- Shanghai tech companies in optical interconnects, analog chips and automotive AI received fresh capital injections
- The funding will support product development, production preparation, talent recruitment and global expansion
LightEpoch raises nearly 1 billion yuan across two tranches to scale optical interconnect
Shanghai-based optical interconnect company LightEpoch (芯光界) has completed pre-Series A and Series A rounds, raising nearly 1 billion yuan ($149 million) in total.
The two rounds attracted nearly 20 investors, including Meridian Capital, Lumicore, Jiutian Venture Capital, Glory Ventures III, Redpoint, Qianhai Qihang Investment and Green Pine Capital Partners. The investor base spans semiconductor industry players and major financial institutions.
LightEpoch’s core product is an NPO optical engine. The company follows a phased technology roadmap of “NPO first, CPO as the mainstream and OIO as the longer-term direction,” and has built in-house capabilities spanning chip design, packaging and coupling, and system-level signal integrity.
The new funding will support NPO and CPO product development, construction of advanced laboratories, expansion of the R&D team, and production capacity and supply-chain preparations ahead of mass production, accelerating commercialization in optical interconnects for AI computing.
Chipmaker Chipanalog bags several hundred million yuan in Series C and C+ rounds
Shanghai-based analog chipmaker Chipanalog (川土微电子) has raised several hundred million yuan across Series C and C+ rounds, jointly led by BYD, SAIC’s Strategic Fund and its affiliate Shang Qi Capital.
Existing investors including Panlin Capital, Everest Capital, Hua Capital and Central Huijin Investment also participated.
The funding will support upgrades to automotive-grade chips and other key products, development of new products and recruitment of senior R&D talent.
Since its founding in 2016, Chipanalog has launched more than 300 chip part numbers and worked with more than 2,000 customers. Its automotive-grade portfolio includes CAN/LIN transceivers, digital isolators and isolated gate drivers.
Its CAN transceivers have passed C&S compatibility certification in Germany and AEC-Q100 Grade 1 certification, with annual shipments exceeding 10 million units.
JDO nets more than 100 million yuan in strategic funding to advance AI cockpit
Shanghai-based autotech company JDO (极豆科技) has raised more than 100 million yuan ($14.9 million) in strategic funding from People’s Capital, Zhangke Yaokun, Jolmo and Dianliang Investment.
The company plans to use the financing to accelerate development of its automotive AI brain, expand into additional AI applications and pursue international growth.
JDO has developed its own “Canghai” large language model, which supports multimodal processing of text, voice and images. Built on the model, the company has developed an AIOS, AI Agent and AI Cloud system spanning vehicle and cloud computing.
JDO says it has worked with more than 30 automakers in China and overseas, including Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, SAIC and Xiaomi.
Its systems have been deployed in more than 15 million vehicles in mass production and operation, while signed projects cover more than 40 million vehicles.
