cryptogamewebsite| Local governments have set up industrial funds one after another to seize opportunities for low-altitude economic development

Zhuo Yong, a reporter from the Securities Times

Since this yearCryptogamewebsiteThe low-altitude economy is coming, huge.CryptogamewebsiteThe market potential has triggered a scramble for layout in many places across the country. From the introduction of policy documents, to attracting the landing of high-quality projects, and then to optimizing the industrial development environment, local support for the low-level economy is continuing to deepen.

A reporter from the Securities Times noted that today, industrial funds have become the focus of competition for low-altitude economic industries. According to incomplete statistics by a reporter from the Securities Times, so far, nearly 10 provinces and cities have initiated the establishment of low-level economic industrial funds. Just a few days ago, Beijing also proposed to set up a low-altitude industry fund to guide social capital and professional institutions to invest in low-altitude industrial projects.

Industry analysts interviewed by this 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, but the city itself needs to have a deep foundation of science and technology industry and manufacturing industry, as well as rich application scenarios in order to make industrial funds really play a role.

Various places have set up one after another

Low-level economic industrial fund

In the new round of competition for low-altitude economic cities, industrial funds have become a new starting point.

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

For example, Wuhan proposes that cities and districts jointly form low-level economic development funds with a total size of not less than 10 billion yuan, while Suzhou has signed 16 new low-level economic industrial funds this year, with a total size of more than 20 billion yuan. It is currently the largest low-level economic industrial fund in the country. Beijing, which has a strong industrial foundation, also proposed in the Beijing Action Plan for promoting the High-quality Development of low-altitude Economic Industry (2024-2027 (draft for soliciting opinions) a few days ago that a low-altitude industrial fund will be set up to guide social capital and professional institutions to invest in low-altitude industrial projects.

For Shenzhen, which has long carried out the exploration of the landing application of the industry, although there is no separate industrial fund at present, as early as the end of last year, the seven departments of Shenzhen jointly issued 20 measures to support the low-altitude economy, among which it mentioned the establishment of special funds for low-level economic industrial clusters. In addition, as a national navigation demonstration province, Shanxi Province has also proposed that a general aviation industry development fund of Shanxi Province with a total size of about 5 billion yuan will be set up to seize the strategic opportunity of the rapid development of low-altitude economy.

From the initial policy guidance to the real financial support now, it is evident that all localities are determined to seize the development opportunities of low-level economic industries and compete for high-quality projects. Wang Guowen, director of the China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute and director of the Institute of Logistics and supply chain Management, said in an interview with the Securities Times that this reflects that all parts of the country are paying more and more attention to this new quality productivity. "the low-altitude economy has high technological content, long industrial chain, strong industrial driving ability, and obvious market space. To support the rapid development of the industry, policy is important, but in the final analysis, we still need financial support to incubate innovative technology and accelerate the landing of technology. "

In Wang Guowen's view, industrial fund is already a well-known investment tool for local governments, and it is not difficult to understand that local governments use industrial funds to promote the development of low-level economic industries.

Social capital has already entered the bureau.

The combination of local finance will help.

Although the low-level economic industrial funds set up in various places have not disclosed the situation of foreign investment, the driving effect of industrial funds has long been verified. "Industrial funds can pry all kinds of social capital to participate in the construction of local low-altitude economic industries, and start-ups can further promote them to obtain credit from commercial banks after obtaining investment." Wang Guowen believes that promoting the development of local low-altitude economy in the way of industrial funds is conducive to driving more financial "combinatorial punches" to play a greater effect.

The industrial fund is on the brink, what is the enthusiasm of social capital? The reporter combed and found that the low-altitude economy had attracted much attention from the capital before it was incorporated into the new quality productivity by the country. Take eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, one of the subdivided tracks of low-altitude economy) as an example, according to Enniu data, since last year, a total of 10 financing events have occurred, most of the financing rounds are in round A, and the valuation of the underlying company has reached the level of 100 million yuan.

