In Beijing, a company that has raised funds in Series F+ is going to conduct an IPO.
A company that has raised funds up to Series F+ is heading for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Under the leadership of the post - 90s entrepreneurs Xu Xin and Wang Haomai, Xingchen Tianhe, an independent distributed AI storage solution provider, started in Beijing in 2015 and recently approached the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
With its AI data lake storage and AI training and inference storage solutions, it can support application scenarios such as AI training and inference, machine learning, and high - performance computing, and has been recognized by over 1,500 enterprise customers in total.
As the storage market enters a super cycle, a group of storage enterprises have also embarked on the IPO journey. Recently, GigaDevice Semiconductor and Montage Technology have successfully listed. In addition to Xingchen Tianhe, companies such as Juchen Co., Ltd., Hongxinyu, Xintianxia, and Changxin Memory Technologies have also applied for listing.
Driven by the strong demand for AI computing power, the storage industry is accelerating a new wave of wealth - creating movement.
Two post - 90s entrepreneurs build a Beijing star company
The story of Xingchen Tianhe begins with two post - 90s entrepreneurs.
In 2012, after graduating from Wuhan Donghu University with a bachelor's degree in e - commerce, Xu Xin joined Sina as a technical manager. After working at Sina for eight months, he chose to participate in a startup as the chief technology officer in a cloud - computing technology service enterprise.
It was in this cloud - computing technology service enterprise that Xu Xin met his future business partner Wang Haomai. After graduating from Southwest Jiaotong University with a bachelor's degree in information management and information systems, Wang Haomai started working with Xu Xin in 2014.
With the continuous in - depth development of cloud computing, AI, and the industrial Internet, Xu Xin and Wang Haomai judged that the domestic IT infrastructure would accelerate the full - scale cloud - computing transformation. At that time, traditional storage devices could not handle the continuously generated massive data, which led to a change in users' storage needs.
The two entrepreneurs who had the idea of starting a business did not let go of this rare opportunity and founded Xingchen Tianhe in Beijing in May 2015. By focusing on the data storage track, Xingchen Tianhe became one of the earliest domestic startup companies to engineer and productize the software - defined storage technology.
To put it simply, software - defined storage uses unified software to manage and control storage hardware. Although the storage is completed by distributed general - purpose hardware, its functions and performance are determined by software, which can ensure the long - term security of data and break through the storage scale and geographical limitations.
Although facing pressure from large enterprises such as Huawei and IBM, Xingchen Tianhe is not afraid of competition. In Xu Xin's view, the core of competition lies in customers rather than competition itself. "As long as we maintain professionalism and have greater expertise in a single scenario, there is always value."
Therefore, they entered the private cloud and virtualization market and launched block storage products and object storage solutions. Later, Xingchen Tianhe successfully broke the data silos by launching a unified data platform. By July 2022, the company fully shifted to building end - to - end AI data infrastructure.
With its AI data lake storage and AI training and inference storage solutions, Xingchen Tianhe can support application scenarios such as AI training and inference, machine learning, and high - performance computing. Through the delivery of all - in - one machines and pure software, its customers include intelligent manufacturers, financial institutions, telecom operators, Internet and technology companies, etc.
With the recognition of over 1,500 enterprises, the company's revenue exceeded 532 million yuan in 33 months starting from 2023. Meanwhile, Xingchen Tianhe's net loss narrowed from 181 million yuan in 2023 to 84 million yuan in 2024. In the first nine months of 2025, they successfully achieved a profit of 8.11 million yuan.
After more than a decade of development, Xingchen Tianhe, which started in Beijing, has not only grown into a well - known independent distributed AI storage solution provider in China but also approached the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Boyu and Tencent invest, and the company raises funds up to Series F+
With the support of many investors, Xingchen Tianhe has raised funds up to Series F+.
Just two months after its establishment, the company won the favor of Northern Light Venture Capital. In May 2016, with the support of Redpoint Ventures and Northern Light Venture Capital, they completed the Series B financing.
"The founders of Xingchen Tianhe have rich Internet operation and maintenance experience and a deep understanding of the enterprise market." At that time, in the view of Deng Feng, the founding managing partner of Northern Light Venture Capital, the company's technical route could produce a product that could be widely accepted and replicated on a large scale in the cloud - computing and hardware ecosystem.
What impressed Xu Xin deeply was that when Xingchen Tianhe had been in business for less than a year, Deng Feng told him that when the company was small, it should gradually focus on solving only one thing. "You just need to think about creating a valuable product, and other things will work out."
By May 2017, their software storage products had many successful cases and a good user reputation in the industry. After judging that software - defined storage was the inevitable development direction of the new - generation storage technology, Qiming Venture Partners invested in Xingchen Tianhe, and Northern Light Venture Capital and Redpoint Ventures chose to follow - on invest.
In April 2018, Xingchen Tianhe completed the Series D financing, with the investors including NEA, Northern Light Venture Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Qiming Venture Partners. In June 2020, China State - owned Capital Venture Investment Fund, NEA, and Qiming Venture Partners invested in the company again.
