36Kr Exclusive | A Former Employee of Thermo Fisher Launches a Lights-Out Laboratory, Achieving 100% Domestic Delivery, Secures Nearly 100 Million in Financing

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Yuan Silai

Yingke learned that Beijing Daina Experimental Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Daina Technology") recently completed a nearly 100 million yuan Series B+ financing. This round was jointly invested by the Beijing New Materials Industry Investment Fund (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing New Materials Fund") managed by Shunxi Fund and the Fengze Zhiyuan Industry Cultivation Fund of Fengtai District, Beijing (hereinafter referred to as "Fengze Fund"). The funds will be mainly used for core technology iteration, production capacity expansion, and jointly building the world's first new materials CRO platform with Beijing University of Chemical Technology to accelerate the industrialization of AI + new materials R & D services.

Founded in 2011, Daina Technology is the first domestic enterprise to propose and successfully deliver a lights - out laboratory with a 100% success rate. The company focuses on the construction of the global AI4S (AI for Science) infrastructure. By building a general R & D platform based on "AI + lights - out laboratory", it aims to realize the vision of "R & D is production, and everyone can be a scientist".

Chi Haipeng, the founder and chairman of Daina Technology, has an interdisciplinary background with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, a master's degree in biomedical engineering, and a doctorate in artificial intelligence. He once worked in the New Laboratory Business Department of Thermo Fisher Scientific China and has 21 years of experience in the laboratory industry. The company's core team brings together doctors and experts from top universities such as Tsinghua University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Harbin Institute of Technology, covering multiple key fields such as chemical biology, data mining, and automatic control.

A lights - out laboratory is not simply about automation. Chi Haipeng emphasized to Yingke that its core lies in two conditions: "complete unmanned operation" and "complete closed - loop".

Daina Technology summarizes its implementation path into four major elements: a vertical AI brain, a set of embodied intelligent automation facilities, a high - quality data generation closed - loop, and an intelligently controllable environment.

Different from traditional automated laboratories, the core of a lights - out laboratory is "self - evolution". Traditional automation follows pre - set processes, while a lights - out laboratory is driven by AI and can achieve the leap from "automation" to "autonomy" through visual recognition, judgment, error correction, and learning. For example, the company's self - developed chromatographic self - recognition system can use algorithms to help domestic instruments quickly perform spectrum recognition and optimization.

Currently, Daina Technology has formed solutions covering multiple fields such as chemistry, new materials, new energy, biopharmaceuticals, and food. It can provide full - chain services from laboratory planning, intelligent environment construction, AI model deployment to operation management according to customer needs.

High - throughput detection of highly toxic liquids at Sierbang (Source: Enterprise)

As a pioneer in the lights - out laboratory track, Daina Technology shows strong growth momentum. According to Chi Haipeng, the company's lights - out laboratory business segment has maintained an annual compound growth rate of over 100% in the past two years.

In terms of commercialization, Daina Technology is currently the only global enterprise that masters the entire technology chain and can achieve 100% delivery of lights - out laboratories. Its customer base includes large state - owned enterprises such as PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, and the National Energy Group, as well as Fortune 500 companies such as Unilever, Nestle, and SABIC. In addition, the company has begun to layout the overseas market, signed a strategic cooperation with a European laboratory industry giant, and sold its products to Europe through an agency model.

We interviewed Chi Haipeng to discuss his views on the technical route and industry development.

The following is the interview part:

Yingke: The difficulty of delivering "lights - out laboratories" is a common pain point. How did Daina achieve 100% delivery?

Chi Haipeng: The key lies in the understanding of the definition of "lights - out" and full - process self - development. Many projects cannot be delivered because they do not truly achieve "unmanned operation" and "closed - loop".

We adhere to full - stack self - development from vertical models, embodied intelligent devices to automation facilities. Only when there are no suitable products on the market will we develop them ourselves, such as the Raman + optical recognition solution developed for offshore platform projects. We have connected all links and run through multiple real - world scenarios such as chemistry, new materials, and food to ensure that each project can be finally implemented and operated.

Yingke: What are the key directions for the company's future R & D?

Chi Haipeng: Our future R & D will focus on four major directions: the development of various vertical models; the enhancement of multi - form embodied intelligent technologies; cooperation with instrument manufacturers to empower existing equipment with algorithms; and the construction of a vertical track CRO platform.

Yingke: How do you view the future of lights - out laboratories? What role does Daina play in it?

Chi Haipeng: A lights - out laboratory can be regarded as the "physical body" of AI in the scientific world. It can not only perform experiments but also continuously generate high - quality, AI - friendly data to help AI models iterate and evolve. As China, the United States, and Europe have elevated AI4S to the national strategic level, lights - out laboratories have become the key infrastructure for seizing the high - ground of science and technology.

Our goal is to become the global leader in AI4S infrastructure. In the future, by jointly building a new materials CRO platform with institutions such as Beijing University of Chemical Technology, we hope to accumulate enough high - quality wet - experiment data, break the data silos, and truly promote the transformation of the R & D paradigm of the entire industry, making "R & D is production" possible.

Views of the investors:

Shunxi Fund said: Shunxi Fund highly focuses on the national - level strategic track of AI for Science (AI4S). "AI + new materials" is an important part of AI4S. With the continuous development of artificial intelligence technology, AI + laboratory automation will profoundly change the R & D model of new materials and the form of corresponding laboratories. Material R & D will shift from "experience - driven" to "intelligence - driven". Lights - out laboratories are important infrastructure for "AI + new materials", and Daina Technology is a leading enterprise in this field in China, with benchmark cases implemented in the fields of chemical engineering and new materials.