- Startups in commercial space, AI drug discovery, energy AI and silicon-based passive components raised fresh capital
- The funding will support rocket development, clinical programs, AI platforms, production expansion and advanced packaging
Deep Blue Aerospace raises nearly 2 billion yuan across two tranches
Wuxi-based commercial space company Deep Blue Aerospace (深蓝航天) has completed its B6 and B7 financing rounds, raising nearly 2 billion yuan ($298 million) in total.
Investors include Wuxi New Development Venture Corporation, Addor Capital, Oceanpine Capital, Wuxi Capital Group, Shanghai FTZ Fund, Boton and China Hongrun Group.
Founded in 2016, Deep Blue Aerospace was among China’s early commercial space companies focused on developing liquid-fueled reusable launch vehicles.
Its main products include the Nebula (星云) series of rockets and the Thunder (雷霆) series of liquid oxygen-kerosene engines.
The new funding will support the development and industrialization of two rocket families. The company will continue work on the medium-lift reusable liquid-fueled Nebula-1 while accelerating development of the larger Nebula-2.
The launch vehicle is designed to provide heavy-duty Earth-space transportation capacity for the deployment of large low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations.
AIDD startup MindRank completes $52 million Series B funding round
Hangzhou-based AI drug discovery company MindRank (德睿制药) has completed a $52 million Series B round, with investors undisclosed. The company has raised more than $100 million since its founding.
Founded in 2021 by Niu Zhangming (牛张明), a Chinese-born PhD who studied and worked overseas, MindRank has a core team of more than 40 people, with R&D staff accounting for more than 90%.
Its proprietary MAP AI drug discovery platform supports 15 drug development pipelines across multiple therapeutic areas.
Its lead drug candidate, MDR-001, has entered Phase III clinical trials in China. MindRank says it is among the AI drug-discovery companies with the fastest-moving novel drug pipelines globally.
MDR-001 took 4.5 years and $23 million to progress from project initiation to Phase III, according to the company, substantially reducing the time and cost compared with industry averages.
The new funding will support clinical development of its core pipelines and continued upgrades to its AI platform.
DaMao AI nets shy of 200 million yuan to scale computing-power coordination
Shanghai-based AI-driven energy company DaMao AI has raised about 200 million yuan ($29.8 million) in a new financing round.
The company previously raised nearly 100 million yuan in a Series A+ round led by Lochpine Capital, the investment arm of CATL. Its existing shareholders include CATL, SenseTime and Cambricon.
Founded in 2021, DaMao AI describes itself as China’s first AI company to scale the commercial deployment of energy foundation models across computing-power and electricity coordination, virtual power plants and broader energy applications.
Its core products include the Computing-Power-and-Electricity Coordination 2.0 platform and an energy operations system for direct green-power connections to AI data centers.
DaMao AI says it is among the first companies in the computing-power-and-electricity coordination sector to establish a commercial model, combining technology services with operational implementation.
It provides AI data centers with services spanning consulting and planning through energy-value-added trading.
The latest funding will support technology development and market expansion.
Silicon parts maker Launchip bags nearly 200 million yuan in pre-Series A+ round
Shanghai-based silicon passive-component company Launchip (朗矽科技) has raised nearly 200 million yuan ($29.8 million) in a pre-Series A+ round.
Other participants included GL Ventures, Wisdom Capital, SenseCap, Fortune+ Ventures, Flyfot Ventures and Zhongqi Capital. Existing investor Oriental Fortune Capital also increased its investment.
Founded in March 2023, Launchip has raised nearly 300 million yuan to date.
The company focuses on silicon capacitors, using semiconductor manufacturing processes to make capacitors smaller and easier to integrate for power-supply and packaging applications in AI processors, high-performance computing and high-speed interconnects.
Launchip has commercialized more than 200 mass-produced models of silicon capacitors and silicon resistors, with monthly capacity exceeding 500 million units.
Its multi-terminal embedded-capacitor products have achieved scaled delivery in CPUs and GPUs and secured orders worth hundreds of millions of yuan. It also supplies optical-module customers in overseas markets.
The new funding will support R&D of its chip-based silicon passive-component platform, expansion of its core team and purchases of key equipment, while deepening collaboration across the advanced-packaging supply chain.
