36Kr Exclusive | Wuliangye Fund Leads Investment, Domestic High-End Machine Tool Enterprise Secures Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Financing to Accelerate Overseas Market Expansion

Author | Qiao Yujie

Editor | Yuan Silai

36Kr has learned that Shanghai Xinghe, a high-end machine tool enterprise, has recently completed a financing of several hundred million yuan. This round of financing is led by Wuliangye Fund, followed by listed company Megmeet, with Deep Blue Capital acting as the long-term exclusive financial advisor. The raised funds will be mainly used for R&D investment in high-end gear grinding machines, grinding machines, milling machines and other products, as well as promoting the commercialization of new products and overseas markets.

Founded in 2009, Xinghe Electromechanics has long focused on the R&D and manufacturing of high-end machine tools. Its current product portfolio covers precision processing equipment such as high-end gear grinders, grinding machines, and milling machines, which are mainly applied in sectors including automotive manufacturing, robotics, aerospace, and precision speed reducers.

In its early stage, the company's business focused on R&D of gear cutting tools and technical services, developing products such as hob and shaving cutter design software, and chamfering cutters, while accumulating technical expertise in processing technologies like full-tooth profile chamfering and large-angle chamfering. In 2012, the company began shifting its focus to the R&D of high-end gear processing equipment, and gradually established a technology center and independent R&D system.

In recent years, Shanghai Xinghe has continuously expanded its product lines. In 2024, the company's business scope further extended from precision gear grinding equipment to the metal cutting field, forming a product layout where gear grinding machines and machining centers develop in parallel. At present, the company has built three major production bases in Baoshan (Shanghai), Tongzhou Bay (Nantong), and Haimen (Nantong), with a total area of over 30,000 square meters, and an additional production capacity of about 60,000 square meters is under construction.

In terms of technology, Shanghai Xinghe adopts a forward design approach for complete machines, focusing on integrated R&D of machinery, electricity, control and software. It has deployed technologies such as direct-drive heavy cutting, micron-level grinding, high-precision motorized spindles, and low-stress manufacturing, and has developed independent R&D capabilities for core components including high-speed spindles, high-precision indexing heads, and CNC systems.

Among them, gear grinding machines are one of the company's core products. Its form gear grinding machine products achieve the unique domestic GB Class 1 precision, which can meet the strict processing requirements of high-speed motor gears for new energy vehicles (20,000-30,000 rpm). At present, the company's form gear grinding machines steadily rank first in domestic market share, having served more than 1,000 customers in total, covering many industry leaders such as BYD, SAIC, and Shuanghuan Transmission.

(Source/Enterprise)

In addition to traditional advantageous products, the company is also expanding new categories such as grinding machines and 5-axis machining centers. Among them, the direct-drive heavy-cut 5-axis machining center adopts a direct-drive technical solution, which has certain advantages over the traditional screw drive method in dynamic response, positioning accuracy, and mechanical wear control, and is positioned for precision manufacturing scenarios such as aerospace, humanoid robots, and new energy vehicle components.

(Source/Enterprise)

Founder Jiang Neng stated that this is the first time the company has introduced external financing since its establishment. Previously, the enterprise mainly relied on its own funds and operating cash flow for development. This financing aims to accelerate the pace of product R&D and market expansion with the help of capital.

Jiang Neng said that on the one hand, after years of R&D accumulation, the company's related products have entered the stage of large-scale production; on the other hand, against the backdrop of manufacturing upgrading, rising demand for domestic substitution, and industry technological iterations such as 5-axis machining and direct-drive technology, the high-end machine tool market is ushering in a new development window. After this financing, the company will further promote the R&D and commercialization of high-end industrial mother machine products, and accelerate the layout of overseas markets.

The following is the founder's conversation:

36Kr: High-end machine tools have always been an industry with high technical barriers. What is the core competitiveness that allows Shanghai Xinghe to reach today's technical level?

Jiang Neng: First and foremost, it is the R&D system. We have always emphasized the integration of "machinery, electricity, control, and software" — instead of having machinery, electrical, and software teams work separately, we have them participate in R&D together starting from product definition. I myself have a technical background, so the company has always adhered to technology-driven development, and encourages engineers to grow across fields rather than being confined to a single specialty.

Secondly, we have always insisted on forward design. Many enterprises may refer to foreign products, but we prefer to start from the underlying principles to understand why machine tools can achieve high precision and high reliability, rather than simply copying solutions. Although this makes the R&D cycle longer, the capabilities accumulated can be continuously reused, making it easier to expand into new product lines.

In addition, we adhere to the independent R&D of core components, including key parts such as high-speed spindles, high-precision indexing heads, and servo tailstocks. Self-development not only reduces costs, but more importantly, allows us to take control of the initiative over product performance, precision, and subsequent iterations.

Another important point is that we ourselves engage in not only R&D, but also production and application verification. After many products are developed, we will process and verify them ourselves first, and then continuously optimize them based on customer feedback. This closed loop of R&D, manufacturing, and verification is also an important reason why we can continuously improve product performance.

36Kr: Why introduce external financing for the first time at this juncture?

Jiang Neng: First of all, our own technical system has been basically mature, with all core indicators reaching the stage of scalable mass production, which provides internal conditions for accelerated development. Second, from the perspective of macro policies, the country has clearly proposed to promote the development of industrial mother machines in the 15th Five-Year Plan, which is a clear policy positive. Third, from the perspective of the industry landscape, the domestic machine tool industry is at a critical period of accelerated import substitution. Coupled with the supply chain restructuring brought about by geopolitical changes, the market space for domestic machine tools is opening up. Fourth, from the perspective of technological evolution, the current trend of direct-drive technology replacing screw transmission is accelerating, and the upgrading of 5-axis simultaneous machining to 3-axis and 4-axis machine tools is also advancing. The iteration of technical routes itself brings structural growth opportunities. The superposition of these multiple opportunity periods leads us to judge that the current is a rare strategic window period.

36Kr: Where will the growth points of high-end machine tools come from in the next few years?

Jiang Neng: Our sales growth expectation for 2026 is to maintain rapid growth, with a growth rate of over 30% on a sustained basis.

The largest incremental market at present is new energy vehicles. High-speed motors for new energy vehicles have increasingly higher requirements for gear precision. Some scenarios already require GB Class 1 or even higher processing precision. Xinghe is renowned for its ultra-high gear grinding precision, and the demand for gear grinding machines is directly driven by the growth in production and sales of new energy vehicles. The company has established cooperation with well-known automakers such as SAIC, Geely, and Great Wall, and is a core beneficiary of domestic substitution in this field.

Another noteworthy area is humanoid robots. Whether it is planetary roller screws or RV reducers, essentially higher-precision processing equipment is required, which will bring new demands for products such as thread grinding machines and 5-axis machining centers. We have already made relevant product layouts in advance, and customers have started to adopt them.

Traditional manufacturing industries such as industrial gears and engineering machinery are also upgrading. In the past, many products adopted ordinary processing technologies. Now, with the improvement of efficiency and precision requirements, more and more enterprises are beginning to adopt high-precision processing methods such as gear grinding, which will also bring a round of equipment renewal demand.