8700%, the angel investors of Muxi Co., Ltd. have made huge profits.

The wave of domestic GPU launches at the end of the year has allowed many investment institutions to achieve excellent results in closing out 2025.

Yesterday, the second domestic GPU company, Muxi Co., Ltd., officially listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. The company's opening price was 700 yuan per share, a 568% increase from the issue price, and its total market value reached 280 billion yuan.

So far, the up to 120 external shareholders behind Muxi have achieved a maximum book return of up to 87 times.

Looking back at Muxi's financing path, it can be said that it reflects the concentrated transformation and trial - and - error of US dollar funds at the beginning of the upsurge in hard - technology investment. Two leading institutions, Sequoia China and Matrix Partners, made large - scale investments in multiple rounds in Muxi.

At the same time, it can also be seen that the rush of capital to bet on consensus - driven tracks has rapidly pushed up the valuations of projects. This capital phenomenon still persists in areas such as embodied intelligence. Within less than a year after its establishment, Muxi quickly completed 5 rounds of financing, 4 of which occurred within 2021. During this year, Muxi's valuation nearly quadrupled.

US Dollar Funds' Early - Round Bets

Founded in October 2020, Muxi received angel - round investments from three funds two months after its establishment. They were Nanjing Heli Guoxin Zhixin Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) under Heli Capital, Hainan Ruizhi Guoxin Technology Development Partnership (Limited Partnership), a special fund composed of six individual investors, and TEDA Investment, with investment amounts of 50 million yuan, 10 million yuan, and 10 million yuan respectively.

It is worth mentioning that Heli Guoxin Zhixin Fund under Heli Capital also made multiple additional investments in subsequent early rounds. Although it sold some old shares later due to exit needs, it still held nearly 4% of Muxi's equity before the IPO. Because of the early investment, the average investment cost of Heli Guoxin Zhixin was only about 8 yuan per share. Heli Guoxin Zhixin undoubtedly reaped considerable returns from its investment in Muxi. Based on the stock price at the time of publication, its book return was as high as 87 times.

Then, in 2021, Muxi's ability to attract capital in the primary market continued to grow. It finalized 4 rounds of financing within just one year, attracting the successive entry of leading US dollar institutions, state - owned funds, and well - known market - oriented institutions.

At that time, the theme of domestic substitution was driving up investment in the semiconductor field, and US dollar funds flocked to the hard - technology field, which they had previously rarely touched. The investors in Muxi's financing during this period also reflected this characteristic.

The first to place a large - scale bet was Sequoia China. In the Pre - A round of financing in January 2021, Sequoia China invested 110 million yuan through its subsidiary Sequoia Hanchen, far exceeding the tens of millions of yuan invested by co - investors such as ZhenFund, old shareholders Heli, and TEDA. This round of financing, with a total scale of 150 million yuan, immediately pushed Muxi's valuation up to 1.15 billion yuan.

Then, in February 2021, the Pre - A+ round of financing was quickly finalized. Sequoia China and ZhenFund from the previous round continued to increase their investments. New US - dollar - style investors included Matrix Partners and Lightspeed China Partners. Matrix Partners and Lightspeed China Partners were the largest investors in this round, each investing 52 million yuan. Sequoia Hanchen added an additional 13 million yuan, and ZhenFund, which had invested 10 million yuan in the previous round, remained conservative and only added 1 million yuan.

Other investors included Yachangfu Investment and old shareholder Heli Capital. Based on this, Muxi's post - investment valuation in the Pre - A+ round reached 2.03 billion yuan. That is to say, the company's valuation increased by 77% in just one month.

It is worth mentioning that Sequoia China, Lightspeed China Partners, and Matrix Partners continued to invest at different levels in subsequent financings. In particular, Matrix Partners, through its Jingqian No. 2 (investing 150 million yuan in the A - round, 50 million yuan in the Pre - B round, and 100 million yuan in the B - round), Matrix Chuangyihao (investing 77.8382 million yuan in the B - round and 150 million yuan in the Pre - IPO round), and Matrix Chuangsanhao (investing 22.1618 million yuan in the B - round and 47.54 million yuan in the Pre - IPO round), continued to increase its investment in different rounds.

Overall, Sequoia Hanchen under Sequoia China obtained 12.50405 million shares before the IPO through multiple additional investments, with a cumulative investment of 150 million yuan and an average share - holding cost of 12.24 yuan per share. Based on Muxi's stock price of 700 yuan at the time of publication, the book return multiple of Sequoia Hanchen reached 57 times.

