(Yicai) Sept. 3 -- A new financing services platform launched by the Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone, a major hub for tech firms also known as the Optics Valley of China, has helped six early-stage hard-tech companies bag a combined CNY24 million (USD3.5 million) in potential equity investment.

Eight shortlisted hard-tech firms were given the opportunity to introduce their businesses, current development status and growth plans to potential investors at Qingmiaohui’s inaugural investment roadshow held on Sept. 1. Following an expert evaluation, six of them received expressions of interest for equity financing.

More than 20 investment institutions and several banks attended the event. ZIP Technology, whose products are used in a range of applications such as precision guidance and the low-altitude economy, received CNY10 million (USD1.5 million) from Wuhan High-Tech, the largest single investment in the competition.

Wuhan Qizhi Mars Landing Technology, which provides a general-purpose spatial computing platform for embodied artificial intelligence, received CNY3 million (USD446,500) from Optics Valley Financial Holding Group and CNY6 million from Wuhan High-Tech. Among the other startups that received expressions of interest, one secured CNY2 million while three were granted CNY1 million each.

Early-stage science and technology innovation companies have enormous innovation potential, but generally face practical challenges such as limited access to investors and insufficient resources to support growth, Li Chen, deputy director of the Optics Valley’s management committee, said at the roadshow.

The Qingmiaohui, which literally means a “gathering of budding seedlings” in Chinese, is an investment and financing services platform tailored for hard-tech startups that have been established only recently, have small teams and are still at an early stage of technology validation, Li said.

The platform uses a selection process comprised of preliminary rounds and a final competition to create a full financing pipeline for promising tech startups, Li said. Firms can connect with investment institutions during the preliminary rounds, proceed to in-depth due diligence and ultimately secure investment in the final stage, he added.

The first Qingmiaohui competition consisted of four preliminary rounds, attracting 26 start-ups, more than 85 percent of which were hard-tech companies. Eight advanced to the final round. Their businesses span cutting-edge fields such as aerospace sensors, optoelectronic materials, embodied intelligence, gene editing and sodium-ion energy storage.

Startup Support

Qingmiaohui will provide companies that have not yet received investment with opportunities to participate in future preliminary rounds, said Guo Chen, director of the listing and insurance office at the Optics Valley’s Financial Work Bureau. The platform will also offer them with a range of financial services, including tailored insurance products designed to cover the risks associated with trial and error in research and development.

Qingmiaohui will provide selected start-ups with free office space for six to 12 months and one-on-one coaching for company executives to help strengthen their management and resource-matching capabilities. It will also include them in the zone’s pipeline of companies being groomed for future initial public offerings.

The platform will also connect promising startups with relevant suppliers and other industry resources, helping them establish supply chains and secure demonstration applications for their technologies, Guo said. The aim is to address a common challenge faced by early-stage companies, which is having the technology but no customer orders, and accelerate the commercialization of technologies developed in laboratories.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor