27 institutions "besiege" a company: Group buying in the venture capital market in Q1 2026

In the first quarter of 2026, in China's venture capital circle, capital poured into a small number of leading hard - tech projects in an aggressive "group - style" manner, and this phenomenon continued to occur.

According to data from IT Juzi, in the transactions where a single round attracted more than 15 investment institutions in that quarter, there were at least 12 such deals. Among the 12 target companies in the statistics, all had state - owned background institutions participating in the financing, and 83% (10 companies) had joined the unicorn ranks.

This "scramble for shares war" that started at the beginning of the year not only reveals the capital consensus against the backdrop of tight liquidity but also outlines the strategic focus of China's new economic landscape.

I. Data Overview: The Logic of "Encirclement" by 27 Investors in a Single Round

From the perspective of the number of investors, the threshold for the "most popular companies" in the first quarter was raised to more than 15 investors. Hangzhou Sunrise led the pack with 27 investors. This AI infrastructure - layer company founded in 2020 secured 3 billion RMB in a strategic investment round, becoming the company with the most investors in a single round in that quarter. Closely following were Interstellar Glory in the commercial space field (24 investors, 5.037 billion RMB in the D+ round) and Sweet Potato Robotics in the robotics track (22 investors, 120 million US dollars in the B+ round).

Notably, humanoid robots have become the sub - track with the highest capital density. Among the 12 companies, humanoid robots and their software ecosystems accounted for 4 seats, attracting a total of 73 investment institutions. The average number of investors per project reached 18.25, far exceeding other fields.

II. Track Heat Map: Nuclear Fusion and Humanoid Robots Are Tied as Phenomenal Windfalls

From the perspective of industry distribution, capital choices show a strong orientation towards hard - tech and foresight for future industries. The four major fields of AI infrastructure layer, commercial space, humanoid robots, and nuclear fusion constituted the main battlefields for capital competition in the first quarter.

Humanoid Robots: Capital Bets on the "Chinese Version of Figure AI"

In the first quarter, companies such as Qianxun Intelligence (2 billion RMB in the A round) and Zhujidongli (200 million US dollars in the B round) raised a total of more than 4 billion RMB, all in the early rounds. This indicates that capital is locking in potential leaders in the embodied intelligence field in advance in a "saturation attack" manner. It is particularly worth noting that the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, founded in November 2023, completed a 700 million RMB A - round financing and attracted 18 investors in just 1 year and 4 months, setting a record for the "fastest to be snatched" in the hard - tech field.

Nuclear Fusion: From "Always 50 Years Away" to "Capital - Feasible"

The intensive financing of Star Ring Fusion Energy (1 billion RMB in the A round, 17 investors) and Nova Fusion (Pre - A round, 15 investors) marks that the ultimate energy track of controllable nuclear fusion in China has entered the engineering verification stage. Different from the overseas financing structure dominated by VCs, the investors of these two companies are mainly state - owned industrial capital, reflecting the characteristics of state - led and long - term cultivation in this field in China.

III. In - Depth Interpretation of Typical Cases: When Capital Meets the Hardcore Future

Sunrise —— The "Infrastructure Anxiety" in the AI Infrastructure Layer

The presence of 27 investment institutions on the shareholder list at the same time set a record for the largest number of investors in a single round in Q1 2026. This is equivalent to a "group photo" of China's leading AI investment institutions.

Sunrise, founded in May 2020, focuses on the AI infrastructure layer (chips/computing power/frameworks). In 2026, when the large - model competition entered the "computing power arms race" stage, the AI infrastructure layer has become the "bottleneck" in the entire industry. The scarcity of Sunrise lies in the fact that it is one of the few domestic enterprises with full - stack self - research capabilities (from chip architecture to training frameworks). The influx of 27 investors is essentially a collective vote by China's technology industry for "controllable computing power". This round of financing is not a simple financial investment but a strategic material reserve led by state - owned capital.

Interstellar Glory —— The "Carnival on the Eve of Commercialization" in Commercial Space

5.037 billion RMB in the D+ round, with 24 investors. This is a typical "Pre - IPO" financing, but the number of investors far exceeded the norm. Usually, the D+ round is mainly composed of 3 - 5 strategic investors, while Interstellar Glory attracted nearly five times the capital density. As China's first private aerospace company to achieve rocket orbit insertion, Interstellar Glory has completed multiple successful orbital launches, and its Hyperbola series of rockets are in a critical transition period from "technology verification" to "mass delivery".