For example, in April this year, Volant Airlines, a start-up focused on commercial high-level eVTOL development, announced the completion of nearly 100 million yuan of A + round financing, which is the fifth round of financing since the company was founded in June 2021. The company has completed 100 million yuan of A round financing, behind the investment institutions include front-line head VC funds, industrial capital and regional state-owned investment platform.

If there is a concern for capital, the industrial fund will have a point of strength. Industry insiders believe that due to the high scientific and 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 "aircraft, network and cloud integration" system solutions in the field of low-altitude flight, has received six rounds of financing since its establishment in 2017. The relevant investors of the Hongtai Fund, who intervened in its round An investment, told reporters that there is a relatively strong market demand in the low-altitude economy, and now the policy dividend has been released, and various provinces and cities have joined one after another, so there is more room for investment.

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

The reporter learned that with the rapid development of the low-altitude economy, in addition to setting up industrial funds, various localities, in view of the characteristics of the low-altitude economy, comprehensively used various tools such as credit, bonds, and financing guarantees to strengthen the accurate matching of financial suppliers and demanders, and launched financial support services for the whole cycle of enterprise development. In addition, some industry insiders believe that the demand for funds for the purchase of equipment in low-altitude economy-related industries is relatively large, which is in good agreement with financial leasing services.

The key to local competition is

Industrial matching and application scenarios

Behind the establishment of industrial funds one after another is the intensive research and visits by local governments on low-altitude economic industries over the past year. "In the past year, many local governments have visited our factory and experienced the production, manufacturing and application processes of low-altitude economic industries." According to Chen Fangping, founder and CEO of Yunsheng Intelligent, grid workers in urban governance in many regions are now changing from people on the ground to drones in the sky. They will also be invited to provide solutions for regional grid management.

Receiving visits from local governments has become a "common practice" for many scientific and technological innovation companies in the low-altitude economic field over the past year. Zhao Deli, founder and president of Xiaopeng Huitian, said recently: "Especially after the two sessions, we will receive a group of government officials for inspections almost every day or two. Some will understand the progress of industrial development and some will appeal for investment promotion."

As early as 2010, my country proposed the concept of low-altitude economy, and private drones and related applications represented by DJI drones have developed rapidly. In 2021, the low-altitude economy will be officially included in the national development plan. In the past six months, the central government has deployed low-altitude economy three times, positioning it as a strategic emerging industry, and included it in this year's government work report.

With years of exploration and development, many provinces and cities have already had deep industrial accumulation in this field. For example, Hunan takes the lead in carrying out global low-altitude airspace management. In 2023, the province's navigation industry will achieve annual revenue of more than 50 billion yuan; Shenzhen has formed the world's leading drone industry cluster; Guangzhou has the world's leading mainframe factory in the low-altitude economy., senior operators, etc. During the policy dividend period, more and more local governments are making moves towards developing low-altitude economies. According to reporters 'incomplete review, as of now, government work reports of nearly 30 provinces have mentioned the development of low-altitude economies.

While policies are frequently issued, all types of funds are also following suit. What is there missing in local competition for low-altitude economic industries? Wang Guowen believes that the most important thing for low-altitude flights to truly fly is to establish rules for the use and control of airspace,"including the setting of landing and landing points, the certification of aircraft standards, personnel certification, three-dimensional digital maps, etc. There is still a lot of supporting work to be done in various places, which are the basis for ensuring the orderly and safe operation of low-altitude flights."

In addition, Wang Guowen believes that although all localities are competing for low-altitude economic industries, not every place has a certain industrial foundation and supporting facilities. In his view, urban development of low-altitude economy requires three conditions: first, a profound foundation for the science and technology industry; second, a solid foundation for the manufacturing industry; and third, rich application scenarios and policy supporting facilities. "On these foundations, industrial funds can play their role in accelerating the improvement of the scale and quality of low-altitude economic industries."