On the afternoon of November 30, the "2023 Meizu Autumn Unbounded Ecology Conference" was held in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone. Meizu Group (hereinafter referred to as "Meizu") officially released a number of blockbuster products such as Meizu 21 series flagship smartphones, MyVU smart AR glasses, Flyme OS, a new "hand-car integration" solution, and new Pandaer trendy products.
Headquartered in Wuhan Economic Development Zone, Meizu was officially inaugurated on March 8 this year.
On March 30 this year, Meizu held its first new product launch conference in Shanghai. Eight months later, Meizu "went home" to hold the second new product launch conference.
Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, the "big man" standing behind Meizu, came to Han to attend the press conference.
14 days before the 2023 autumn new product launch of Meizu, Meizu released an official news, saying that it has completed Series A financing. This is the second round of financing completed by Meizu this year, with two rounds of financing of 2 billion yuan and a post-investment valuation of more than 10 billion yuan.
According to the criteria for unicorn recognition, a company that has been established for no more than 10 years, has received private equity investment from a professional investment institution and has not yet been listed, and has a post-investment valuation of more than (including) US$1 billion can be recognized as a unicorn.
According to this recognition standard, Meizu has reached the scale of a unicorn enterprise and will also be the fourth unicorn created by Li Shufu in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone.
"Hand-car blending".
Li Shufu's vision became a reality
In the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, ECARX, SiEngine, Lotus and Meizu have turned Li Shufu's dream of "integrating handcars and cars" and creating a smart travel ecosystem from a vision into a reality.
In 1997, Li Shufu entered the automobile industry. 26 years have passed, and Geely Holding Group, led by Li Shufu, has become a "smart travel technology company" by not only manufacturing cars, but also mobile phones and chips, and has entered the Fortune Global 500 for 11 consecutive years (ranking 229th in 2022).
Behind the manufacture of satellites, mobile phones, and chips, Li Shufu carries a dream: to interconnect consumer electronics represented by mobile phones and the "next generation of cars" represented by smart cars, and create an intelligent travel technology ecology.
In July 2021, Xingji Times made a strategic investment in Meizu Technology, and Li Shufu attended the signing event, and in his speech, he placed high hopes on Meizu to achieve "handcar integration".
Co-founded by Li Shufu and Shen Ziyu, Xingji Times was established in September 2021, kicking off the prelude to "Li Shufu makes mobile phones".
In March this year, Meizu was inaugurated, focusing on the full-link innovation of consumer electronics, breaking through the boundaries between mobile phones, XR, operating systems, cars and other smart devices, and realizing the deep integration and super collaboration between the consumer electronics industry and the automotive industry. Li Shufu has taken another substantial step forward in building an intelligent travel technology ecosystem.
Twice released new products in 8 months, Xingji Meizu makes the mobile phone operating system and the car operating system integrate and interoperate, "one into one". Meizu's "brother" enterprise has brought it the confidence to make a breakthrough.
Meizu's "brother" companies refer to Silicon Engine Technology and ECARX Technology. The first automotive-grade high-computing power advanced process 7nm chip "Longying No. 1" independently developed and mass-produced by SiEngine Technology, as well as ECARX's ECARX Antola 1000Pro computing platform, provide surging computing power for Meizu's Flyme Auto in-vehicle system.
Founded in 2018 and settled in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, it is a joint venture between ECARX Technology and ARM China. In December 2021, SiEngine released the "Dragon Eagle No. 1" to achieve a technological breakthrough in the field of domestic high-end automotive chips.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, ECARX was also co-founded by Li Shufu and Shen Ziyu to develop full-stack solutions for smart travel, including first-class computer platforms, chip modules and software.
It is worth noting that the corporate headquarters of ECARX, SiEngine and Xingji Meizu are all located in the Huannan Taizihu Digital Economy Industrial Park in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, among them, ECARX and Xingji Meizu "cohabit" in the same building - Central China Jiaotong City.
Upstairs and downstairs, is the industrial chain. In the "hand-car integration", Meizu's Flyme Auto operating system is the "front-end", the intelligent cockpit computing platform and intelligent driving computing platform built by ECARX are the "back-end", and the "base" is the "base".
With the integration and synergy of the tripartite resources, Li Shufu uses ECARX, Meizu and SiEngine as carriers to build the core competitiveness of the intelligent travel technology ecology through cross-border integration.
Unicorns were born in "batches" of China's car valley
In Li Shufu's view, Wuhan is "Geely's second hometown".
On July 15, 2022, Lotus completed the construction of the global smart factory, and the first new car, the ultra-luxury pure electric SUV Eletre, rolled off the assembly line. Li Shufu came to Wuhan to attend the completion of the Lotus global smart factory and the launch of new cars, and made the above evaluation of Wuhan.
In the "Feng Shui Treasure Land" of Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, three unicorns have been born - ECARX Technology, Lotus Technology and Xinqing Technology. Behind them, Li Shufu is standing.
In 2017, ECARX was founded, and after several rounds of financing, ECARX became the first exclusive animal enterprise in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone and the only moose enterprise in Hubei Province in 2022. In December 2022, ECARX was listed on NASDAQ, becoming the first U.S.-listed company in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, and a technology start-up six years ago became a global automotive intelligent technology company.
Lotus Technology is a unicorn cultivated by Li Shufu and Geely Holding in the field of new energy vehicles.
In December 2020, Lotus Technology was registered and established in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, investing in the construction of Lotus Global Smart Factory and Lotus Technology Global Headquarters, and the world-renowned supercar brand Lotus is transforming to electrification and intelligence.
The Lotus eletre produced by the Lotus Global Smart Factory fills the gap in Wuhan's ultra-high-end smart electric vehicles and is being delivered to customers around the world. Lotus pure electric supercar Emeya made its world debut at the just-concluded 2023 Guangzhou International Auto Show.
By the end of 2021, it only took one year for Lotus to complete the Pre-A round of financing, with a valuation of 15 billion yuan, becoming the fastest unicorn in Wuhan that year. Currently, Lotus Technology is planning an IPO.
The unicorn in the chip field, SiEngine Technology, has risen rapidly and has been favored by investment institutions and industrial capital. In 2022, SiEngine completed three rounds of financing, including angel round, A round and A+ round, with a valuation of over 7 billion yuan. Less than three years after its establishment, SiEngine has become a new unicorn in Forbes China 2022.
As the "place where the dream begins" of Lotus Technology, ECARX Technology, Xinqing Technology and Xingji Meizu, Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone anchors the central goal of "China Car Valley", and spends 3 billion yuan of real money every year to support enterprise scientific and technological innovation, and industrial capital "invests early, small, and technology", and uses "capital vitality" to water the fertile soil for innovation.
Among them, Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone has set up 20 mothers and daughters such as Chegu Industry Development and Hubei High-quality Development, with a total investment scale of more than 41 billion yuan, and the invested enterprises include ECARX Technology, Xinqing Technology and Xingji Meizu.
Producer: Propaganda Department of Wuhan Economic Development Zone Working Committee
Wuhan Economic Development Zone Rong ** Center.
Written by: Reporter Li Jinyou.
Editor: Lv Zuolu Jiang Qiuyu.
Production: Wang Ya.