The breakthrough in reusable rocket technology is the core catalyst for this round of financing. 2026 is regarded by the industry as the "year of commercialization" of China's commercial space - the construction of satellite internet constellations has entered a peak period, and rocket production capacity has become a scarce resource. The collective bet of 24 investors is actually a scramble for the last ticket before the listing of the "Chinese version of SpaceX". The state - owned background is particularly crucial in this round: commercial space involves airspace management and national defense security, with license barriers. State - owned endorsement means enhanced policy certainty.

Qianxun Intelligence —— The "Rapid Growth of an A - Round Unicorn" in Humanoid Robots

Founded just one year ago (January 2024), it raised 2 billion RMB in the A round, with 19 investors. In the robotics field, reaching such a scale and capital density in the A round breaks the traditional rhythm of "gradual financing" for hardware companies. Qianxun Intelligence is located in Hangzhou and focuses on the manufacturing of humanoid robot bodies. Different from most manufacturers that start with quadruped robots, Qianxun Intelligence aimed at full - stack self - research of bipedal humanoid robots from the beginning, including joint modules, motion control algorithms, and scenario - based AI.

The capitalization explosion of the "embodied intelligence" concept is fully reflected here. The rise of Figure AI in 2024 and the iteration of Tesla's Optimus made Chinese capital realize that humanoid robots are not a distant science fiction but an ongoing industrial revolution. The popularity of Qianxun Intelligence stems from its "speed" and "comprehensiveness" - it was the first to complete the product launch from 0 to 1 during the window period when no giants had formed a monopoly. The influx of 19 investors is capital's pre - positioning for the "next DJI" and also reflects the fear of the "winner - takes - all" situation in the robotics track: once you miss the leading players, there will be no more opportunities.

Star Ring Fusion Energy —— The "Faith Investment in the Ultimate Energy" in Nuclear Fusion

1 billion RMB in the A round, with 17 investors. It was founded in October 2021 and has not yet joined the unicorn ranks. In the nuclear fusion track, which has always been said to be "50 years away", such a large - scale group investment at such an early stage is extremely rare. Star Ring Fusion Energy is located in Jiading District, Shanghai, and focuses on controllable nuclear fusion/compact tokamak devices. Different from the large - scale tokamak projects of the national team, Star Ring Fusion Energy adopts a commercial - oriented miniaturization technology route, aiming to provide distributed clean energy for industrial parks and cities.

This is a typical "from non - consensus to consensus" inflection - point investment. From 2025 to 2026, the global nuclear fusion field made breakthrough progress, making the capital market realize that nuclear fusion may shift from a "scientific research project" to an "energy project". The collective entry of 17 investors marks that Chinese capital's bet on the "ultimate energy solution" has shifted from sporadic exploration to systematic layout. State - owned capital plays the role of "long - term capital" here - the commercialization cycle of nuclear fusion may last 10 - 15 years, and only state - owned capital can bear such a long return cycle.

IV. Anxiety and Faith Behind Capital Grouping

An in - depth analysis of these 12 transactions reveals three distinct characteristics: state - owned capital dominance (all have state - owned backgrounds), early valuation pre - positioning (projects in the A round and Pre - B round account for up to 50%), and the Matthew effect of unicorns (only 2 non - unicorn projects).

When 27 institutions invest in Sunrise at the same time, and when Qianxun Intelligence, founded just one year ago, is snatched by 19 institutions, China's venture capital market is undergoing a paradigm shift from "scattered exploration" to "concentrated betting". Behind these cases, what we see is not only the foresight of capital but also an economy's urgent desire for technological independence - in the era of hard - tech, investment has become an infrastructure of national capabilities.

These 12 super - group - buying - style financings in the first quarter of 2026 outline a new paradigm for China's venture capital market: using state - owned capital as an anchor, hard - tech as a target, and group investment as a shield. The signal transmitted by capital is clear and firm - on the main channel of China's technological innovation, a consensus has been formed, and missing out is more terrifying than making a wrong investment.

This article is from the WeChat official account "IT Juzi" (ID: itjuzi521), author: Judy, published by 36Kr with authorization.