From “Six Little Dragons” to “New Eight Steeds,” Hangzhou’s hard tech accelerates its breakthrough

While the outside world is still hotly discussing the innovative phenomenon of “Hangzhou’s Six Little Dragons,” a new round of hard tech breakthrough battles has quietly begun in Hangzhou.

On May 18, at the “Fortunate Meeting Hangzhou · Dialogue with the Future” Investment Promotion Conference & High-Quality Development Conference For Innovation, Entrepreneurship And Investment, eight emerging Hangzhou tech companies made a collective appearance and were dubbed the “New Eight Steeds of Hangzhou” by the media.

These eight companies are: Rokid (smart glasses), STAR.VISION　(space computing), Xynova (embodied intelligent dexterous hand), Nanocorechip (compute-in-memory AI chip), Sunrise (AI inference GPU), JLW Technology (AI data services), BIBO (intelligent chassis and steer-by-wire technology), and Bota (bridging AI and biomanufacturing).

From a technological layout perspective, these companies are building a complete chain from underlying computing power to terminal applications: Nanocorechip and Sunrise tackle 3D compute-in-memory and inference GPUs respectively, providing the computing foundation for embodied intelligence; JLW Technology offers high-quality AI data services, playing the role of “water supplier”; Xynova solves the “last centimeter” operation problem of robots; Rokid upgrades smart glasses into the next-generation computing platform; BIBO fills a key gap in intelligent chassis technology; STAR.VISION sends AI computing power into space, creating a “space sharing economy”; Bota uses physical AI to drive biomanufacturing, building a world-leading intelligent biofoundry.

The “New Eight Steeds” represent not just individual breakthroughs but a systematic technological synergy. Sunrise’s GPUs can provide inference computing power for Xynova’s dexterous hand and Rokid’s smart glasses; JLW Technology’s data services can empower model training for AI companies… What’s more exciting is that these technologies have already moved out of the lab and onto the fast track of industrialization. Rokid’s smart glasses have achieved large-scale deployment in industrial, medical, and cultural tourism scenarios; STAR.VISION’s space computing satellite has completed in-orbit verification; Bota’s intelligent biofoundry has realized commercial production of multiple bio-based products.

In terms of funding momentum, all of the “New Eight Steeds” have received strong recognition from capital, with each securing lead investment or participation from Hangzhou state-owned funds.

Rokid has completed several financing rounds and is valued at over $1 billion, with Hangzhou Capital Innovation Fund and Yuhang District jointly investing 200 million yuan; Sunrise is valued at over 10 billion yuan, with investments from state-owned entities such as Hangzhou Capital and Hangzhou Financial Investment, as well as top-tier institutions like IDG, Gaorong, and CICC; Bota is a global unicorn, with Hangzhou Capital Innovation Fund , Heda Healthcare Fund of Funds, and a tech innovation fund investing 150 million yuan, joined by leading investors such as Sequoia, Matrix Partners, and Source Code Capital; STAR.VISION has raised hundreds of millions of yuan cumulatively, with continued backing from Xihu Sci-Tech Venture Capital; Xynova completed a hundreds-of-millions-yuan Pre-A round in March, led by JD.com with participation from multiple industrial capital firms; Nanocorechip is valued at 7 billion yuan, with investments from Sequoia, Xiaomi, Lenovo Capital, and others; JLW Technology completed a tens-of-millions-yuan Pre-A round in 2025 with exclusive investment from Hangzhou Financial Investment, and its Series A round in 2026 was led by Binjiang Financial Investment; BIBO, as a rare asset in the intelligent chassis sector, has completed multiple financing rounds and gained recognition from industrial partners such as NIO Capital—recently, Hangzhou Capital led a 300-million-yuan investment through its proprietary fund, helping BIBO complete a 1-billion-yuan Series B round.

The dense infusion of capital not only validates the technological value of the “New Eight Steeds” but also reflects the underlying logic of Hangzhou’s hard tech breakthrough—nurturing hardcore innovation with patient capital and amplifying individual breakthroughs through ecosystem synergy.

From the “Six Little Dragons” to the “New Eight Steeds,” Hangzhou’s innovation narrative is continuously evolving. With deeper technological foundations and a more synergistic ecosystem approach, the city is setting its own pace in the global hard tech competition.