When publicizing the first batch of companies listed in the joint headquarters building of the Shenzhen High-tech Zone, the Shenzhen Science and Technology Commission did not expect these seven technology companies. In less than one and a half years, two companies were crowned with the most popular In the concept of "corner beast," most of them are among the new economic enterprises. Except for the capital, there is a high probability that they will catch the IPO driving the new round of scientific and technological revolution.
In fact, regardless of which list is used as a reference, Shenzhen’s performance in cultivating 'unicorn' companies is not outstanding: it lags behind Beijing, Shanghai, and even less than Hangzhou. However, some investors are even more cherished. The technologically innovative “Unicorn” created by the Triangle, and a group of innovative companies with internationally leading technologies. The China Securities Journal reporter sums up the interviewees’ words. It’s not easy to subvert technology. Be understood; Second, technology-driven in line with the general trend of industrial development, this group of enterprises is more likely to enjoy the dividends of innovative companies' listing policy.
One building was born two 'unicorns'
Gaoxin District Joint Headquarters Building is located in Shenzhen Houhai Central District. To support Shenzhen high-tech enterprises, less than one year after completion, Shenzhen Kechuang Committee began to provide leasing benefits for qualified technology innovation companies.
In December 2016, the Shenzhen Science and Technology Commission announced the first batch of companies to enter the list of companies, including seven technology companies, including Joysoft Technology and AOBIC, which were held on March 23, including the Torch Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The 32nd and 107th places in the "2017 China Unicorn Business Development Report" issued jointly by the family agencies.
'Jiuyu Technology is on the 19th floor, Aobi Zhongguang is on the 11th to 13th floors, Guangfeng Optoelectronics is on the 21st to the 22nd floor... There are so many good technology companies. You just walked into an inconspicuous floor. A meeting with an innovative company that can subvert the future, minute by minute is the next 'Unicorn', with a senior executive of a technology company working in this building sighing.
This is like a microcosm of Shenzhen.
According to a report released jointly by a number of agencies, including the Torch Center, there were 164 Chinese “unicorn” companies in 2017, with a total value of US$628.4 billion. Looking at the distribution of 'unicorns', North Up Hangshen gathers 'Dujiao’. Beasts' number of enterprises exceeds 84%, including 70 in Beijing, 36 in Shanghai, 17 in Hangzhou, and 14 in Shenzhen. There are also top rankings from the Hurun Research Institute, among which Beijing has the top spot with 54 'unicorn' companies; Shanghai and Hangzhou ranked second and third; Shenzhen ranked fourth with 10 'Unicorn' enterprises.
Regardless of which list is used as a reference, in terms of quantity, Shenzhen's performance in cultivating 'Unicorn' is not outstanding: the number lags behind Beijing, Shanghai, and even subordinates to Hangzhou. However, some insiders believe that From the perspective of the emergence of 'Unicorns', it is even more worthwhile than the innovative and innovative 'Unicorns' modeled by the North Tower's swarms, and the scientific and technological innovation 'Unicorn' born in the Pearl River Delta region centered in Shenzhen. value.
Xie Wenli, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Qianhai Indus Group, told the China Securities Journal that “Unicorn” has two directions of development: One is a model-based innovative enterprise, which is based on an Internet platform and focuses on e-commerce, Internet finance, and software services. The second category is technological innovation-oriented enterprises, with high-tech as the main driving force, such as big data, hardware, artificial intelligence, etc., representing enterprises are mostly high-tech manufacturing.
According to the “Unicorn” list released by the Hurun Research Institute in 2017, if the direction of “unicorns” is divided, the number of model innovation “unicorns” is more than 90, accounting for more than 70%, mainly In the Internet services, e-commerce, Internet finance; Nearly 30 technology innovation "unicorns", accounting for less than 30%, mainly concentrated hardware, medical and health areas. The "unicorns" in the PRD region accounted for nearly 40 %, far higher than the three cities in North Shanghai. In addition, in the country's only eight unicorns in the field of hardware and robots (19.520, -1.50, -7.14%), the Pearl River Delta companies sit in four seats, accounting for Half of the country.
Xie Wenli believes that in the Pearl River Delta region with Shenzhen as the core, the technologically innovative 'Unicorn' has an advantage in terms of both valuation and quantity. In a strict sense, model innovation generates 'Unicorn' Faster, mainly by rewriting or reshaping the entire industry value chain, laying the direction of industrial upgrading. In this way, as long as the right path is taken, enterprises will often become 'unicorns' in 2 to 3 years. However, technological innovation Enterprises, especially hardware-oriented companies, require a long period of time for the precipitation process. They need to undergo technological research and development, small-scale trial production, and large-scale commercial use. It may take more than four or five years. Technologically innovative companies become 'unicorns'. The cycle of ' should be longer.
