A super IPO has just been launched in Hefei.

A super IPO is coming.

On August 11, Guoyi Quantum Technology (Hefei) Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as "Guoyi Quantum") was listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, becoming the "first quantum precision measurement stock" in the A-share market. Right after the opening, the share price of this quantum technology company rose by more than 430% compared with its issue price of 21.22 yuan, and its market value exceeded 45 billion yuan.

Along with the listing bell, Hefei has added another star listed company in the quantum technology field.

If we count Guodun Quantum, the "first quantum technology stock", and Origin Quantum which is expected to become the "first quantum computing stock" in China, this world-class "Quantum City" that gathers more than 100 quantum industry chain enterprises can be called the biggest winner in this quantum technology boom.

Doctoral Graduates from University of Science and Technology of China Start Businesses

A Star Unicorn Emerges in Hefei

The birth of Guoyi Quantum stems from the mission of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) to serve the country through science and education.

Back in 2009, He Yu, a post-90s generation born in Suining, Sichuan Province, was admitted to the Junior Class of USTC. He began to study under Du Jiangfeng, a well-known scientist in the field of quantum technology (who was elected as an academician in 2015 later), and finally completed his consecutive undergraduate, master and doctoral studies.

At a lecture given by Du Jiangfeng, he learned that Du's team had been made things difficult by foreign enterprises when purchasing high-end scientific instruments. Facing the problem of the lack of domestic high-end scientific instruments, 17-year-old He Yu was determined to promote the transformation of quantum technology innovation achievements, so as to realize the independent and controllable development of high-end scientific instruments.

Shortly afterwards, He Yu entered the Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Microscopic Magnetic Resonance led by Du Jiangfeng, responsible for the construction of quantum precision measurement instrument and equipment, and tried to start a business using the school's office. After obtaining 400,000 yuan of funding from the USTC entrepreneurship plan, he took teaching instruments as the direction of his first entrepreneurship.

Although this entrepreneurial attempt ended in failure, he did not give up easily. After upgrading products and adjusting the promotion direction, He Yu led the team to sell more than 200,000 sets of products, which not only obtained the first bucket of gold after starting a business, but also laid a solid foundation for the establishment of Guoyi Quantum in the future.

In December 2016, with USTC and Du Jiangfeng contributing capital in the form of technology shares, He Yu and Rong Xing, a teacher from USTC, founded Guoyi Quantum in Hefei. Rong Xing, a USTC doctor who also studied under Du Jiangfeng, is now a professor at USTC and has broken the monopoly of international manufacturers on paramagnetic spectrometers.

Adhering to the concept of "building instruments for the country", they embarked on the path of promoting the industrialization of quantum measurement technology and the localization of high-end scientific instruments. In He Yu's view, quantum precision measurement instruments are a ruler for the micro world, which can measure physical quantities with higher resolution and higher precision.

In addition to launching a series of quantum information technology products such as quantum sensing, quantum computing and weak signal measurement, Guoyi Quantum has also developed products such as electron microscopes, measurement while drilling equipment and gas adsorption analyzers, which has finally changed the long-term monopoly or dominance of international giants in some sub-sectors of China's instrument market.

From electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometers, scanning NV probe microscopes, to quantum diamond single-spin spectrometers, wide-field NV microscopes, ion trap quantum computers and so on, the company has delivered thousands of high-end scientific instruments, and has been recognized by Tsinghua University, Peking University, University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Oxford, BOE, BYD, CATL, etc.

With the recognition of numerous customers, Guoyi Quantum has gradually grown into a star unicorn in Hefei.

Supported by USTC and GL Ventures

A Super IPO is Coming

The achievement cannot be separated from the support of numerous investors.

When Guoyi Quantum was founded, the founding shareholders included not only USTC, Du Jiangfeng, etc., but also Shuhua Technology, which controls the joint venture subsidiary Readers (Shenzhen) Media under Readers Media. At that time, Shuhua Technology invested 2.057 million yuan to support them.

In 2018, they launched the first domestic commercial X-band electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer. In December of the same year, iFLYTEK, Kexin Venture Capital, and Kingdee Software (USTC) became shareholders of the company.

After that, a series of the company's products came out one after another. With the release of the first domestic scanning NV probe microscope, the first quantum diamond single-spin spectrometer in the world, and the first diamond quantum computing teaching machine globally, Xuancheng Spark Venture Capital also invested in them.

Policies are also making efforts simultaneously to support the development of quantum technology. The Outline of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Integrated Development Plan issued in December 2019 mentioned that it is necessary to accelerate the cultivation and layout of a number of future industries in key fields such as quantum information.

Shortly afterwards, GL Ventures took decisive action, making Guoyi Quantum the first project in their layout of the quantum technology track. At that time, Tongchuang Weiye, Ji Fund, China Merchants Securities and other institutions also participated in the investment.

When researching quantum technology, GL Ventures not only pays attention to the cutting-edge technology, but also looks for directions that can enter real applications first and form product verification. In their view, quantum precision measurement can enter clear scenarios through sensors and scientific instruments, which was one of the directions with early industrialization conditions at that time.

Guoyi Quantum originated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Microscopic Magnetic Resonance of USTC, and has accumulated years of experience in quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum precision measurement and spin resonance. For GL Ventures, the technical source is important, but the more critical point is that the team has the awareness of engineering and commercialization. "From technical route, product definition to complete machine integration, manufacturing delivery and application service, they have formed a closed loop step by step."

