Securities Times reporter Zhuo Yong

Since the beginning of this year, low altitude economy has been coming, and the huge market potential has led to the nationwide competition for layout. From the introduction of policy documents, to the introduction of high-quality projects, to the optimization of the industrial development environment, local support for the low altitude economy is continuing to go deep and solid.

The reporter of the Securities Times noticed that today, industrial funds have become the focus of the current competition for low altitude economic industries. According to incomplete statistics of the Securities Times reporter, up to now, nearly 10 provinces and cities have initiated the establishment of low altitude economic industry funds. Recently, Beijing also proposed to set up a low altitude industry fund to guide social capital and professional institutions to invest in low altitude industry projects.

The industry analysts interviewed by the reporter believe that industrial funds can play a huge leverage role, thus leveraging more funds, resources and forces to participate in the construction of local low altitude economic industries. However, the city itself needs to have a deep foundation of science and technology industry and manufacturing industry, as well as rich application scenarios, so that industrial funds can really play a role.

They have been set up in many places

Low altitude economic industry fund

In the new round of battle for low altitude economic cities, industrial funds have become a new force.

According to incomplete statistics by the reporter of the Securities Times, up to now, nearly 10 provinces and cities, including Anhui, Jiangxi, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Wuhan and Suzhou, have initiated the establishment of low altitude economic industry funds, with the scale ranging from 1 billion yuan to 20 billion yuan. Among them, Guiyang, Wuhan and Suzhou set up low altitude economic industry funds in the form of fund clusters.

For example, Wuhan proposed that the city and district should jointly form a low altitude economic development fund group with a total size of no less than 10 billion yuan, while Suzhou signed 16 new low altitude economic industry funds this year, with a total size of more than 20 billion yuan, making it the largest low altitude economic industry fund in China at present. Beijing, which has a solid industrial foundation, recently proposed in the Action Plan of Beijing to Promote the High Quality Development of Low Altitude Economic Industries (2024-2027 (Exposure Draft)) that it will set up a low altitude industrial fund to guide social capital and professional institutions to invest in low altitude industrial projects.

For Shenzhen, which has already carried out the exploration of the application of this industry, although there is no separate industry fund at present, as early as the end of last year, seven departments in Shenzhen jointly issued 20 measures to support low altitude economy, including the establishment of special funds for low altitude economic industrial clusters. In addition, as a national aviation demonstration province, Shanxi Province also proposed to set up a general aviation industry development fund of Shanxi Province with a total scale of about 5 billion yuan to seize the strategic opportunity of high-speed development of low altitude economy.

From the initial policy guidance to the financial support of real gold and silver, the determination of all regions to seize the development opportunities of low altitude economic industries and compete for high-quality projects can be seen. Wang Guowen, the director of China (Shenzhen) Institute of Comprehensive Development and the director of the Institute of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, said in an interview with the Securities Times that this reflects the growing emphasis on this new quality of productivity across the country. To support the rapid development of industries, policies are important, but in the final analysis, financial support is needed to incubate innovative technologies and accelerate the implementation of technologies. "

In Wang Guowen's opinion, industrial funds have become a familiar investment attraction tool for local governments at present, and they also feel obvious attraction effect. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that local governments use industrial funds to promote the development of low altitude economic industries.

Social capital has already been introduced

Local financial combination

Although the low altitude economic industrial funds set up around the country have not yet disclosed the situation of foreign investment, the driving effect of industrial funds has long been verified. "Industrial funds can leverage all kinds of social capital to jointly participate in the construction of local low altitude economic industries, while start-ups can further promote their access to credit from commercial banks after obtaining investment." Wang Guowen believes that promoting the development of local low altitude economy by means of industrial funds is conducive to driving more financial "combination fists" to play a greater role.

Industrial funds are on the way. What is the enthusiasm of social capital? The reporter found that the low altitude economy has attracted much attention of capital before it was included in the new quality productivity by the state. Taking eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, one of the sub tracks of low altitude economy) as an example, according to the data of Enniu, there have been 10 financing events since last year, most of which are in the A round, and the target company's valuation has reached 100 million yuan.