However, the return of Sequoia Yaheng, which entered in the Pre - IPO round, was relatively less impressive. Sequoia Yaheng invested 150 million yuan and obtained approximately 2.56 million shares, with an average investment cost of 58.53 yuan. Based on this, the book return multiple was approximately 12 times.

It is worth mentioning that Sequoia China also participated in multiple rounds of financing of Moore Threads, which had previously been listed, through its affiliated funds. In addition, Biren, which recently obtained approval for a Hong Kong listing, also received investment from Sequoia China.

Compared with Sequoia China, Matrix Partners, which also made large - scale bets on Muxi, chose to enter at a slightly later stage. Taking Jingqian No. 2, which had a higher cumulative investment amount and a larger share - holding ratio, as an example, its cumulative investment reached 300 million yuan. Before the IPO, it obtained more than 8.33 million shares, with an average share - holding cost of 36 yuan per share.

It can be seen that as Muxi's valuation continued to rise in later rounds, the return multiple of Jingqian No. 2, which made a late - stage bet, was relatively smaller, but it still reached a book return of 19 times.

State - Owned Funds and Industrial Players Enter at a Later Stage

Starting from the A - round of financing in June 2021, the number of investors participating in each round of Muxi's financing began to increase significantly. Due to the excessive number of participating shareholders, which exceeded the limit on the number of shareholders for a limited liability company, some investors in the fifth phase of Muxi's B - round financing made their investments in the form of convertible bonds first.

Meanwhile, the presence of state - owned institutions also began to increase. Institutions such as China Internet Investment Fund, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, China Structural Reform Fund, Pudong Venture Capital Group, Xiangjiang State - Owned Investment, and Yuhang State - Owned Investment successively joined Muxi's shareholder list.

However, Yuhang State - Owned Investment did not wait for Muxi's listing and transferred some of its shares through public tender. According to the information publicly disclosed in the prospectus, Jingcang Yaoguang Fund and Jingcang Changyou Fund under Yuhang State - Owned Investment invested 250 million yuan and 50 million yuan respectively in the Pre - B round of financing in September 2022. Based on this, the share - holding cost of the two funds was 44.58 yuan per share.

In March 2025, due to exit needs, Yuhang State - Owned Investment transferred approximately 1.2 million shares of Jingcang Yaoguang to two individual investors through public tender at the Hangzhou Property Rights Exchange; Jingcang Changyou transferred all of its shares to individual investors. Judging from the corresponding transfer price, the return multiple of Jingcang Changyou was approximately 1.62 times. Jingcang Yaoguang still holds 1.2462% of Muxi's equity.

In addition to state - owned institutions, the private equity tycoon Ge Weidong and his founded Hundun Investment also attracted attention for their large - scale bets on Muxi after the A - round of financing.

Hundun Investment invested 200 million yuan, 100 million yuan, and 300 million yuan in the first phase of the Pre - B round, the first phase of the B - round, and the Pre - IPO round respectively. In addition, in December 2023, Hundun Investment spent nearly 50 million yuan to acquire some old shares from Ningbo Fosun and Hainan Lishi.

Before the IPO, Hundun Investment held a total of 12.599744 million shares, accounting for 3.5% of the shares. Overall, Hundun Investment's share - holding cost was approximately 51.59 yuan per share. Based on the opening price of 700 yuan per share, Hundun Investment's book return reached 14 times.

Ge Weidong himself invested 300 million yuan and 500 million yuan in the fifth phase of the B - round of financing and the C - round of financing respectively. Before the IPO, Ge Weidong held 14.338176 million shares, accounting for 3.98% of the shares. Overall, Ge Weidong's average share - holding cost was approximately 55.8 yuan per share. Based on this, his current book return was approximately 12.5 times.

From the listing of Moore and Muxi to the latest progress of Biren's Hong Kong listing, it is not only a phased achievement of the exploration of domestic GPU technology but also reflects the changes in the market environment and capital cycle behind the industry. With the opening of exit channels, capital can achieve high - multiple returns in the short term, but the technological quality and commercialization ability of the projects still need to be tested by the market in the long run after listing.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Venture Capital Daily", author: Yang Xiaoxiao, published by 36Kr with permission.