Angel investment guides funds to provide precise services for innovation and entrepreneurship in the first mile

　　Invest early, invest small, invest in 'hard technology'! On January 13th, the City Angel Guidance Fund held the signing ceremony for the first batch of investment projects in 2023, and the Yikun Power and Earth Pulse projects were successfully signed. Since its official establishment in December 2021, under the work deployment and guidance of the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau and the Wuxi Angel Investment Guidance Fund Management Committee, 24 projects of the Municipal Angel Guidance Fund have been approved in the past year. The investment industries are all strategic emerging industries that are of key concern to Wuxi, introducing capital "vitality" for the development of technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises in Wuxi.

　　Focusing on key industries and digging projects to serve technology enterprises as the "first angel", "In the current environment, investment tends to be cautious, and for start-up companies like us, financing has become a major challenge. Fortunately, with the help of the City Angel Fund, we have received support in terms of funding and talent, and have more confidence to root in Wuxi," Wu Haiying, the person in charge of Yikun Power Technology (Wuxi) Co., Ltd., told reporters. Yikun Power, established on December 13, 2021, is mainly engaged in innovative research and industrialization promotion of high-power advanced disc motor drive systems. With "hard technology", the enterprise won various awards and applied for the "the Taihu Lake Talent Plan" in the national, provincial and municipal "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" competitions last year. The capital injection of the City Angel Fund is like adding wings to a tiger for enterprises. This angel fund will mainly invest in flexible intelligent production lines, factory operations, and talent introduction, "said Wu Haiying. It is reported that this enterprise is a specialized, innovative, and high-tech enterprise in Shanghai. It was signed by Jiangsu Jicui Composite Materials Equipment Research Institute and introduced to Wuxi for industrial incubation. In addition to recognizing Wuxi as a supporting center for the entire industry chain, the comparison of benefits enjoyed by start-up technology companies also makes Wu Haiying feel that "Wuxi's entrepreneurial soil is very suitable". At the same time, he highly appreciates the professional market vision and service efficiency of the angel fund operation team. As a management and operation organization, Wuxi Innovation Investment Group Co., Ltd. (Wuxi Capital Group) has formed multiple professional teams over the past year to deeply cultivate sub fields such as integrated circuits, Internet of Things, biomedicine, and "two machines". Especially in the fields of genetic and protein engineering, virtual reality, carbon capture and storage, and other pioneering and exploratory technologies, we will guide sector funds and social capital to invest in key industrial projects, and leverage the leading role of state-owned asset platforms in providing professional services for innovation and entrepreneurship.

　　How to accurately serve technology-based enterprises in the start-up stage and give them enough time to push technology to the forefront of the industry? In order to make up for the shortage of angel investment in seed and start-up technology-based enterprises, in September 2021, our city issued the "Interim Measures for the Management of Wuxi Angel Investment Guidance Fund", establishing a 1.5 billion yuan municipal angel investment guidance fund to provide guarantees for the accelerated development of innovative enterprises. On December 13, 2021, Wuxi Angel Guidance Fund was officially registered and established. On January 21, 2022, it completed the registration with the Fund Industry Association and reached the status of investable. Anchoring the development direction of Wuxi's "465" modern industrial system, the City Angel Guidance Fund fully relies on the technology industry resources of various districts, counties, and sectors under the jurisdiction of the city to achieve state-owned capital guidance and market-oriented operation. While deeply exploring high-quality projects, it invests in early, small, and "hard technology" to cultivate strong reserve forces for our city's strategic emerging industries and future industries. Over the past year of operation, the Wuxi Angel Guidance Fund has delivered impressive annual results. As of now, the Angel Fund has submitted 47 direct investment projects for approval, of which 45 have been approved; 26 projects were submitted for investment and 24 were approved, of which 16 projects completed equity contributions. Angel Fund also strengthens cooperation with various sectors, jointly establishing sub funds to form a regional resource "aggregation force". At present, the sub funds Jiangyin Xingcheng and Yixing Xingcheng have been put into operation, among which Jiangyin Angel Fund has completed its first project, Xinggan Technology, with a capital contribution of 5 million yuan. In addition, Binhu District plans to establish two angel sector funds.

　　Creating an early investment ecosystem injects confidence into technology companies' adherence to the track through angel fund investment and guidance, injecting confidence into a group of start-up technology companies to adhere to the track and focus on research. Wuxi Xinyun Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., which was just established in April 2022, recently received a total of 13 million yuan in angel round financing from Wuxi Capital Group, Huihe Capital, and Suzhou Yuanhe. Just over half a year after its establishment, it was simultaneously targeted by a group of angel funds. In the words of the company's leader, Lian Ming, "good projects will naturally be approached by institutions with professional vision. The core team of Xinyun Intelligent participated in the independent research and development of the first domestic overhead crane system, and is currently actively engaged in technological breakthroughs. This financing will be used to build the DEMO line for the overhead crane system. With more technology and product accumulation, we will definitely be able to complete the testing line this year and contribute to the gradual realization of domestic substitution in this niche field, "said Lian Ming. With the robust growth of a group of technology companies, the role of angel funds in strengthening technology finance support in Wuxi has become increasingly evident. Focusing on the problem of 'difficulty in initial investment' for technology-based enterprises in the seed and start-up stages, we will further expand the investment coverage of early-stage projects in the future, attract more top professional investment institutions to support technology-based startups, create an early-stage investment ecosystem in Wuxi, and inject more surging momentum into Wuxi's technological innovation. "Wang Zhixing, Co President of Wuxi capital group, said that in 2023, Angel Fund will further extend its service chain, amplify leverage effects, achieve seamless connection between capital and projects, and help accelerate the growth of technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises in Wuxi by establishing and operating early-stage seed funds, accelerating the introduction of professional teams, and other means.

Article source: Zhu Jie, journalist from Wuxi Daily