According to Yang Shengjun, an executive director of Cornerstone Capital, early-model innovative companies rely on capital advantages to swiftly circumnavigate, and many companies will be able to reach a large body in the short term. For technology companies, technology disruption is not easy. In addition, technologically innovative companies start businesses. The failure rate is too high, institutional investment is very cautious. This also leads to the model innovation companies in all kinds of 'unicorn' list, regardless of their advantages in terms of both valuation and quantity. Technologically innovative companies are especially hardware-oriented. The proportion of enterprises is very low.
High technology moat
According to statistics, in the past two years, a number of technologically innovative 'Unicorn' enterprises have emerged in the Pearl River Delta, including the famous Ukrainians in the field of drones, which are among the senior 'Unicorns'. Soft-sweep technology emerged quickly in the subdivided areas, Ubiquitous, Obi Zhongguang...
Re-introducing the development path of 'Unicorn', technical barriers and commercial liquidity are the two keys.
In 2017, Ubest has a valuation of 4 billion U.S. dollars. It ranked 16th on the list of 'Unicorns' published by the Hurun Research Institute. It is also ranked in the same ranking as Weilai cars and Meizu.
'The robot is a very complicated industry, especially the servo servo technology breakthrough of the pure humanoid robot joint is rare in the world. The difficulty of the humanoid robot lies in the servo servo system, but the servo is always very expensive. In the Japanese market, each servo is priced from RMB 500 to RMB 1,000. If a robot has 20 servos, the cost of this part alone is as much as RMB 10,000. Other costs are accounted for by a humanoid robot. The price must be at least RMB 15,000. 'You Jian Xu Zhou, chairman of the Board of Directors, told the China Securities Journal reporter that 'U's will use its own servo servos for nearly five years to develop its own servos, reducing the price to one-tenth of the original price. There are a total of three or four companies in humanoid robots, and only Ubiquitous is currently available to achieve the commercialization of technology.
Also with obvious technical advantages is Ophir Zhongguang, which is currently the world's fourth largest manufacturer of consumer-grade 3D structured light depth camera sensors following Apple, Microsoft, and Intel.
Aobi Zhongguang Secretary General Chen Bin told the China Securities Journal that Apple’s technology was barely open to the outside world. Microsoft also stopped production of Kinect, and Intel mainly served in markets such as IOT. In addition to IT giants, startup companies are also trying to make 3D sensors. , but not yet available, at this stage the world can only buy large quantities of structured light 3D sensors from Intel and Opie.
Chen Bin said: 'In addition to technological development, mass production is an extremely critical part of the entire production process. From the laboratory to the engineering, it is also necessary to break through a lot of difficulties. Why did 3D sensors not have too many companies for so many years? Energy output comes. First, there is a shortage of top talent in optical measurement worldwide. Second, 3D sensors involve optical design, special chip set-up and other technical fields. It is a cross-convergence of complex technology disciplines. Products must reach the world Level parameter indicators, which have very good yields in mass production, are very difficult.
Guangfeng Optoelectronics is considered a potential 'unicorn' by many investment institutions. 'Guangfeng Optoelectronics is the first company in the world to successfully realize the industrialization of laser display technology. This is the first time that Chinese companies have mastered the core intellectual property of display technology.' Shenzhen According to a partner of an investment company, 'Kopung Optoelectronics experienced a total of three rounds of financing. The latest round was in 2016. At that time, the overall valuation was not disclosed, and as far as we know it was less than the 'unicorn' threshold. Now two years In the past, according to the development of the company and the prediction of capital fever, if a further round of financing is initiated, entering the 'unicorn' ranks should not be difficult.'
Chairman Li Guang of Optoelectronics pointed out that the value of the company's core patented laser fluorescence technology is to fundamentally solve the bottleneck that restricts laser as the display light source in terms of cost and reliability, and its technology line will gradually become the mainstream and standard technology in the industry.
According to the introduction of "Industrial Patent Analysis Report - New Display" published by Intellectual Property Publishing House, the new display areas are laser, transparent and flexible. Among them, transparent, flexible display applications are ranked top in the list of companies. It is an overseas company. Chinese mainland companies have not entered the top five. However, in the field of laser display, Guangfeng Optoelectronics patent applications are ranked first in both quantity and quality. Li Yu said: 'At present, Guangfeng Optoelectronics is at home and abroad. There are more than a thousand patents and patent applications. '
Yang Shengjun believes that based on the considerations of the future, the organization is willing to pay more attention to training companies with core technological advantages. 'Technologically innovative companies are driven by core technologies. Once they emerge, they are not easily surpassed at the technical level. Institutional investment is generally mainstream. The industry, after the penetration of emerging technologies, superimposes the development of effective commercial application scenarios. The business penetration will be more comprehensive. As long as the technology is continuously iterating, these companies grow quickly and do not see the ceiling in the short term.
