The total size of two funds launched in a single day exceeds 10 billion yuan, unveiling the investment empire of the market-nicknamed "Ning King" (CATL, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited).

On September 15, CATL disclosed two venture capital fund investments within a single day.

The announcements show that the total size of the two funds exceeds 10 billion yuan in aggregate. Among them, Ningbo Wending, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL, plans to contribute 1.12 billion yuan to participate in the establishment of Xiamen Shidai Yiyuan Venture Capital Fund, while another affiliate, Mindong Shidai, plans to contribute 500 million yuan to participate in the establishment of Xiamen Shidai Shenyuan Venture Capital Fund. The investment directions of both funds cover fields including artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence.

This is not the first time CATL has made moves in the artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence fields recently.

A reporter from *Sci-Tech Innovation Board Daily* noted that over the past year or more, CATL's related investments have continued to emerge across multiple links from chips and robots to core components. Now, with the two new funds with a total subscribed capital of over 100 billion yuan disclosed on the same day, CATL's investments in cutting-edge fields such as AI have further extended from individual projects to the fund level.

Two New Funds

In March 2025, Puquan Capital under CATL led the Series D financing of chip firm Silan Technology; in June, CATL led a new round of 1.1 billion yuan financing for humanoid robot firm Galaxy General. This investment is quite symbolic for CATL — it is the first time it has laid out the embodied intelligence track as a strategic investor, and the 1.1 billion yuan financing was also a relatively large single financing in the domestic embodied intelligence field at that time.

Entering 2026, CATL's related investments continue to extend to the embodied intelligence industrial chain. In April, its subsidiary Puquan Capital participated in the over 100 million yuan Series C+ financing of six-dimensional force sensor firm Bluepoint Touch; in July, its wholly-owned subsidiary Ningbo Wending joined the shareholder list of humanoid robot firm Robo Party.

From the chips of Silan Technology, to the humanoid robots of Galaxy General, to the core sensors of Bluepoint Touch and the humanoid robots of Robo Party, CATL's tentacles for deploying AI and embodied intelligence have extended from a single link to different positions in the industrial chain.

Compared with previous investments focused on specific enterprises, CATL's move this time has reached the fund level.

First look at Shidai Yiyuan. The total subscribed capital of this fund is 5.768 billion yuan, of which Ningbo Wending, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL, subscribes 1.12 billion yuan, accounting for 19.4175%; Xiamen Riting, the controlling shareholder of CATL, subscribes 4.48 billion yuan, accounting for 77.6699%; Xiamen Puquan subscribes 168 million yuan, accounting for 2.9126%. The three parties have completed all subscriptions in total.

Judging from the capital contribution structure, Shidai Yiyuan is completely led by CATL's capital system. The subsidiary under CATL and the controlling shareholder contribute 5.6 billion yuan in total, accounting for more than 97% of the total subscribed capital of the fund. The manager, Puquan Capital, is a CVC institution funded and established by CATL.

This fund mainly invests in fields such as the new energy industrial chain, industrial application of artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence, and scientific innovation. The investment methods cover direct investment or investment in unlisted enterprise equity through special purpose vehicles, equity-linked debt investment, bridge investment, and investment in partnership enterprises or sub-funds.

Compared with Shidai Yiyuan, Shidai Shenyuan presents a different structure.

The total subscribed capital of this fund is about 4.9 billion yuan. Mindong Shidai under CATL subscribes 500 million yuan, accounting for 10.2041%; Runze Intelligent Computing and the investment platform under Zijin Mining subscribe 1 billion yuan each respectively; Zhengzhou Yiren and Tang Yue subscribe 500 million yuan each respectively; multiple institutions including Lens Technology subscribe 200 million yuan each respectively; while Xiamen Puquan only subscribes 10,000 yuan.

If Shidai Yiyuan is more like an industrial investment fund led by CATL and its controlling shareholder system, Shidai Shenyuan has obviously introduced more industrial capital from different backgrounds.

From the perspective of participants, there are not only enterprises related to computing power and data centers, but also institutions with different industrial backgrounds such as mining, consumer electronics, and technology. The industrial resources and business scenarios owned by these contributors are different, which also makes the investment radius of this fund have more possibilities.

