Zhang Xue's former employer is about to launch an IPO.

Recently, the official website of the Beijing Stock Exchange shows that the IPO application of Zhejiang Apollo Sports Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Apollo") has been accepted.

This is an enterprise located in Jinhua, Zhejiang, whose name rarely appears in the capital spotlight, but it has a deep bond with Zhang Xue, the most high-profile motorcycle entrepreneur this year.

Back in 2009, 22-year-old Zhang Xue wrote a job application letter to this company. Zhang Xue, who dropped out of junior high school, did not write much in the letter, but directly stated that he had repaired vehicles and wanted to race motorcycles. He said he did not care about the position or salary, and only asked for an opportunity to enter the factory. Faced with this job application letter, the company's senior management held different opinions. But in the end, the director made the final decision and offered Zhang Xue an exceptional recruitment.

Thus, Zhang Xue, who was still an unknown person at that time, started as a maintenance worker on the production line at Apollo, and later worked in the complete vehicle testing department and international marketing department. In early 2013, according to the recall of Ying Er, Chairman of Apollo, he left with 30 sets of spare parts and 20,000 yuan and went to Chongqing. More than ten years have passed in a blink of an eye. Zhang Xue is now the founder of Zhang Xue Motorcycle, and received exclusive investment from HSG in August this year, with the post-investment valuation of the brand reaching 6 billion yuan.

And Apollo, the factory that Zhang Xue walked out of back then, has now arrived at the doorstep of the capital market.

The Teen Chasing Racing Bikes, Second Entrepreneurship

Compared with his "old employer", Zhang Xue's story is more widely known.

Zhang Xue's life is often summed up as a "grassroots counterattack". In 1987, he was born in a small village in Mayang Miao Autonomous County, Huaihua City, Hunan Province, and dropped out of school at the age of 14 to work as an apprentice in a repair shop. The first thing he did after saving 8,000 yuan with great difficulty was to buy a shabby old motorcycle.

In 2006, 19-year-old Zhang Xue called Hunan TV, saying that he hoped the program team would come to film his motorcycle stunts. He fell many times at the beginning of the shooting, and the film crew thought there was nothing worth filming and stopped working. On a rainy day, he rode an old motorcycle alone and chased the crew for several hours before catching up with them.

This footage was recorded by the program team. After many years, the passion of the "teen chasing the crew and his racing dream" in the clip still touches many people.

In 2007, Zhang Xue, who was full of passion for racing, took 60,000 yuan to join the racing team alone. He had no salary and no coach, only a practice track. Years of hard training only brought him one trophy. What made Zhang Xue helpless was that at that time, large-displacement racing bikes could not be manufactured in China. To win the game, it was not enough to only be good at riding, he also needed to know how to make the bikes.

That was why he wrote that job application letter in 2009.

After entering Apollo, Zhang Xue started as a maintenance worker on the production line. After working in the complete vehicle testing position for several years, he transferred to the international marketing department as a customer representative, and participated in the design and R&D of a small off-road motorcycle. According to the report of The Paper, he once completed the work of assembling an engine with blindfold in the factory. He wanted to perform a water-land dual-purpose motorcycle stunt, but no one in the whole factory agreed, only Ying Er, the chairman of Apollo, paid to build the jump platform and bought insurance for him.

In early 2013, a new model project of Apollo was called off after calculation, but Zhang Xue, who wanted to continue the project, chose to resign after thinking for a long time. Knowing that Zhang Xue was going to start a business in Chongqing, Ying Er did not stop him, and even gave Zhang Xue 30 sets of spare parts and 20,000 yuan in cash.

According to Ying Er's statement, "He wanted to go to Chongqing to start his own business and develop this project. I think he has dreams and drive, so I supported him to go."

In Chongqing, 26-year-old Zhang Xue started to engage in motorcycle assembly and debugging work, and also posted posts on an auto forum to sell vehicles, which gradually made him known by more people. Later, he joined the Chongqing Huanghe Motorcycle Team and participated in the R&D of various models, but left the team due to problems in product R&D.

In 2017, Zhang Xue started his first entrepreneurship and co-founded Kayo Motorcycle. According to reports, the company sold about 28,000 units in 2023, and the team participated in the Dakar Rally for the first time in 2023. However, in terms of development ideas, Zhang Xue preferred to develop new cars and pursue performance, which was inconsistent with the more prudent iteration strategy of the management. He posted his resignation letter on WeChat Moments, "Actually, I am still very selfish. I only think about my own dream and do not take care of the interests of investors."

In 2024, Zhang Xue started his second entrepreneurship, and "Zhang Xue Motorcycle" came into being. This time, his name is the brand. He told the media, "As long as my products are excellent enough to win the championships of all competitions, the 'name' may become a top symbol."

Established for Two Years, Valuation Reaches 6 Billion Yuan

Three months after the establishment of "Zhang Xue Motorcycle", it quickly got its first sum of capital.

In July 2024, Shanghai Gaoxin Lingzhi Venture Capital Partnership under Gaoxin Capital made an exclusive investment of 20 million yuan, corresponding to a valuation of about 100 million yuan, holding 20% of the shares. Cao Bin, founding partner and chairman of Gaoxin Capital, later explained this investment, "We do not have a deep understanding of the technology, we just invest in the person."

According to Cao Bin, Gaoxin Capital values four points of the founder: heartfelt extreme love for the cause, focus on one point and spare no effort, extremely strong resilience, and management experience at the level of deputy general manager or above in an enterprise.

Compared with the first sum of money, the second sum of money came later.

