...as the global AMOLED display market is set to grow rapidly over the next few years.
Yunyinggu (云英谷), a Shenzhen-based OLED display driver designer, has obtained CNY 200 million (USD 28 million) in an extended Series C (EqualOcean covered the first part of this funding in October 2019), according to financial information provider East Money.
This round of financing was led by Qiming Venture Capital, with the participation of existing backers, such as Xiaomi (1810:HKEX), the venture capital arm of Qualcomm (QCOM:NASDAQ), AVIC Fund, and Northern Light Venture Capital. Qiming, the lead investor, had far injected money into more than 180 companies, with over 30 exits, as of April 2020. Huaxing Capital served as an exclusive financial advisor for this financing.
After this round, Yunyinggu will continue to increase its research and development (R&D) spending and expand its chip design capabilities. Besides, it will continue to seek closer cooperation with upstream and downstream partners, consolidating and gradually expanding the leading advantages in the field of AMOLED driver chips and silicon-based microdisplay integrated circuits.
There are numerous applications of AMOLED, including various display screens in devices such as smartphones, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, tablets and computers. Statistically, the former is the most widely used among them. Compared to LED, AMOLED is more flexible, with high resolution and low energy consumption.
According to a projection of DSCC, the global OLED market will grow from USD 26.5 billion in 2018 to over USD 52 billion by 2023. Korean electronics behemoth Samsung is the leader in the AMOLED field. It produced 160.9 million AMOLED displays in the first half of 2018, which accounted for nearly 93% of the global market. In 2019, the market share of the company first fell down below 90%, hitting 85.70%.
Yunyinggu's business is built around consumer electronics, such as smartphones and VR tools. At the same time, it also provides IP technology solutions for smart hardware supply chain customers. The firm has expanded cooperation with many domestic first-line mobile phone brand customers.
Dr. Gu Jing, founder of Yunyinggu Technology, said, "The threshold for the design and manufacture of display chips is very high, requiring cutting-edge technology and an experienced team. At the same time, the support of mainstream manufacturers in the upstream and downstream industry chains are also very important. I am very pleased that Yunyinggu is recognized by financial investors and upstream and downstream partners. The company will continue to work hard with customers on more and more mobile phones and wearable VR devices equipped with Yunyinggu chips."