For example, in April of this year, Vorant Airlines, a start-up focusing on the development of commercial high-grade eVTOL, announced that it had completed nearly 100 million yuan of round A+financing, which was the fifth round of financing since the company was founded in June 2021. A month earlier, the company had completed 100 million yuan of round A financing, and the investment institutions behind it included front-line VC funds Industrial capital and regional state-owned investment platform.

If capital is concerned, industrial funds will have a strong point. Industry insiders believe that due to the high technological content of low altitude economy related industries, it has become the focus of angel investment funds, equity investment funds and venture capital funds. Yunsheng Intelligence, which provides the system solution of "aircraft, network and cloud integration" in the field of low altitude flight, has obtained six rounds of financing since its establishment in 2017. The relevant investors of Hongtai Fund, who had been involved in the investment in its round A stage, told reporters that there was a large market demand for low altitude economy. Now the policy dividend has been released and all provinces and cities have joined in, so there is a large investment space.

The 2024 China eVTOL Industry Development Report released on April 27 by China UAV Industry Innovation Alliance, Tencent Research Institute, etc. also mentioned that eVTOL has adopted a large number of new technologies, but due to the lack of verification and ready-made experience to learn from, and the long R&D cycle, heavy workload, and large demand for funds, how to obtain adequate financial support is an important issue in the current economic environment.

The reporter learned that with the rapid development of low altitude economy, in addition to setting up industrial funds, various regions also use credit, bonds, financing guarantees and other tools to strengthen the precise matching of financial suppliers and demanders, and launch a full cycle of financial support services for enterprise development in accordance with the characteristics of low altitude economy. In addition, some insiders believe that there is a large demand for funds to purchase equipment in low altitude economy related industries, which is in good agreement with financial leasing services.

The key to competition everywhere is

Industrial supporting and application scenarios

Behind the establishment of industrial funds is the intensive research and visits of local governments to low altitude economic industries in the past year. "In the past year, many local governments have visited our factory to feel the production and manufacturing of low altitude economic industries to the landing application link." According to Chen Fangping, founder and CEO of Yunsheng Intelligent, the grid members of urban governance in many regions are now turning from people on the ground to drones in the sky, and they will also be invited to provide solutions for regional grid management.

The reception of local government visits has become a "common" experience for many scientific and technological innovation enterprises in the field of low altitude economy in the past year. Zhao Deli, the founder and president of Xiaopeng Huitian, said recently: "Especially after the two sessions, a wave of government personnel will be received almost every other day or two to investigate. Some people understand the development progress of the industry, and some people also want to attract investment."

As early as 2010, China put forward the concept of low altitude economy, and private UAVs represented by Dajiang UAVs and related applications developed rapidly. In 2021, the low altitude economy will be officially incorporated into the national development plan. In the past six months, the central government has deployed the low altitude economy three times, positioned it as a strategic emerging industry, and included it in this year's government work report.

With these years' exploration and development, many provinces and cities have already had deep industrial accumulation in this field. For example, Hunan is the first country to take the lead in the management of global low altitude airspace. In 2023, the province's general aviation industry will achieve an annual revenue of more than 50 billion yuan; Shenzhen has formed a global leading UAV industrial cluster; Guangzhou has the world's leading engine manufacturers and senior operators in the field of low altitude economy. During the policy dividend period, more and more local governments have "made moves" towards the development of low altitude economy. According to incomplete sorting by reporters, so far, nearly 30 provincial government work reports have mentioned the development of low altitude economy.

At the same time of frequent policies, all kinds of funds have also followed up. What is the lack of local competition for low altitude economic industries? Wang Guowen believes that the most important thing for low altitude flight to be able to fly is to establish the rules for airspace use and control, "including the setting of takeoff and landing points, the certification of aircraft standards, the certification of personnel, three-dimensional digital maps, and so on. There is still a lot of supporting work to be done everywhere, which is fundamental to ensure the orderly and safe operation of low altitude flight."

In addition, Wang Guowen believes that although all regions are competing for low altitude economic industries, not every region has a certain industrial foundation and supporting facilities. In his view, the development of low altitude economy in cities requires three conditions: first, a deep foundation of science and technology industry; Second, a solid foundation for manufacturing industry; Third, rich application scenarios and policy support. "On the basis of these, industrial funds can play a role in accelerating the upgrading of the scale and quality of low altitude economy industries."