Fujian Deer Technology Corp, a Chinese manufacturer of materials used in applications like integrated circuits (ICs), flat-panel displays, and optical fibers, has secured 2.036 billion yuan ($290.5 million) in its pre-IPO funding.
Anhui Transportation Zhaoshang Industry Investment Fund, a 5-billion-yuan ($713.6 million) fund backed by expressway operator Anhui Transportation Holding Group in eastern China, led the investment, according to a statement on Sunday.
Domestic companies including private equity firms Qinchuang Bole, Turing PE, and Meiya Wutong, as well as corporate software developer Guangzhou Zhidian Network Technology, participated in the deal. Triniti Capital, one of Deer’s Series A investors, re-upped in the new round through a special-purpose vehicle.
Deer, whose clients include Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics, raked in the new funding just 13 months after the completion of its Series A round at 1.18 billion yuan ($168.4 million). In the previous round, the firm roped in a group of investors such as Sequoia Capital China and the National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrade Fund – a near-150-billion-yuan ($21.4 billion) national fund backed by the country’s Ministry of Finance.
Founded in June 2014 with just over 1 billion yuan ($142.7 million) in registered capital, Deer first unveiled its plan of launching an initial public offering (IPO) in 2021 and hired banks to provide the firm with the so-called “IPO tutoring,” a process required for a public listing on China’s domestic stock exchanges.
Its IPO plan came as stock exchanges in mainland China booked a record IPO fundraising sum of almost $40 billion in the first six months of 2022, the highest H1 IPO fundraising size since 2011, according to Bloomberg data. The IPO momentum boosted mainland China to become the world’s biggest IPO market in H1 2022, accounting for 39% of the total fundraising size globally, at a time when public markets across most other countries suffered from an economic slowdown and dampened investors’ interest.
Headquartered in Fujian City in southeastern China, the firm primarily develops fluorine-containing electronic gases and fluorine-containing new materials for their adoption in semiconductors, LED displays, optical fibers, solar photovoltaic (PV), and the military sector.