Since 2021, "quantum information" has appeared in the 14th Five-Year Plan and the government work report for the first time. At the same time, the Ministry of Education officially included the quantum information discipline in undergraduate education to accelerate the cultivation of talent echelons in the quantum field. With the recognition of the market, Guoyi Quantum's sales contracts in that year exceeded 200 million yuan, and overseas deliveries were realized at the same time.

In December of the same year, Guoyi Quantum completed a C-round financing of several hundred million yuan. The investors included Guofangtou Fund, CAS Capital, IDG Capital, Hefei Industrial Investment, Songhe Capital, Qianhai Mother Fund, iFLYTEK Venture Capital, Kingdee Software (USTC), GL Ventures, Tongchuang Weiye, Bosera Innovation, Xuancheng Spark Venture Capital, etc.

Under the combined effect of policy support and capital assistance, Guoyi Quantum with excellent products entered the fast track of development. Looking at the prospectus, their revenue increased from more than 100 million yuan in 2022 to more than 600 million yuan in 2025. In the same period, the company's net loss also dropped from over 100 million yuan to less than 6 million yuan.

As time went by, Du Jiangfeng transferred all his equity through public listing in May 2025 as required by the relevant organization department, and the equity was finally acquired by Chengdu Jiaozi Industrial Fund, Hefei Dunqin, TCL Venture Capital, Guxin Asset, Shengsheng Investment, Loongson Venture Capital, Dingxing Quantum, Xingtai Capital, Xinding Capital, Guohai Innovation Capital, GL Ventures, etc.

Up to now, He Yu and Rong Xing jointly hold 34.87% of the voting rights of the company. After a long period of accompanying, shareholders such as USTC and GL Ventures have also obtained rich returns. Roughly calculated based on a market value of 45 billion yuan, the shareholding value of USTC's subsidiary USTC Holding and GL Ventures reached about 6.6 billion yuan and 2.8 billion yuan respectively.

Quantum Technology Ushered in a Listing Boom

Hefei Can Be Called the Biggest Winner

Looking around, the quantum technology industry is ushering in an IPO boom.

Six years after Guodun Quantum was listed, companies including Infleqtion, Xanadu, Horizon Quantum, Quantinuum and Guoyi Quantum successfully rang the listing bell this year. At the same time, players such as Origin Quantum, Boson Quantum and Turing Quantum are also accelerating the promotion of their IPO processes.

This also means that after giving birth to Guodun Quantum, the "first quantum technology stock", Hefei has obtained Guoyi Quantum, the "first quantum precision measurement stock" in the A-share market, and is expected to see Origin Quantum become the "first quantum computing stock" in China.

In addition to nurturing these three star projects, this central Chinese city also gathers more than 100 quantum industry chain enterprises, and has a well-known "Quantum Avenue". Meanwhile, its quantum industry has ranked second in the world for three consecutive years, which can be called the biggest winner in this quantum technology boom.

Behind the outstanding achievements lies Hefei's years of deep cultivation in the quantum industry.

Looking at the development context of the local quantum industry, we will find that USTC plays an important role in it. Back in 1970, Hefei took the initiative to accept USTC which moved south. It not only vacated the best place as the school site, but also promised that "the municipal government can cut off power, but USTC cannot", which laid a good foundation for the vigorous development of the quantum industry in the future.

Fourteen years later, Guo Guangcan, who graduated from USTC and stayed at the university to teach, presided over the first national quantum optics academic conference, and obtained China's first "973" project of quantum information technology in 2001, finally forming a team including Peng Kunghui, Sun Changpu, Pan Jianwei and Du Jiangfeng, who would later become academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 2003, the first quantum computing research group in China was officially established in an unused classroom of USTC. Six years later, the team of Professor Pan Jianwei from USTC founded Anhui Quantum Communication Technology Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Guodun Quantum, which is the first quantum technology industrialization enterprise in China.

Shortly after the successful launch of Micius, the world's first quantum science experimental satellite designed by Pan Jianwei's team, Guoyi Quantum, co-founded by Du Jiangfeng, also settled in Hefei smoothly. In September 2017, Academician Guo Guangcan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Guo Guoping of USTC founded Origin Quantum, the first quantum computing enterprise in China.

Since Guodun Quantum, Guoyi Quantum and Origin Quantum focus on the three major sub-sectors of the quantum industry: quantum communication, quantum precision measurement and quantum computing respectively, they are also known as the "Three Swordsmen of Quantum" in the industry. As for Guo Guangcan, Du Jiangfeng and Pan Jianwei, who play important roles in it, they also got the title composed of the first letter of their surnames' pinyin — "Quantum GDP".

In He Yu's view, who chose Hefei for all his three entrepreneurial attempts, the reason is not only that his alma mater is located here, but also that both Hefei and USTC have a unique temperament — they are willing to sit on the cold bench. Although artificial intelligence and quantum technology are very popular now, Hefei and USTC have started to work on them and persisted for many years when no one cared about these technologies long ago.

Long-term persistence has also brought Hefei to the harvest moment. As quantum technology is listed as the top priority in the future industry layout of the 15th Five-Year Plan, this world-class "Quantum City" has also attracted numerous attentions. Perhaps before long, more and more quantum technology IPOs will be born here.

References:

1. Twenty Years of Quantum Computing in China, Guangming Daily

2. Three Questions on Quantum Avenue in Hefei High-tech Zone, China High-Tech Industry Herald

3. He Yu: From a Talented Youth to a Pioneer of Entrepreneurship, Illuminating the Road of Innovation with Quantum as the Torch, Graduate Union of University of Science and Technology of China

4. He Yu: With a Promising Future, Building Instruments for the Country, China Youth Magazine

This article is from WeChat official account "China Investment Network", author: Lu Zhigao, editor: Wang Qingwu, published with authorization from 36Kr.