Hannto Technology, a Chinese Internet of Things (IoT) company specialising in smart printers, has raised 300 million yuan ($41.5 million) in a Series C+ round to build a new production facility in eastern China.
Shanghai-based Hannto aims to invest a total of 800 million yuan ($110.6 million) for the construction of the new facility, which is expected to have an annual production capacity of 3 million smart printing devices, with a total output value of up to 3 billion yuan ($414.7 million) per year.
Its plan to build a manufacturing presence in Huzhou helped the firm rope in state capital investors from the city. Three investment funds affiliated with Huzhou Industrial Group, a local state-owned conglomerate with businesses spanning industry investments, financial services, and fund management, invested in its Series C+ round.
Hannto will also invest part of the funding in key technology R&D and product development to expand its portfolio of more than 20 products, including laser printers, inkjet printers, dye sublimation printers, and other smart hardware and IoT products.
Baidu Venture, the independent venture capital arm of Chinese search engine giant Baidu, backed Hannto’s Series C round in 2021, alongside other investors like ZJU Joint Innovation Investment, Landstone Capital, and Shanghai’s Huiyate Group. The investment amount was said to be “hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan.”
Founded in March 2017, Hannto started with an angel investment from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp and its founder Lei Jun-backed Shunwei Capital. In 2019, it designed and manufactured Xiaomi’s first inkjet printer model and moved on to develop a series of printers to add to Xiaomi’s range of consumer electronics offerings.
The firm has also introduced products under its own brand “Xprint,” with some of its popular products including instant mobile colour photo printers.
Hannto currently has an R&D team of almost 200 people across the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Suzhou. Its sales and marketing team is based in Beijing, while its existing production facility is in Yueyang City, Hunan Province in southern China.