At the end of 2025, Zhang Xue Motorcycle set up an employee shareholding platform, and Gaoxin Capital sold back 10% of its equity to the company at a valuation of 200 million yuan. In early 2026, Zhejiang Venture Capital led the A round of 90 million yuan through two funds, Hangzhou Zhechuang Baige and Jinhua Zhechuang Jinyi Intelligent Control, with a post-investment valuation of 1.09 billion yuan. On August 13, HSG made an exclusive investment, and the post-investment valuation reached 6 billion yuan. After that, Gaoxin Capital's shareholding dropped to about 10%. Cao Bin said in an interview in April this year that there is no exit plan for the time being, and it is possible to further increase investment in Zhang Xue Motorcycle in the future.

It is worth mentioning that from the valuation of 100 million yuan in the angel round to the latest post-investment valuation of 6 billion yuan, it means that the valuation of Zhang Xue Motorcycle has soared 60 times in two years.

What supports the valuation curve of Zhang Xue Motorcycle is something beyond the profit statement.

According to the disclosure at the partner conference in February this year, Zhang Xue Motorcycle's total output value in 2025 was 750 million yuan, R&D investment was 69.58 million yuan, and the annual loss was 22.78 million yuan. The company's operating figures are growing rapidly: the number of stores increased from 245 on March 25 to 394 on September 23, and Zhang Xue proposed that there should be at least 450 stores by the end of the year.

As for why they bet on Zhang Xue Motorcycle, investors have different views.

When Zhejiang Venture Capital entered, the pre-sale of new cars was very good. Zhang Xue had industrial experience in Kayo, and was very familiar with the supply chain and racing events, not starting from scratch; three months later, he won the championship at the WSBK Portuguese Station; five months later, HSG intervened... The whole process is like a step-by-step verification and strengthening process. Su Kai, partner of HSG, attributed the investment logic to the recognition of the founder: "What really moved us is Zhang Xue's almost persistent pursuit of products... World-class products are often born from the uncompromising pursuit of the ultimate."

The market environment is also changing, as is this stock selection method. According to a report released by IT Juzi in March this year, in China's private equity market in 2025, the proportion of period transactions dropped from the original 16.3% to the current 7.9%, and the participation of state-owned capital has exceeded 45%. Due to the slowdown of exit speed and the LP's tracking of DPI, hard manufacturing projects with actual production capacity, export orders and race support are more likely to get the attention of local government assets and industrial funds.

The Old Employer Tries to Land on the Beijing Stock Exchange

While Zhang Xue Motorcycle is chased by capital, Apollo, its old employer who once gave Zhang Xue the chance to show his talent, has also arrived at the doorstep of the capital market.

Apollo, located in Jinhua, Zhejiang, was established on January 20, 2006, and was listed on the New Third Board on January 7 this year. It is currently in the basic layer. On February 5, the company signed a coaching agreement with Guosen Securities, submitted the coaching filing materials for listing on the Beijing Stock Exchange to the Zhejiang Securities Regulatory Bureau, and completed the filing in early March. On September 28, the Beijing Stock Exchange accepted its IPO application, which plans to raise about 397 million yuan for the capacity expansion of off-road vehicles and the construction of production bases. It is still in the acceptance stage and has not been approved yet.

The company's products mainly include three categories: electric two-wheelers, gasoline-powered motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, with more than a dozen series in total, which are sold in more than 70 countries and regions. According to public documents, the company's operating revenue in 2023 was 281 million yuan, 385 million yuan in 2024, and 588 million yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 52.49%. The attributable net profit in 2025 was 67.0183 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 55.21%; the comprehensive gross profit margin was 26.13%, compared with 26.22% in the previous year; the R&D expense was 25.9445 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.20%.

It is worth noting that Apollo is an enterprise that almost only does export business.

The data shows that the company's overseas sales revenue in recent years was 276 million yuan, 376 million yuan and 577 million yuan respectively, accounting for 99.14%, 99.28% and 99.14% of the main business revenue respectively. The financial report states directly, "During the reporting period, the proportion of the company's overseas sales revenue has remained above 97%, and the products are mainly sold to countries or regions such as Europe and North America. At present, there are no special restrictive trade policies for the import of the company's related products in the above countries or regions, but overseas markets have successively issued corresponding technical regulations and technical standards for product safety and environmental protection, such as EU CE, e-mark certification, US EPA, CARB certification, etc."

In addition to the high proportion of overseas sales revenue, the company's equity structure is also relatively concentrated. The data shows that Ying Er directly holds 57% of the shares, and indirectly holds shares through Apollo Investment; Xu Kai directly holds 38% of the shares. The two jointly control about 95% of the shares and are the joint actual controllers. The annual report also lists "improper control by the actual controller" as one of the risks.

Obviously, these are all issues that Apollo must face on its way to the Beijing Stock Exchange. On the other side of this company, there is the old bond with Zhang Xue that is still mentioned to this day.

At the end of March this year, Zhang Xue Motorcycle's rider won the first championship of this level event for Chinese motorcycles at the WSBK Portuguese Station. A few days later, Ying Er, the wife of the old chairman of Apollo, posted an old photo on her social media account, which showed Zhang Xue taking the second place in the competition as a member of Apollo, with the caption, "Back then, we didn't train Zhang Xue to be a racing master, but we trained him to be a vehicle manufacturing master. Congratulations to Zhang Xue, and congratulations to Zhang Xue Motorcycle for winning the championship @Zhang Xue's Motorcycle."

Beyond the congratulations, Ying Er herself also has a game to win. Because at this moment, Apollo is standing at the door of the Beijing Stock Exchange, ready to go.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Rongzhong Finance" (ID: thecapital), the author is Feng Xiaoting, and 36Kr is authorized to release it.