Industrial intelligent computers maker SINSEGYE has closed 300 million yuan (approximately $41 million) in its Series A and A+ rounds. Separately, Proton Automotive Technology has signed term sheets with five domestic investors to raise 550 million yuan ($75.1 million) in a Series B round.
Tianjin Venture Capital leads SINSEGYE’s $27m Series A round
SINSEGYE, a Chinese developer of industrial intelligent computers, has secured a total of 300 million yuan (approximately $41 million) across its Series A and A+ funding rounds.
The firm mopped up 200 million yuan ($27.3 million) from its Series A round, according to a statement by Yue Capital, the exclusive financial advisor to the transactions.
The round was led by Tianjin Venture Capital, a VC firm in China, with participation from a few other domestic investment houses including CAS Capital, Guozhong Capital, CoStone Capital, and New Value Capital. Existing investors Z&YCapital, Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, Cowin Capital, and SINSEGYE’s founding team continued to invest in the deal.
The remaining 100 million yuan ($13.7 million) came from the Series A+ round, which was led by tech-focused Bojiang Capital and participated by CAS Advanced Industry Fund.
The startup plans to invest the new proceeds in the development of its computer products, automation control solutions, and motion controllers as it looks to expand its market share at home and abroad.
SINSEGYE’s key products are industrial intelligent computers run on mostly domestically developed electronic components, including CPUs from Shanghai-listed Hygon Information Technology and graphics cards from the country’s AI chipmaker Cambricon Technologies.
Five domestic investors sign up for Proton’s Series B round
China’s Proton Automotive Technology, which develops new energy intelligent connected vehicles, said it has signed term sheets with five domestic investors to raise 550 million yuan ($75.1 million) in a Series B funding round.
The investors include a 900-million-yuan ($123 million) hard tech fund launched by CAS Star and Xi’an Investment Holding Co Ltd; a state-owned firm in Xi’an City; Beijing-based auto investment specialist Virtue Capital; MY Tsinghua Capital; and Beijing Orange Leaf Private Equity Fund Management, which focuses on growth-stage deals in high-end manufacturing and communication tech.
Proton, which was incubated by Dechuang Future, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned bus and truck manufacturer Shaanxi Automobile Group, is looking to complete the Series B transactions in 2024, it said at a recent press conference.
It expects to reach a pre-money valuation of 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in the Series B round. This compares to a projected post-money valuation of 4.5 billion yuan ($614.8 million) upon the completion of its Series A round, which has yet to happen but is expected within this year, said the startup.
The management team is targeting to take the firm public within the next five years, although it has been just over 18 months since its inception in April 2022.
Proton specialises in the production of both all-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. Its products include hydrogen fuel heavy-duty trucks, an area where it claimed to have a domestic market share of almost 30.5% as of June 30, 2023.