Moore Threads' financing story: Early investors have received returns exceeding 6,200 times.

1,572 times the offline subscription multiple, the fastest review process on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in 88 days, and the most expensive "hundred - yuan stock" this year... As a series of figures are refreshed, Moore Threads, known as the "Chinese NVIDIA", officially landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board today.

On the market, Moore Threads opened at a maximum price of 688 yuan per share, a 502% increase from the issue price of 114.28 yuan per share. As of press time, the company's market value is 280 billion yuan.

Looking back at Moore Threads' financing history, the company has been highly regarded by capital since its inception and quickly became a "collective consensus" in the primary market. It completed two rounds of financing just three months after its establishment in 2020, and then steadily advanced at a pace of one round per year. The cumulative financing scale exceeded 10 billion yuan, and the number of shareholders before the IPO reached as many as 86.

As the earliest investor, if Peixian Qianyao roughly calculates based on the latest market value of 280 billion yuan, its initial investment of 1.9 million yuan has increased in value to approximately 11.898 billion yuan, with a return of more than an astonishing 6,262 times.

Of course, there are also some regrets of missing opportunities in Moore Threads' financing story. At the beginning of this year, China Venture Capital News wrote about an investor who missed the opportunity to invest in the old shares of Moore Threads because he couldn't raise 10 million yuan within a day.

From the crazy scramble for shares in the early - stage financing to the fierce competition for shares before the listing, the capital competition around Moore Threads in the past five years not only witnessed the rapid growth of China's semiconductor industry but also once again confirmed a profound truth: on the road of core technology breakthrough, the most expensive cost is often not money but the opportunity cost paid due to hesitation.

So, in the wave of hard - tech investment, what characteristics does this company have that enable it to cross the cycle and become a core asset that capital is reluctant to let go of? What kind of industry judgment and value perseverance are hidden behind those seemingly "risky bets"?

We sincerely invite you to read this article with these questions and look back at how the "first domestic GPU stock" was born.

"Making a high - profile debut"

In 2020 when Moore Threads was born, the GPU field in China was booming. A group of players such as Suyuan Technology and Biren Technology successively entered the stage, and the enthusiasm of the capital market for the semiconductor field was also unprecedentedly high.

Despite the numerous competitors, Moore Threads, carrying the title of "Chinese NVIDIA", still had an "amazing" start. It completed two rounds of financing within three months, and its valuation exceeded one billion US dollars in less than 100 days after its establishment, breaking the industry record of the "fastest - promoted unicorn enterprise" that year.

The company's first - round financing took place in September 2020, and the investors were "Peixian Qianyao" and "Shenzhen Minghao".

Regarding this investment, my colleague, Teacher Yang Boyu, mentioned in the article "Earning 700 times: Unveiling the First Investor of Moore Threads" that Zhou Qi, one of the shareholders of Peixian Qianyao, has a deep relationship with the veteran graphics card manufacturer Colorful Technology and is an individual investor in its affiliated enterprises. Colorful Technology started cooperation with NVIDIA as early as 2000 and became NVIDIA's core AIC partner in 2010.

There is also a key detail in this round of financing: it was Peixian Qianyao that introduced Shenzhen Minghao to invest. As the earliest external investor, Peixian Qianyao thus obtained a preferential price of 1 yuan per registered capital, investing 1.9 million yuan at a pre - investment valuation of 10 million yuan.

Looking back now, this "vote of confidence" of 1.9 million yuan has brought rich returns. The prospectus shows that before the listing, Peixian Qianyao still held 16.9987 million shares of Moore, with a shareholding ratio of 4.2494% (before the issue). Calculated based on the latest market value of 280 billion yuan before press time, the value of its shares is 11.898 billion yuan, a 6,262 - fold increase.

If the first - round financing of Moore Threads still had the color of "being helped by acquaintances", then the subsequent angel - round financing was more in line with the standard narrative of a star project.

In December 2020, Moore Threads completed its angel - round financing, and the investors included top - tier institutions such as Wuyuan Capital, Sequoia China, Wenming Investment, and Heertaike. An investor recalled that when this round of financing was finalized, Moore Threads didn't even have a prototype. What impressed the top - tier institutions was its impeccable team configuration.

Zhang Jianzhong, the founder of Moore Threads, was an important "deputy" of Jensen Huang. Since 2006, he has been the global vice - president of NVIDIA and the general manager of its China region. He led the team to establish a complete GPU ecosystem in China and made Greater China NVIDIA's most important GPU market globally. He has witnessed the entire industrial transformation of GPU from graphics processing to neural network acceleration.

The team behind him is also star - studded. The core members all come from global top - tier technology companies such as NVIDIA, Microsoft, Intel, AMD, and ARM, with an average work experience of more than ten years.