Two months after shifting the strategic focus to AI technology development, they completed the Series E financing in September 2021. The investors included Boyu Capital, Legend Capital, CICC Capital, Bohua Capital, Kunlun Capital, Hundsun Technologies, Suzhou Yishang, Northern Light Venture Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, etc.
Immediately afterwards, Tencent and Source Code Capital, which has long been concerned about industrial digitization, also came in and invested in Xingchen Tianhe in October 2021. Meanwhile, Yunhui Capital became a shareholder of Xingchen Tianhe by buying old shares from Xu Xin, Wang Haomai, etc.
In December 2022, the company received 80 million yuan from Guoxin Venture Capital. Meanwhile, after completing the Series F+ financing, its post - investment valuation reached 4.58 billion yuan.
Before the listing, Xu Xin and Wang Haomai hold more than 17.78% and 7.43% of the shares respectively, with a total voting right of about 25.72%; Boyu Capital holds 9.62% of the shares, making it the largest external shareholder; as for Northern Light Venture Capital, the investor in the first - round financing, it holds 7.18% of the shares.
Calculated roughly based on the valuation of 4.58 billion yuan, it means that after years of hard work, both Xu Xin and Wang Haomai have become billionaires. The value of Boyu Capital's and Northern Light Venture Capital's shares is about 441 million yuan and 329 million yuan respectively.
Storage enterprises go public in batches
Driven by the strong demand for computing power in AI, the storage market has entered a super cycle, which has also attracted a group of storage enterprises to embark on the IPO journey.
Recently, GigaDevice Semiconductor and Montage Technology have successfully listed. In addition to Xingchen Tianhe, companies such as Juchen Co., Ltd., Hongxinyu, Xintianxia, and Changxin Memory Technologies have also applied for listing.
On February 9, Montage Technology, founded by Yang Chonghe, "the first returnee in the Chinese chip industry", and Dai Guanghui, a former Marvell executive, officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This company, which has already listed on the A - share market, was escorted by 17 global cornerstone investors, including Alibaba, Yunfeng Fund, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Barings, Zhongyou Financial Management, and Taikang Life Insurance.
As for Hongxinyu, led by the father - daughter duo Wu Yisheng and Wu Jiamin, it was established in Shenzhen in 2018. Supported by Phison Electronics, Shenzhen Investment Holdings, Shenzhen High - tech Investment Group, Guoyao Capital, SMIC Juyuan, Strait Fund, Hefei Innovation Investment, Hefei Industrial Investment Group, Kunqiao Capital, TCL Capital, Lianhe Capital, and Lianxin Capital, its valuation exceeds 10.7 billion yuan.
Then there is Changxin Technology, which applied for listing on the STAR Market through the pre - review mechanism. As the largest and most technologically advanced DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip R & D, design, and manufacturing integrated enterprise in the Chinese mainland, its valuation exceeds 150 billion yuan. With a fundraising scale of 29.5 billion yuan, it will become the second - largest IPO in terms of fundraising scale since the opening of the STAR Market.
Throughout its development, Changxin Technology has been a favorite of capital. State - owned institutions at the central, provincial, and municipal levels, such as Hefei Industrial Investment, Anhui Investment Group, National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, and State - owned Capital Operation Fund, well - known market - oriented investment institutions such as CICC Capital, Legend Capital, Cornerstone Capital, Yunfeng Fund, and Walden International, as well as industrial giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi, and GigaDevice Semiconductor, and even insurance funds such as PICC Capital, are all its shareholders.
It is worth mentioning that Zhu Yiming, a well - known figure in the industry, plays an important role in both the already - listed GigaDevice Semiconductor and the IPO - advancing Changxin Technology.
After founding GigaDevice Semiconductor in 2005, Zhu Yiming, an alumnus of Tsinghua University, led the company to mainly engage in the R & D and production of Nor Flash storage chips. In 2016, GigaDevice Semiconductor successfully listed on the A - share market. In the same year, they entered the DRAM chip market for electronic devices such as mobile phones and initiated an acquisition of ISSI.
Although the acquisition failed, Zhu Yiming chose to cooperate with Hefei, which is actively deploying the semiconductor industry chain, and finally gave birth to Changxin Technology, a super unicorn.
As the industry enters a super cycle, the storage market has also witnessed a wave of price increases, which has led to an explosive growth in the performance of many storage enterprises. After the sharp increase in performance, some enterprises "spared no expense" and held a year - end bonus feast by giving high - amount bonuses to employees.
According to media reports, SK Hynix announced that it will issue two heavy - weight bonuses on January 30 and February 5, with a total amount of up to 21.2 billion yuan, and the average amount per person will be about 640,000 yuan. In addition, Samsung Electronics also announced that employees in its semiconductor department will receive a performance bonus equivalent to 47% of their annual salary.
It is foreseeable that as many storage enterprises rush towards IPOs, a new wave of wealth - creating movement is accelerating.
References
1. "A Decade - long Entrepreneur: Huawei Has Set Its Sights on My Track, but I'm Not Afraid", China Entrepreneur Magazine
This article is from the WeChat official account "Dongshisi Tiao Capital" (ID: DsstCapital), author: Lu Zhigao, editor: Wang Qingwu, published by 36Kr with authorization.