36Kr Exclusive | The battery supplier for Mi Smart Glasses secures nearly 50 million yuan in financing, with core technologies bypassing overseas restrictions.

Author | Zhang Ziyi

Editor | Peng Xiaoqiu

36Kr learned that Guoyan Xinneng, a company engaged in the R & D and production of steel - shell batteries, recently completed a Series B financing of nearly 50 million yuan. The investor is Hefei Haiheng. The financing funds will be used for capacity expansion and product R & D.

Guoyan Xinneng was established in 2019. It is an integrated R & D, production and sales lithium - battery company driven by new materials technology. In 2020, it started relevant application R & D on button batteries. Through self - developed cover - sheet composite technology and unique packaging processes, it bypassed the technological blockade of overseas enterprises and achieved full localization from materials to processes.

As consumer electronics develop towards intelligence and portability, the application scope of button batteries in 3C products is constantly expanding, covering various terminal devices such as smart watches, wireless earphones, electronic bracelets, and smart glasses. With the support of AI, such wearable devices are in a new growth dividend period, and the market scale is expected to reach tens of billions of RMB.

Zhang Fengxue, the founder of Guoyan Xinneng, told 36Kr: "We started making steel - shell button batteries because Apple's Airpods boosted the market for this type of battery. The industry believes that this belongs to high - end batteries with relatively high profits. However, VARTA (a well - known international battery company) set up patent blockades. It took us a year and a half to find a new technical route."

36Kr learned that through years of self - developed cover - sheet composite technology and packaging processes, Guoyan Xinneng has become the third domestic enterprise capable of bypassing VARTA's technical patent barriers. The company has a fully independently innovative packaging technology and is equipped with self - developed and customized automated production equipment. While significantly improving the product yield, it can also enhance production efficiency. Based on this technology platform, Guoyan Xinneng can derive various forms of steel - shell battery products. In terms of battery technology routes, Guoyan Xinneng focused on micro steel - shell batteries from the early stage of R & D.

Compared with traditional solutions, steel - shell batteries have natural advantages in energy density, safety, and design flexibility. Under the same volume conditions, their capacity can be increased by more than 20%. As the miniaturization requirements of wearable devices such as AR glasses and smart rings continue to increase, steel - shell battery technology will become the key to supporting the development of these products.

Zhang Fengxue believes that we have observed two key trends: First, AI drives device upgrades: Products such as smart glasses and AR/VR require longer battery life and more compact designs, and traditional pouch batteries can hardly meet the requirements. Second, the market scale explodes: According to institutional forecasts, the global demand for smart - wearable batteries will exceed tens of billions in 2025, and the proportion of steel - shell batteries in high - performance scenarios is expected to exceed 40%. Taking the Mi Smart Glasses as an example, we have customized the thickness and shape of the battery to maximize the battery capacity in a limited space. In addition, our technology can also be extended to AR/VR devices. We are jointly developing special ultra - thin batteries for VR glasses with overseas customers.

"The lithium - battery industry in China is very mature globally. There are two or three thousand lithium - battery enterprises in the 3C field alone. If we continue to use the pouch - battery technology route, it will be difficult to find a breakthrough in the market. Steel - shell batteries are undoubtedly the key direction for future development," Zhang Fengxue said.

While the mainstream in different industries uses pouch batteries, Guoyan Xinneng chooses to produce steel - shell button batteries.

This is because pouch batteries have pain - point problems such as limited capacity, short cycle life (mostly within 300 times), and low space utilization, which are difficult to meet the increasing requirements of consumer electronics for "lightness, thinness, long battery life, miniaturization, and high safety".

Steel - shell batteries, due to their strong rigidity, high safety, regular shape for easy design, support for fast charging, no deformation under external extrusion, detachability, no swelling during charge - discharge cycles, and high volume utilization, are expected to become the mainstream solution for micro - batteries.

"Based on the advantages of steel - shell batteries, we believe that in some product forms with high volume requirements, steel - shell batteries will definitely be superior to pouch batteries. We hope that through industrial automation production, we will have the opportunity to replace many application scenarios of pouch batteries," Zhang Fengxue told 36Kr.

Guoyan Xinneng has mastered a number of core technologies in the field of steel - shell batteries, including metal pole - piece lamination technology, vertical stacking technology of positive and negative electrode materials, thin - wall laser welding technology, and micro - hole liquid injection technology, and has applied for patents around these technologies.

Specifically, Guoyan Xinneng's innovative and unique cover - sheet composite technology allows button batteries to release pressure slowly when the internal air pressure changes, reducing the risk of explosion and improving safety. The new packaging structure uses laser welding for sealing. Compared with physical extrusion sealing, it has better sealing performance and can extend the battery life. The unique liquid injection and sealing method can effectively reduce the volatilization of the electrolyte, facilitate production control, and improve product consistency. It is also the only enterprise in the industry to achieve full - scale automated production.

In terms of market cooperation, Guoyan Xinneng is the supplier of the runway - shaped battery for Mi Smart Glasses. Its products are used in the power - supply module of the smart glasses to provide energy support for the device operation.