As the saying goes, no sound is already, blockbuster. In the near future, ASR announced the completion of the B-round financing led by Shenzhen Venture Capital Wanrong Red Earth Fund and IDG Capital. As an IC design company established in 2015, what kind of ASR is there? Magic, able to win a total of more than $300 million in capital in just a few years?
ASR that spreads its wings
ASR, just like its Chinese name, has been flying in the blue sky and blue sky of China's mobile communication chip market in a short period of time since its establishment.
According to public information, ASR was founded by the founder and current CEO Mr. Dai Baojia in 2015 with the support of Pudong Science Investment, Pudong Science and Technology and Walden International. The company is headquartered in Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. It is understood that ASR is located in a family. The design company in the field of baseband chips is dedicated to the research and development, technical support and services of mobile communication terminals, Internet of Things and other consumer electronic chips. At present, the products are mainly based on communication data and smart phones.
After its establishment, ASR acquired South Korea's Alphean, Jiangsu Smart IC, and acquired the technology and capital of baseband chip development. In 2017, ASR acquired Marvell's mobile communication department and obtained all the Marvell mobile communication baseband IP, some product lines and Mature baseband R&D team. After the acquisition, ASR has a complete baseband platform R&D capability. At present, ASR has become the only company in China's baseband company that has its own Netcom technology developed by Haisi, and MediaTek has not developed this chip leader. CDMA capabilities.
In 2017, ASR has already obtained deep venture capital, Wanrong Red Earth Fund and Alibaba's investment of more than 100 million US dollars before the acquisition of 100 million US dollars led by Shenzhen Venture Capital Wanrong Red Earth Fund and IDG Capital.
Through this series of mergers and acquisitions, ASR has accumulated a very strong R & D strength, and has established a firm foothold in technology research and development. Mr. Dai Baojia once said, 'Having a world-class baseband chip R&D team is our advantage.' And this is also ASR has one of the reasons for obtaining multiple rounds of financing.
The magic of ASR
Since the beginning of this year, although the smartphone market has been exhausted, the growth rate has slowed down noticeably. However, in the view of Mr. Dai Baojia, mobile phones are still the largest market for baseband chips.
In addition, with the rise of 5G standards and the rise of artificial intelligence technology, smartphones as the largest application platform still have unlimited development possibilities.
Through a series of mergers and acquisitions and technology accumulation in the past few years, ASR not only has a strong technical research and development team, but also laid the foundation for the future competition of communication chips in the 5G era.
In the three years since its establishment, it has raised more than US$300 million. It is not common as a chip design company. This shows that the capital market is affirming the future development of ASR.
For the B round of financing completed this time, Wanrong Red Soil Fund, the leader of this round, said that 'Shenzhen Ventures and Wanrong Red Earth Fund have invested in ASR since 2017. In the past year, ASR has been developing in the company. , overseas acquisitions, independent intellectual property rights, mobile phone baseband chips and IoT chips have made good progress, which is one of the reasons we re-invested. We believe through the deep venture, Wanrong clay, Alibaba and other shareholders Support, under the efforts of the excellent team led by Dai Baojia, ASR will be like a eagle flying in China Shenzhou, and will certainly be able to fill the gap in China's semiconductor industry. Investment is actually a investment team. In China's semiconductor companies, ASR has superior strength. Strong management team, R&D team and operation team. We believe that they can not only create miracles, but also promote the rapid development of China's semiconductor industry!'
Alibaba's investment in ASR emphasizes: 'The founder and core team of ASR are senior experts in the chip industry. They have been deeply involved in the industry for many years and have great influence. They have rich experience in mobile phone chip and IoT chip design. ASR's technology accumulation in the baseband and RF fields is an important foundation for the Internet of Everything in the Internet of Things era. Currently, companies with complete baseband and RF capability solutions are highly scarce resources. Alibaba highly recognizes ASR in Team, technology and products are leading and scarce in many aspects. In the future, Alibaba will continue to contribute to the development of ASR.
With the emergence of terminal intelligence and the trend of Internet of Everything, IDG Capital believes that in this context, communication chip companies that can help intelligent and interconnected various types of terminal devices will have much to offer. ASR is one of them. With ASR The accumulated technology, the team and the keen market insight will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the Chinese core in the communications chip market.
Walden International emphasizes that under the leadership of Dai Baojia, a good CEO, with the support of a superior technical team, ASR has the ability to make a big impact in the fast-growing mobile communications and IoT markets.
ASR’s time and place
At present, ASR may be the most widely covered company in the field of Internet of Things technology, including NB-IoT, eMTC, Thin Modem and other hottest development directions, and has also been recognized by many terminal manufacturers. Can achieve such results It is not the result of a single factor. The development of ASR can be described as 'the right place and the right place'.
At the same time, the global semiconductor market is slowing down, and the market performance of China's semiconductors is outstanding. According to the latest data released by the Global Semiconductor Association on July 2, global semiconductor sales reached US$38.7 billion in May this year, for 14 consecutive years. The monthly growth rate exceeded 20%. Among them, China's semiconductor sales maintained a good growth trend, with a growth rate of 28.5%. In addition, China's semiconductor industry has also received strong support from national policies, which is a bright future.
The so-called geographical advantage, China is not only the world's largest smartphone market and the largest Internet of Things market, backed by these two huge markets, through a deep understanding of the Chinese market, ASR can provide customers with its strong technical strength. More local products and localized support, which many companies can't.
The so-called Renhe, ASR itself has strong technical strength and operational capabilities. In terms of operational capabilities, from Dai Baojia to ASR's core operations team have a wealth of industry experience and professional background. In terms of technology, ASR through a series of acquisitions, A large number of technologies and patents have been accumulated. On the team side, ASR's VP team comes from Marvell, RDA, Spreadtrum and Lianxin executives and experts, with a strong background in R&D, operations and technical support. This is also the ASR itself. hard power.
Become a great Chinese company that masters the world's advanced technology
For ASR, which is positioned in the IC design company of baseband chips, from the beginning, it has been committed to becoming a great Chinese company with advanced technology.
In order to succeed in the field of chip design, it needs to have both research and development advantages and recognition from manufacturers. In the past few years, ASR has formed a research and development advantage, has the capital of technological innovation, and has established good cooperation with manufacturers. relationship.
IDG Capital believes that 'With the efforts of the excellent team led by Dai Baojia, ASR will be like the eagle soaring in China, filling the gap in China's semiconductor industry. We believe that they can not only create miracles, but also promote China's semiconductor industry. development of! '
It is understood that this financing is subject to the company's control over the scale of financing. ASR has given up more than 100 million US dollars of investment. Whether ASR recognized by the capital market can become a great Chinese company with advanced technology in the world, let us wait and see!