Chinese smart phone maker gets $136m round
Intel Capital and Hua Capital have co-led a $136 million Series A round of funding for Huaqin Telecom, a Chinese smart phone and tablet manufacturer.
Tsinghua Sinoking Capital, SummitView Capital, Walden International, Northern Light Venture Capital and Wise Road Capital also participated in the investment. The company will use the proceeds to develop its notebook computer and data center businesses, accelerate automation of its manufacturing operations, and to pursue vertical integration within the smart phone industry.
Founded in 2005, Huaqin is an original design manufacturer (ODM) with expertise across smart phones, tablets, notebook computers, servers, and the internet of things. It entered the ODM space and signed up its first foreign customers in 2008, and within six years, overseas markets accounted for nearly 60% of sales.
Total shipments reached approximately 300 million units in 2016, with exports reaching 140 jurisdictions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. The company, which is headquartered in Shanghai and employs 15,000 people, first collaborated with Intel in 2016 and released its first server featuring an Intel processor in early 2017.
“We welcome Huaqin to our portfolio and will work with the company to further develop its multi-platform ODM capabilities by sharing our global perspective, large customer and partnership network and advanced technology resources,” said Anthony Lin, Intel Capital vice president and managing director of Greater Asia, in a statement.
Intel Capital claims to have invested $12.2 billion across 1,500 companies worldwide since 1991, with more than 640 portfolio companies having gone public or been acquired. While Walden and Northern Light are independent international VC players, the other participants in the Huaqin round have various strategic affiliations and an established appetite for semiconductor-related assets.
Hua Capital was founded by a team from Tsinghua Holdings and China Fortune-Tech Capital, while Sinoking is said to be a division of Tsinghua Holdings-owned Tsinghua Asset Management Group. Wise Road is a subsidiary of Datang Telecom Technology and SummitView has launched several funds in partnership with local governments in China.
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