The 100-ton production line will be put into operation by the end of the year. "Xing Keyuan", a developer of ultra-fine nano-silicon for solid-state batteries, has completed a Pre-Series A financing round worth tens of millions of yuan | Exclusive report by 36Kr

Text | Zhang Bingbing

Editor | A Zhi

36Kr learned that Hangzhou Xingkeyuan New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xingkeyuan") recently announced the completion of a multi - million - yuan Angel ++ round of financing. The investors are Xiamen High - tech Investment and Tianhong Investment, and Yundao Capital serves as the long - term exclusive financial advisor. This round of financing will be mainly used for product R & D, production line improvement, and capacity expansion. Xingkeyuan previously received angel - round investment from Yuanhe Origin, Sequoia Seed, Xianfeng Changqing, Linge Venture Capital, Tsinghua Alumni Fund, Yundao Capital, and industrial investors.

Xingkeyuan is an enterprise that 36Kr has been following for a long time. Its core technology is the preparation of ultra - fine nano - silicon particles smaller than 10nm and the adjustment of particle size between a few nanometers and dozens of nanometers. Li Xuegeng, the founder of Xingkeyuan, introduced that the fracture toughness of silicon particles smaller than 20nm increases significantly and they hardly break. Nano - sized silicon - based anodes can shorten the lithium - ion transmission distance and improve the kinetic performance of lithium ions, making them an ideal new anode material.

After self - developing CVD production equipment and achieving continuous production of ultra - fine nano - silicon particles, Xingkeyuan further supplemented a new generation of nano - silicon production equipment according to market demand, producing 40 - 80nm nano - silicon to expand the product coverage area.

"Customers not only need nano - silicon within 30nm, but also have new demands for 40 - 80nm nano - silicon. Adding a new generation of equipment has two advantages. One is that it can broaden the types of raw materials and the safety is easier to control; the other is that customers are more familiar with and recognize it, which can help us reach a wider market." Li Xuegeng summarized.

The application of ultra - fine nano - silicon particles in new technologies such as solid - state batteries requires the joint efforts of industry leaders and upstream and downstream enterprises. At present, when market awareness and technological application are not fully mature, Xingkeyuan chooses to deeply bind with industry leaders, providing not only nano - silicon materials but also technical guidance and solutions such as nano - silicon surface modification treatment and solid - state battery R & D.

"Nano - silicon is a new material, and customers may not know how to use it when they buy it. We have developed a unique surface modification technology in the past six months. After modification, it can meet the requirements of dispersion performance in the system, compatibility with oil - based and water - based systems, etc. At the same time, we have modified and customized equipment to provide a systematic solution for customers who are really doing R & D and have the ability to introduce it, which has been highly recognized by customers." Li Xuegeng believes that deep binding (with industry leaders) is beneficial for accelerating the R & D and implementation of solid - state batteries on the one hand, and ensuring the company's product sales on the other hand, which is more conducive to the long - term development of new - material enterprises.

Xingkeyuan's nano - silicon products

Xingkeyuan has currently reached long - term cooperation intentions with leading customers in the segmented industry and is promoting the customer verification process in the automotive field.

Previously, Xingkeyuan had achieved stable mass production and delivery of hundreds of kilograms of ultra - fine nano - silicon and nano - silicon powder materials. Li Xuegeng introduced that recently, Xingkeyuan has continuously iterated and optimized its equipment. The 10,000 - square - meter 100 - ton - scale plant in Hangzhou Qiantang District has started construction, and it is expected to complete capacity ramp - up before the end of the year to meet the delivery of existing customer orders and R & D needs.

To ensure the stability of product quality during the capacity improvement process, Xingkeyuan has made an early expansion layout to solve problems such as the collection system of core equipment and pneumatic transmission during the expansion. At the same time, it has contacted and locked in suppliers in advance to ensure the stable reserve and supply of raw materials and cost control. In terms of sales layout, Xingkeyuan actively binds and nurtures customers, provides overall solutions for product R & D, accelerates the customer expansion process, and expands market awareness of new materials.

Currently, the Xingkeyuan team has dozens of people. It is actively introducing high - end technical talents to strengthen the team and has launched a new round of financing plans to plan for the construction of a kiloton - scale production line in the future.

Investors' views:

Xiamen High - tech Investment: Xiamen High - tech Investment has long been deeply involved in the new energy track and has been continuously paying attention to the iteration and breakthrough of cutting - edge material technologies. Silicon - carbon anodes are one of the core technological directions for breaking through the energy - density bottleneck of lithium - ion batteries at present, with broad market prospects. The Xingkeyuan team has profound technical accumulation and both continuous entrepreneurship and industrialization experience. The company masters the core equipment and preparation process of ultra - fine nano - silicon and is one of the few domestic enterprises capable of mass - producing silicon particles smaller than 10nm, which can effectively alleviate the volume expansion problem of silicon materials during the charging and discharging process, with high technical barriers and technological leadership. Xiamen High - tech Investment hopes to help Xingkeyuan accelerate its development through this investment and jointly promote the innovation and breakthrough of the new energy industry.

Tianhong Investment: Tianhong Investment has always been focused on innovative investment in the hard - technology field and firmly optimistic about the solid - state battery track. Silicon - based anodes have become one of the mainstream technological routes for the development of solid - state batteries at present, with high market recognition. Xingkeyuan is currently one of the very few domestic enterprises that have mastered the mass - production process of 5 - 50nm nano - silicon, effectively solving the volume expansion problem in the industrial application of silicon - based anodes. The technology comes from more than a decade of scientific research accumulation of the core team, and the product has high technical barriers. As one of the enterprises in Tianhong Investment's layout in the solid - state battery field, it hopes that through this investment, on the one hand, it can accelerate the expansion of the company's nano - silicon production capacity, and on the other hand, it can enhance China's competitiveness in the solid - state battery field.

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This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr Future Industries". Author: Zhang Bingbing, A Zhi. Published by 36Kr with authorization.