The China Round is a weekly report tracking venture and strategic investment activity across China’s core technology sectors: AI, robotics, semiconductors, new energy and materials, aerospace and defense, and frontier tech.
Capital flows trace where talent is concentrating, where production capacity is being built, and which technologies will reach commercial scale first.
The China Round is free, published every Friday, and written for investors, operators, and founders tracking where China’s tech capital is moving and why it matters.
About the author: Dermot McGrath is Irish, based in Shanghai, a decade in China’s tech and investment ecosystem, fluent Mandarin. Co-founded a VC fund scaled to nine-figure AUM. Now running ZenGen Labs, a cross-border strategy studio covering AI, robotics, and deep tech.
The week’s largest disclosed round went to a rocket company, not an AI lab. After StepFun’s $2.5B Pre-IPO absorbed all the attention last week, capital spread wide and the most interesting deals turned up in the gaps: a Starship-architecture rocket in aerospace, a chip company building China’s answer to Nvidia’s NVLink, and a quantum computing angel round with SMIC’s foundry arm at the table.
Where the Money Went
85 deals across seven sectors. 11 disclosed exact amounts totaling $263M (~¥1.9B). Aerospace, which recorded zero deals last week, came back with the week’s biggest disclosed round at ¥500M (~$69M). The stage distribution continues the 2026 barbell: seed and angel bets at one end, a handful of larger rounds at the other, and a thin middle where Series A and B capital would normally concentrate.
🧠 AI (19 deals)
The deals cluster around infrastructure: the systems that sit between raw GPU hardware and the AI models that consume it. OriginFlow (渊澈太初) raised hundreds of millions of RMB at Pre-A for electromyography data infrastructure, capturing the electrical signals from human muscles to train robots to replicate dexterous hand movements. Approaching.AI (趋境科技) raised at a similar scale for the compute-management layer that sits between raw GPU clusters and the AI companies that rent them, scheduling which jobs run on which chips, at what priority, and at what cost. The company claims to process over a trillion tokens per day for customers including Zhipu and Kimi. DeepCybo (深度机智) raised hundreds of millions at Pre-A for PhysBrain, a system that trains robots by watching video of humans performing tasks rather than requiring expensive real-robot training data. HiDream.ai (智象未来) completed a double close, Series B and B+, reportedly with Hefei government funds backing the company across both rounds.
⚡ New Energy & Materials (10 deals)
International stories dominate. Zendure (征拓), covered in Spotlight below, raised a Series B for home energy storage systems already selling across Europe. Yanhe Solar (炎和科技) raised a Series A+ for thin, flexible perovskite solar cells, a next-generation solar technology that works in low light and can be embedded directly into consumer electronics. Yanhe Solar’s cells are already shipping to Lenovo, Signify (the company behind Philips lighting), and Dreame across more than 50 countries. Shanghai Energy Bridge (能量桥) raised at Pre-A for superconducting power distribution, a technology that transmits electricity with near-zero resistance, targeted at AI data centers where power delivery is becoming the binding constraint on how many GPUs you can run.
🔬 Semiconductors (16 deals)
The largest sector by deal count after AI. Tanwei Chiplink (探微芯联), covered in Spotlight, raised hundreds of millions at Pre-A for GPU interconnect chips. WingSemitech (隼瞻科技) raised close to ¥100M (~$14M) at angel for a chip design platform built on RISC-V, the open-source processor architecture that Chinese companies can use without licensing from any American company. Shenzhen Rayhertz Technology (镭赫技术) raised a Series A for semiconductor inspection equipment, the tools that scan chips during manufacturing to catch defects. Four angel-stage semiconductor deals reflect continued seed-level capital formation across the supply chain, from materials to packaging to sensors.
🤖 Robotics (15 deals)
Components and platforms over complete robots. AGILINK (临界点), covered in Spotlight, raised at A+ for dexterous robot hands that supply multiple humanoid manufacturers. Botshare (擎天租) raised at A+ for a platform that rents industrial and service robots by the month rather than requiring factories and warehouses to buy them outright, valued at ¥7B (~$972M), reportedly five months after founding. SEAHI Robotics (世航智能) raised at A+ for maritime robots that clean ship hulls and inspect underwater infrastructure, with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s National SME Development Fund classifying the company as strategic technology. RoboParty (萝博派对), reportedly founded by a 21-year-old, raised tens of millions of dollars at angel for an open-source humanoid robot with Xiaomi backing across multiple rounds.
💡 Frontier Tech (11 deals)
Three brain-computer interface companies raised in this week’s data. See The Bigger Picture below. Juliang Guangqi (矩量光启), covered in Spotlight, raised ¥200M (~$28M) at angel for superconducting quantum computing. NeuraInsight raised a Series A from MiraclePlus (奇绩创坛), the Y Combinator-affiliated accelerator, for a structured database of neuroscience research and brain-activity data used by AI labs studying how biological intelligence works. Three synthetic biology deals covered companies engineering microbes to produce proteins, nutrients, and specialty chemicals through fermentation, an industrial process that can replace petroleum-derived ingredients in food, cosmetics, and materials with bio-manufactured alternatives.
🚀 Aerospace & Defense (7 deals)
Back from zero deals last week. Astronstone (宇石空间), covered in Spotlight, raised ¥500M (~$69M) at Series A for a reusable rocket, the week’s largest disclosed round. TransFuture Aviation (华羽先翔) raised hundreds of millions at Pre-A for an electric vertical-takeoff aircraft, with Ant Group leading what is reportedly its first investment in the eVTOL sector. Beijing Interstellar Development (星际开发) raised a Series A for a reusable orbital cargo vehicle, eight years after founding and still without a first flight.
⚙️ Other Advanced Manufacturing (7 deals)
No single thread across seven deals spanning optical eyewear, 3D printing materials, water treatment membranes, and networking equipment. Shenzhen Zhongjian Technology (众见科技) raised tens of millions at Series A for optical eyewear, backed by SEE Fund and AfterShokz (the bone-conduction headphone company).
Spotlight
Astronstone (宇石空间)
Series A, ¥500M (~$69M), ¥3B (~$417M) valuation
The engineer who helped build China’s heaviest operational rockets is now building a private Starship analog with chopstick catch.