Shanghai-based Metax, a maker of graphics processing unit (GPU) chips, announced on Wednesday that it has garnered 1 billion yuan ($155 million) in a Series A round of financing.
The fresh round was co-led by China Structural Reform Fund Corporation Limited, a 350 billion yuan ($15 billion), state-owned fund that has received investments from China Merchants Group, China Mobile, and the China Internet Investment Fund, among others.
Investment bank Lighthouse Capital served as the financial advisor for the deal.
New investors who participated in Metax’s latest round include Lenovo Capital, GLP-backed CDB-CDC Capital, Shanghai International Group’s Shanghai Technology Innovation Fund, Fosun RZ Capital, and Oriental Fortune Capital.
Returning investors Sequoia Capital China, Matrix Partners China, Lightspeed China Partners, and CTC Capital re-upped in the round. The four investors, along with ZhenFund and Beijing Yafuchang Investment, had collectively infused ‘tens of millions of US dollars’ in Metax’s pre-Series A+ round in February this year.
Metax plans to invest the new proceeds to facilitate the R&D of GPU chips and to underpin its market presence.
Metax has so far raised ‘hundreds of millions of US dollars’ in funding since its inception in September last year, according to a company statement.
With more than 300 professionals, Metax produces self-reliant GPU chips and tools and caters to startups operating in the areas of data centre, cloud-computing games, and AI. The company has also launched a corporate research institute at Zhejiang University to facilitate the R&D of next-generation GPU.
“New generation of information technology has significant contributions to new infrastructure. It provides pertinent conditions for high-performing, cloud-computing, and AI sceneries,” said China Internet Investment Fund in the statement.