Drink ice water in minutes with aerospace materials: A Shenzhen-based company secures tens of millions in financing, product may be priced at $100 | Exclusive from 36Kr

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Yuan Silai

Yingke learned that Yuanxiang Technology recently completed a financing of tens of millions of RMB. This round was led by Brizan, and the post - investment valuation reached hundreds of millions. The funds will be mainly used for team expansion, product R & D, purchase of production equipment, and early - stage market development. It is reported that the closing of this round of financing was completed on August 21, and the next round of financing is expected to start after the crowdfunding of the first product ends.

Yuanxiang Technology is an innovative enterprise focusing on the R & D and application of shape - memory alloy (SMA) materials, concentrating on the commercialization of refrigeration and heating technologies. This material can achieve efficient conversion between thermal energy and mechanical energy during the phase - change process, and the theoretical value of its coefficient of performance (COP) for refrigeration is close to the Carnot cycle limit (laboratory data).

The company was incubated by Shenzhen Yiwu Future Technology Co., Ltd. and is an independently operated subsidiary. Relying on the parent company's technological accumulation and industrial chain resources in the fields of motor control and intelligent hardware, Yuanxiang Technology is promoting the commercial application of shape - memory alloy materials from the laboratory. Bai Rui, the founder of the company, once served as the head of the motor control team at DJI.

When interviewed by Yingke, Bai Rui said that the company entered the field of shape - memory alloy materials because of its insight into the pain points of the refrigeration and heating industries. "Traditional compressor technology has long dominated the market, but we found that there is still room for improvement in terms of miniaturization, noise reduction, and environmental protection." Bai Rui pointed out that especially in scenarios such as outdoor use, personal wearables, and vehicle thermal management, users have clear demands for efficient, portable, and low - noise refrigeration and heating solutions, which the existing technologies struggle to meet.

According to Bai Rui, the shape - memory alloy materials of Yuanxiang Technology have advantages such as high energy efficiency, low noise, portability, and environmental friendliness in refrigeration solutions. They can achieve the high efficiency of traditional compressors while breaking through the limitations in terms of volume and noise. "In experimental verification, the material can cool normal - temperature water to about 5°C within minutes and can operate efficiently under battery power, showing potential application value in portable devices and outdoor scenarios." Bai Rui said.

Bai Rui revealed that Yuanxiang Technology is currently in the product R & D stage. The company's first terminal product will focus on the "rapid liquid refrigeration" application scenario, is planned to be launched in the market in 2026, and is initially priced at around $100, targeting the overseas outdoor consumer market.

Shape - memory alloy materials were initially mainly used in the aerospace field, with a very low degree of commercialization. Bai Rui admitted that the core challenge for Yuanxiang Technology lies in transforming laboratory technology into marketable products. "The research on the material itself is basically completed. Currently, what we need to do is to define the product form according to the material's characteristics and solve a series of engineering problems such as heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and structural design in the process of transforming the material into a product."

The technological barrier is not only reflected in material preparation but also in the exploration of application scenarios. Bai Rui emphasized that the team is extremely cautious in product selection: "We first entered the consumer - grade product market mainly to verify the commercial feasibility. After that, we will consider gradually expanding to industrial scenarios such as vehicle thermal management and server liquid cooling."

"The industrial scenario has extremely high requirements for material reliability. We need to accumulate data and optimize performance through consumer - grade products to prepare for entering scenarios with higher requirements." Bai Rui said.

Currently, Yuanxiang Technology has reached a cooperation with the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Central South University. Relying on its scientific research strength in the fields of metallurgy and metal materials, the company has completed the development of an independent material production process. The core members of the team come from scientific research institutions and industrial teams such as DJI, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Tsinghua University, covering aspects such as modeling, algorithms, system architecture, and mass manufacturing, forming a complete technical chain from material R & D to product realization.

In terms of business model, Yuanxiang Technology currently plans to use its own - brand terminal products to verify the market and in the future plans to empower more industry applications with modular material solutions. "We don't necessarily need to be involved in all refrigeration and heating fields, but we will support more industry partners through modular output." Bai Rui added.

Views of the investor:

Brizan said: We value the professional background, innovative R & D ability, and execution ability of the core team. We are optimistic about the initial positioning and business model of this project and believe that the company has a clear strategic plan and a feasible implementation plan. We think the market prospect for this project is very broad. It provides an innovative solution that has not yet appeared in the market, filling the gap in the existing market. In addition to having great potential in the consumer market, the core technology of this project has strong scalability, enabling it to quickly adapt to and be implemented in multiple other scenarios and industries, forming cross - domain application value.