Key applications in the field are restricted to export to China under the US Commerce Control List.
With the rapid development of China's automobile industry, the brand competition pattern is "shuffled"?
China’s magnetic material specialist Upward Technology (Chinese: 朝上科技) completed the Angel round of financing recently, receiving around CNY 10 million from Shenzhen Angel FOF and Share Capital.
The fundings will be used to build production lines, research and development, according to the startup.
Previously, the company has collected investments from Sequoia Capital China’s seeds fund.
Founded in 2021, Upward Tech embarks on research magnetorheological fluid, a type of smart fluid that can change apparent viscosity subjected to magnetic field, and related control algorithm, providing magnetorheological fluid-based solutions. The critical applications of the material are vehicle suspension and tripod head.
However, the magnetorheological fluid powered suspension is limited to export to China, according to the US Commerce Control List. China is currently unable to produce similar products.
Liu Xiangning, Vice President of Shenzhen Angel FOF, claimed that the magnetorheological fluid is a core technology widely used on spacecrafts and military weapons in a few countries, while it’s a chokehold technology for China.
With extensive experience in researching material, designing controlling algorithms and making components, the founding team of Upward Technology has been focusing on applying this technology locally. One of its competitiveness is that the company’s solution is hard to reverse engineer. "We are optimistic about the long-term development and social value of the company," said Liu.
Upward's competitors include international counterparties such as Lord Corporation, Arus MR Tech, CK Materials Lab.