This difference is also reflected in the investment direction of the fund. Shidai Shenyuan mainly invests in artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, technology applications and cutting-edge technologies; while Shidai Yiyuan covers both the new energy industrial chain and the industrial applications of artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence.

A person from an investment institution that had previously contacted CATL for fundraising told the reporter of *Sci-Tech Innovation Board Daily* that CATL, as a large-scale industrial capital, has always attracted the attention of institutions in the primary market, and many institutions actively seek its capital contribution. However, CATL has very strict requirements for the selection of cooperative institutions, and in the past, it preferred leading institutions such as GL Ventures, Boyu, and institutions with strong resources and investment capabilities in segmented industrial fields.

The above person familiar with the investment structure also mentioned that as its own CVC system gradually matures, CATL is narrowing its selection of external fund management institutions, and more and more investments are being completed through its own industrial investment system.

6 Billion Yuan and 249 Projects: Where Does CATL's Investment Map Stand Now?

The changes mentioned by the above person from the investment institution can also find corresponding time nodes in CATL's own fund investment path.

Data from the FTSE Venture Capital Connect — Zhizhong Database shows that CATL started to participate in fund investments as early as 2014 and 2015, but the scale was very small at that time, with a total subscribed capital contribution of only 60 million yuan. After 2020, the company began to significantly accelerate the pace of fund investment, subscribing 499 million yuan that year; in 2021, the figure further rose to 1.848 billion yuan, participating in 7 funds within one year.

At this stage, CATL mostly participated in funds managed by external institutions as an LP. In 2020, the company participated in the Fujian Mindong Shidai Rural Investment and Development Fund; in 2021, it successively participated in the Fujian Shidai Mindong New Energy Industry Fund, as well as funds managed by institutions including GL Ventures, Boyu, and Yinshan.

A noteworthy change occurred in 2023. On May 10, 2023, Xiamen Puquan Private Equity Fund Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) was established, with CATL New Energy Industry Investment Co., Ltd. holding a 45% partnership share.

From 2024 to the present, among several large-scale industrial funds that CATL has participated in, Puquan Capital has continuously served as the fund manager, including the Shidai Zeyuan Fund whose scale was later expanded to 10.128 billion yuan, the Hainan Shidai Green Industry Investment Fund with a total scale of 5 billion yuan, and the two funds Shidai Yiyuan and Shidai Shenyuan disclosed at the same time this time. In other words, in CATL's fund investments in recent years, Puquan has gradually developed from a newly established management platform to an important manager undertaking its industrial funds.

From the perspective of the entire investment map, the scale of CATL's fund investment has also expanded significantly at this stage.

According to the statistics currently available from FTSE Venture Capital Connect — Zhizhong, from 2024 to 2026, CATL has cumulatively subscribed 3.735 billion yuan, accounting for about 61.4% of the total subscribed amount of 6.088 billion yuan counted in the statistics. Among them, the subscribed amount in 2026 alone has reached 2.975 billion yuan, exceeding that of any previous full year.

More importantly, this 2.975 billion yuan has not yet included the two new funds whose announcements were just released on September 15. If the total subscribed amount of 1.62 billion yuan by CATL and its subsidiaries in these two funds is included, the fund investment scale this year will further expand.

It is also in the past two years that robots and AI have begun to enter this investment map. The data shows that as of 2026, among the 249 projects that CATL has penetrated and invested in through funds, there are 51 new energy projects, 34 semiconductor projects, 26 new material projects, 26 software and information service projects, 25 new energy vehicle projects; the number of robot projects has reached 15, there are 11 high-end equipment and electronic hardware projects respectively, and 9 mechanical equipment projects.

And the two new funds this year have further written artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence into the investment direction, which has become a new coordinate in this round of investment scope expansion.

However, it is worth noting that while the number of primary market funds and projects continues to increase, CATL's stock price in the secondary market is undergoing adjustment. On September 16, the company's A-share price once fell below 300 yuan during intraday trading, touching a minimum of 299 yuan. Calculated from the stage high in May this year, the stock price has dropped significantly.

On the one hand, the stock price performance in the secondary market is under pressure, on the other hand, the investment map in the primary market continues to expand. The two changes are happening at the same time, which makes the current capital market status of "Ning Wang" (CATL) present a quite unique tension.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Venture Capital Daily", Author: Venture Capital Daily, authorized for release by 36Kr.