"Moore Threads has a world - class modern GPU architecture design team." This is the evaluation from Zhou Kui, a partner of Sequoia Capital China. Yunxiu Capital's comment is even more straightforward: "Moore Threads is one of the few truly world - class and mature teams in China that can cover the complete architecture of GPU R & D, design, marketing, sales, and service support."

It can be said that the top - notch team, cutting - edge technology, and the right timing together contributed to Moore Threads' high starting point.

"As long as the chips are made, the future is limitless"

With the foreshadowing of the previous financing, Moore Threads completely ignited the enthusiasm of the capital market in the subsequent two rounds of financing.

In February 2021, the company completed its Pre - A round of financing, jointly led by Shenzhen Capital Group, Sequoia China, and GGV Capital, and jointly participated in by China Merchants Group Venture Capital, ByteDance, Pony.ai, Sunshine Ronghui Capital, Haisong Capital, Wenming Investment, First Capital, Wuyuan Capital, Heertaike, and Minghao.

In November of the same year, it received 2 billion yuan in Series A financing from institutions such as Shanghai Guosheng Capital, Wuyuan Capital, Bohai Zhongcheng Fund under BOC International, CCB International, Qianhai Mother Fund, China Merchants Securities, and Hubei High - quality Development Industry Fund, staging two famous scenes of "group - buying" by more than ten institutions.

Sunshine Ronghui Capital participated in Moore's Pre - A round of financing in early 2021. At that time, the institution had been deeply involved in the semiconductor track for two years. Since the second half of 2018, they had been continuously tracking the AI chip field, covering almost all the top - tier targets at that time. After the National Day in 2020, Moore Threads, which had been established for only three months, came into their view.

Zheng Yan, the person in charge of the technology track at Sunshine Ronghui Capital, is a professional in electronic technology from Tsinghua University. He admitted that the valuation of Moore Threads was not low at that time, but his team only took two months from contacting the project to completing the investment.

The "top - notch team" was still one of the core anchors for making a quick investment decision. In his words, Zhang Jianzhong, the founder, served as the global vice - president of NVIDIA and the general manager of its China region from April 2006 to September 2020, and can almost be said to have "single - handedly created China's GPU ecosystem and industrial chain". In addition, Ma Fengxiang, the person in charge of chip R & D, has rich tape - out experience, and the company's pragmatic idea of "giving priority to ensuring the speed and certainty of the first - chip launch" also coincided with the team's technical judgment. Although there were some doubts in the market about the company's technology development route at that time, the team knew that for a startup large - chip company, the rapid breakthrough of the first chip and the rapid iteration of subsequent R & D were the most crucial.

"When we first contacted Moore Threads, we formed a clear judgment: we were full of confidence in Moore Threads' industry - leading GPU ecosystem, industrial chain, and sales capabilities. As long as the chips are made, the future is limitless." Zheng Yan said.

Of course, in addition to the technical strength, what impressed him was also the high - level recognition of Zhang Jianzhong within the enterprise. "In the process of contacting the Moore Threads team, I found that all employees had a strong sense of identity and belonging to the company's brand and the founder himself. Moore Threads showed strong cohesion, and the employees were fully committed and highly motivated."

Investor Zhang Yuan (a pseudonym), who also entered in the Pre - A round, recalled that there was a small episode in the investment process of his institution. Some LPs questioned the high valuation because of the company's net profit performance, but the team, based on their firm optimism about its prospects, believed that the price was still within a reasonable acceptable range and successfully convinced the capital providers. Finally, the investment was quickly approved, and the funds were remitted on time.

The market also rewarded these bold investors. According to an investor close to Moore Threads, in the Pre - A and A rounds of financing, institutions that failed to remit the funds on time faced a situation where the valuation of the same round was increased.

In the subsequent Series B financing led by China Mobile Digital New Economy Industry Fund and Harmony Health Insurance, the pre - investment valuation was pushed to a high of 22.5 billion yuan, a significant increase compared with the 3.7 - billion - yuan valuation in the Pre - A round.

Looking back at this investment four years ago, Zheng Yan said that from the perspective of the company's development, Moore Threads has continuously exceeded his expectations. According to the initial plan, the company planned to launch one chip in one to one and a half years and complete the launch of three chips in four years. However, in actual progress, the R & D efficiency was greatly improved. The first chip was delivered on time, and the iteration speed of the subsequent two chips was further accelerated, achieving a leap - forward progress of "three chips in three years".