Why Shenzhen
Technological innovation 'Unicorn' especially hardware type 'Unicorn' landing Shenzhen is not accidental.
Shenzhen was a beneficiary of the OEM manufacturing industry. In the early 1980s, this small fishing village on the coast of the sea became an important part of the world's industrial transfer. It has introduced a large number of processing companies around the world. It has been transformed and upgraded during the subsequent processing trade. China and Shenzhen have increasingly participated in the international industrial chain division. The industry supporting groups in electronic information, household appliances, and machinery have gradually formed and laid the foundation of Shenzhen's industrial chain. In the mid to late 1990s, high-tech industries led by electronic communication equipment manufacturing were rapidly developed. The rise, from 1990 to 2001, the proportion of high-tech industrial output value to total industrial output value rose from 8.1% to 42.3%, further highlighting the advantages of Shenzhen's manufacturing industry chain.
Zhou Jian told the China Securities Journal reporter that the Pearl River Delta region has developed industries and large and small processing plants. Especially in Shenzhen, a highly specialized division of labor has made the hardware and artificial intelligence innovation chain highly efficient at all stages. From upstream component suppliers, to The primary module provider, as well as the follow-up solution providers and downstream foundries, a hardware entrepreneur can complete all the links in Shenzhen.
Chen Bin said that from the perspective of the list, the distribution of 'unicorns' across the country is greatly affected by the local industry: Beijing and Hangzhou are partial to the Internet, Shanghai Biomedical, and Shenzhen is mainly based on intelligent hardware and technology companies. Pure Internet companies do not Too much hardware support is needed, but hardware-oriented technology companies have high requirements for supply chain support, including raw material procurement, finished product processing, and OEM.
“The Pearl River Delta hardware supply chain is the most complete in the world. To what extent, we can find most suppliers within 200 kilometers of the company. This is totally unthinkable in Beijing. In Beijing as hardware, I It may be necessary to go to Dongguan to purchase materials and then go to Huizhou OEM. The cost communication between the middle and the management costs are very large. ' Bin Bin thinks, 'The advantages of the Pearl River Delta supply chain come from the manufacturing base that was built as a factory of the world. It can be the shortest possible. It is also more convenient for customers and downstream manufacturers in technology and business exchanges to solve the needs of enterprises within the time. It is also the most favorable place for Chinese companies to compete with foreign companies.
As a globally advanced industry, the “Unicorn” herding habitat, Shenzhen’s developed industrial chain is only one part. In fact, Shenzhen’s “soil” has been fertile enough after 40 years of reform and opening up. The Deputy Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee and Mayor Chen Rugui disclosed that the Shenzhen region’s GDP in 2017 was 2.24 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.8%; the entire society’s R&D investment exceeded RMB 90 billion, accounting for 4.13% of GDP, second only to Israel. Korea; The number of PCT international patent applications exceeds 20,000, accounting for 43.1% of the country; 10,000 invention patents own 85.5 patents, which is 9 times the national average; National-level high-tech enterprises exceed 112,000, and are ranked in the national cities. second.
'The current domestic model of innovative 'unicorns' is probably about 70%, and the technologically innovative 'unicorn' is also more than 20%. There are certain differences compared to the United States. In the United States, the number is basically the same. ' Wen Li said, 'The main reason is that the time for tech-innovation companies is not enough, China's true mass ventures, and people's innovations have only started since 2015. The period is too short. Many technologically innovative companies have not yet reached the stage of becoming 'unicorns'. We believe that in the next two to three years, more innovative companies will emerge in the Pearl River Delta area.
Zeng Qiang, a founding partner of Xingen Capital, believes that Shenzhen will promote the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau Great Bay Area to become a globally advanced industry 'Unicorn' herding ecological farm. He believes that Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, Dawan District, is home to a number of industry leading companies and is well-established. The financial services are fully equipped with a closed loop that forms a “discovery and cultivation—listing—to be a “unicorn” discoverer and breeder.” This closed-loop will be achieved through upstream, downstream, and cross-border integration among leading companies such as Huawei, Tencent, Ping An, and Shunfeng. As the core, with the endogenous development of start-up companies as an aid. Shenzhen is also expected to create "Angel - VC/PE - Pre-IPO - IPO profit withdrawing" funds that rely on various financial service organizations and exchanges as important exit channels. Return on investment closed loop.