Qiming leads round for Chinese display chip provider
Yunyinggu, a Chinese manufacturer of integrated circuits used in flat screen displays, has raised RMB200 million ($28 million) in Series C funding across two tranches.
The round was led by Qiming Venture Partners. Other investors include domestic smart phone maker Xiaomi, US-headquartered chip manufacturer Qualcomm, AVIC Fund Management, and Northern Light Venture Capital.
Founded in 2012, Shenzhen-based Yunyinggu specializes in next-generation high-resolution display technology. It offers both intellectual property solutions and semiconductor chips. The company claims more than 60 patented technologies.
Yunyingu's core products are based on AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) technology, which is used in a specific type of thin-film display for smart watches, mobile devices, laptops and TVs. It also supplies silicon-based micro-display chips.
The company has collaborated with mobile phone manufacturers in China on the development of a domestic alternative to foreign AMOLED display chips. Korea's Samsung Electronics dominates the global market, accounting for 93% of sales in 2018 and 87% in 2019.
Yunyinggu predicts that head-mounted near-eye devices used for human-machine interaction could be the next breakthrough technology, potentially matching the smart phone market in terms of scale. The primary application will be virtual reality (VR) and artificial reality (AR) devices. Yunjinggu claims that its silicon-based micro-display chips best meet key criteria such as high resolution, high refresh rate, high contrast, and low power consumption.
Jing Gu, the start-up's founder, said there are high barriers to entry in this area. Cultivating strong upstream and downstream partners within the industrial supply chain is crucial. Xiaomi is expected to play this kind of supporting role with Yunyinggu.
Zhifeng Zhou, a partner at Qiming, noted that China's chip industry has undergone substantial changes in the past three years, with domestic flat-screen display and smart phone manufacturers enjoying increased market share among younger consumers.
“This means that Chinese chipmakers are closer to their customers than ever before, which leads to an earlier product-market fit. On the other hand, chip companies are expected to offer systems that include hardware and software. This is challenging for some entrepreneurs," Zhou said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Lightelligence, a US and China-based manufacturer of optical chips, raised a $26 million Series A round led by Matrix Partners China and China International Capital Corporation (CICC).
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