. In addition, regarding the so - called "reverse investment" issue that people are worried about, in fact, after in - depth development in a region, it will happen naturally. For our first fund in Xiamen, we applied for a six - month extension at the end of the investment period to complete the reverse investment. However, for the second fund in cooperation with Xiamen Venture Capital, we exceeded the reverse - investment target in three months. Because Xiamen has an industrial foundation and can continuously attract and incubate good projects, it's not forced.

Li Zheng: Mr. Chen is from a local Xiamen institution. You mentioned that the scale of Xiamen's funds has increased tenfold in ten years. I'd like to ask what are the differential advantages of Xiamen's industries? And what challenges have you encountered in the cooperation between state - owned and private capital?

Chen Jie: As you said, recently, it's about combining capital and industry. Xiamen has some industrial advantages. For example, as Mr. Huang mentioned, he brought us some good projects. In fact, it's because Xiamen is focusing on developing these industries. For example, in the field of integrated circuits, in 2014, we introduced UMC from Taiwan and established United Microelectronics Xiamen. We've introduced many chip - design companies around it and also developed Xiamen's integrated - circuit equipment and material enterprises. A listed company just passed the review a few weeks ago, and there are also downstream packaging and testing enterprises. The entire industrial chain is relatively complete. In this process, many participating funds will invest in enterprises around this industrial chain and bring them to Xiamen or associate some good projects with these cooperative enterprises in terms of applications. This is quite obvious.

In this process, the scale of Xiamen's integrated - circuit industry has increased by 4 - 5 times in the past few years, so there's a good combination of capital and industry. As Mr. Huang mentioned, we cooperated with him to invest in Sitan Technology for Micro - LED using a market - oriented approach. Micro - LED is also an emerging display industry that Xiamen is focusing on. Xiamen has Tianma, which is