What's even more surprising is the quality of the product launch. At the autumn press conference in late 2022, Moore Threads launched the industry's first national - style graphics card MTT S80, the meta - computing all - in - one machine MCCX, and a series of GPU software stacks and application tools, breaking the strange circle in the industry of "only showing chips but not demonstrating applications" at that time. Subsequently, its self - developed graphics card was launched on JD.com at a price of 2,999 yuan, making it one of the few domestic AI chip companies that can achieve C - end product launch. Zheng Yan said that this means that ordinary game players, investment institutions, competitors, and even overseas users can obtain Moore Threads' chip products, demonstrating the team's absolute confidence in its technology.

During the post - investment follow - up, Zheng Yan's team found that Moore Threads' R & D node control was accurate to "the deviation of the completion time of key project R & D nodes is no more than one month". Even more unexpectedly, the AI function was launched ahead of schedule. In the initial plan, the company planned to first focus on graphics and image processing and then enter the AI field later. However, in reality, the AI function was integrated into the product line one generation earlier, further expanding the market's imagination space.

The prospectus shows that as of 2023, the company achieved hundreds of millions of yuan in revenue, verifying its commercial monetization ability. Among them, Moore Threads' revenue in 2023 was 124 million yuan, a 169% year - on - year increase compared with 46 million yuan in 2022.

"There is no 'darkest moment' for Chinese GPUs"

Looking back at Moore Threads' growth trajectory, there has never been a lack of dramatic twists. In 2023, it was a crucial watershed for both the company and the investors.

On October 17, 2023, the United States included Moore Threads in the Entity List. Coupled with the new regulations restricting the computing power density and bandwidth density of integrated circuits, multiple pressures were directed at this rapidly - growing Chinese AI chip company, making it face the most severe test since its establishment.

"It was unforgettable." Investor A described his feelings that day like this. "I was on a business trip in Xuzhou at that time. After the news came, I immediately kept making phone calls in the hotel garden to communicate. In fact, not only Moore Threads, but the entire Chinese integrated circuit industry was once in a certain degree of panic. Almost all top - tier AI chip companies faced the same dilemma: they had to modify their designs to obtain advanced manufacturing capacity, and the financing environment in the primary market was almost frozen overnight."

As an early investor, there was also a brief moment of hesitation within the institution where A works. However, through close communication with the company's management, they quickly strengthened their confidence. A recalled that in the face of the sudden crisis, the management of Moore Threads did not choose to shrink and defend. Instead, they clearly stated to all shareholders: "Increase R & D investment and fully promote the R & D of the next - generation products."

Subsequently, an internal letter sent by Zhang Jianzhong further confirmed what A said. In the letter, he emphasized: "There is no 'darkest moment' for Chinese GPUs. Moore Threads will carry out the cause of building China's best full - function GPU to the end." At the same time, he defined four key directions: accelerating independent R & D and innovation, refining high - quality products, promoting application implementation, and building an efficient team.

This statement and action, like a shot in the arm, greatly stabilized the market confidence and was quickly translated into actual capital support. Within ten days after the internal letter was sent, Moore Threads announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan in Series B+ financing, and the investors included institutions such as Zhongguancun Science City, Houxue Capital, Zhonghe Capital, Tuofeng Investment, Ceyuan Capital, and Hengji Puye.

Facing this round of financing under extreme industry pressure, many investors said it was "invaluable". This round of financing not only injected solid confidence into the market but also relieved the concerns of all parties' shareholders who were concerned about Moore Threads for the time being.

Meanwhile, in the face of this tough battle, Moore Threads also demonstrated its resilience with continuously growing performance. In 2024, the company's revenue further increased to 438 million yuan, a 252% year - on - year increase compared with 2023, and the revenue curve has always maintained an upward trend. In the first half of 2025, the operating income was about 702 million yuan, exceeding the total revenue of the past three years.

"The 'fever' before the IPO and the difficulty of getting old shares"

Many early investors have personally experienced the complete cycle of Moore Threads' valuation from "soaring" to "adjusting" and then to "skyrocketing". The last time they deeply felt the capital market's enthusiasm for this company was in the second half of 2024.

In early November 2024, Moore Threads signed a listing counseling agreement with CITIC Securities and officially launched the IPO process. As soon as the news came out, the stock price of Heertaike, a listed company holding Moore Threads' equity, nearly doubled within just a few trading days. For the first time, the money - making effect was so intuitively presented to the public.

The external environment also underwent a fundamental change. With the continuous strengthening of the country's policies on scientific and technological innovation and the full - scale explosion of the AI industry, the stock prices of chip companies such as Cambricon continued to rise in the secondary market. The entire market began to re - examine Moore Threads with new eyes—the value of the "Chinese version of NVIDIA" was rediscovered and re - priced.

The frenzy in the primary market was fully reflected in the Pre - IPO round of financing at the end of