Financing boom in Mini/Micro LED sector: Capital competition lights up a new track for technology

In 2024, when the wave of technology is surging, Mini/Micro LED technology is gradually becoming the shining pearl of the display industry with its excellent performance advantages and broad application prospects, attracting high attention and recognition from the global market. With the continuous breakthrough and maturity of related technologies, as well as the steady growth of market demand, the Mini/Micro LED field has not only made significant progress in technological innovation, but its performance in the capital market has also been particularly eye-catching, and the financing process has shown a significant acceleration trend.
According to incomplete statistics from 52DP, during this critical development period of 2024, related financing activities in the MLED field have frequently broken out, and nearly 40 financing cases have fully demonstrated capital's strong interest and firm confidence in this field. Especially since December, companies such as Accelerate Technology and QustomDot have successively released financing progress, which is like throwing huge rocks on a calm lake, arousing layers of ripples, further highlighting the continued popularity of the Mini/Micro LED field in the capital market., becoming a popular track that many investors are chasing.

1. Accelerating technology: A new financing force in the field of semiconductor testing

Recently, Hangzhou Acceleration Technology Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as" Acceleration Technology") stood out in the fierce market competition and successfully completed strategic financing of over 100 million yuan. This time, the investor lineup is strong, including well-known institutions such as Ceyuan Capital and Xihu Innovation Investment. Their participation is like injecting strong development momentum into accelerating science and technology, and is expected to promote the company to achieve new breakthroughs and leaps in technology research and development and market expansion.
Looking back on the development process of accelerated technology, since its establishment, the company has always adhered to its original intention, focusing on the R & D and production of semiconductor test equipment, and is committed to carefully creating high-performance, cost-effective test solutions for customers. With its profound technical accumulation and unremitting innovation efforts, Accelerated Technology has successfully built two sets of mass production test platforms with industry influence-the ST2500 series of high-performance digital-analog mixed-signal semiconductor test platform and the Flex10K series of high-end high-density test platform.
Among them, what deserves special attention is the Flex 10K series of fully self-developed high-end high-density test platforms launched in 2023. The Flex 10K-L products in this series are high-channel testers carefully designed for display driver chip testing, demonstrating excellent technical compatibility and wide application adaptability. It can fully support CP/FT testing of various types of driver chips such as LCD, OLED, Mini LED, and Micro LED. It is like a generalist and can play a key role in chip testing of different display technologies. At present, Flex 10K-L has been successfully mass-produced, which not only marks that accelerated technology has achieved important phased results in the field of semiconductor test equipment, but also provides strong technical support for the improvement and development of the Mini/Micro LED industry chain., help improve the production efficiency and product quality of the entire industrial chain, and promote the continuous improvement of industry technical standards.

2. QustomDot: A pioneer in financing quantum dot color conversion technology

In the wave of innovation in the Mini/Micro LED field, Belgian quantum dot color conversion developer QustomDot also performed well and became one of the focuses of capital attention. According to Micro-info, on December 8, QustomDot announced that it had successfully raised 5 million euros (approximately RMB 38.4 million) in Series A financing. This round of financing has a diverse lineup of participants, including many powerful institutions such as Noshaq, EIC Fund, Qbic Fund, Venture Capital, PMV and VIGO Venture. Their joint efforts have undoubtedly injected strong financial vitality and strategic resources into QustomDot's future development.
QustomDot has long focused on the research and development and application of InP-based quantum dot color conversion technology in the field of full-color Micro LED displays, and its technical route is unique. Relying on its excellent technological innovation capabilities, the company team cleverly combined multidisciplinary technologies such as quantum dot synthesis, surface engineering and ink/photoresist formulation, and successfully applied them in the patterned color conversion layer of Micro LED displays. This innovative combination of technologies provides a new technical path and solution for realizing high-quality and high-brightness Micro LED displays.
QustomDot has made it clear that the company's core goal is to fully realize high-quality and high-brightness Micro LED displays, and accelerate the commercialization of Micro LED applications that support quantum dots such as smart watches and AR glasses. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, QustomDot has actively deployed technical cooperation and carried out extensive international cooperation. During the period from 2022 to 2023, we have joined hands with many LED companies to jointly explore the innovation boundaries of Micro LED technology. For example, in 2022, it cooperated with Aledia, a French 3D structure GaN LED technology developer, focusing on the research and development of full-color Micro LED technology, aiming to overcome technical problems in large size display and luxury TV applications; In August of the same year, it cooperated with AR glasses Micro LED display developer MICLEDI to jointly develop a color Micro LED microdisplay based on quantum dot color conversion technology, laying a foundation for improving the display performance of wearable devices such as AR glasses; In May 2023, it joined the BAMBAM project supported by the European Union with nano-printing company XTPL to jointly focus on the development of printed flexible Micro LED displays and is committed to expanding the application potential of Micro LED technology in the field of flexible displays. Through these series of cooperative R & D projects, QustomDot not only strengthens its technical strength and innovation capabilities, but also makes positive contributions to promoting technology integration and application expansion in the entire Mini/Micro LED industry.

3. Panorama of MLED Financing in 2024: Deep Integration of Capital and Technology

Looking back at the financing situation of the entire MLED field in 2024, according to incomplete statistics from 52DP, nearly 40 financing incidents outline a prosperous picture of deep integration of capital and technology. These financing cases cover all aspects of the entire Mini/Micro LED industry chain from upstream material research and development and chip manufacturing, to midstream packaging testing, to downstream application development. The influx of capital is like fertile soil, providing sufficient nutrients and resource support for technological innovation, and promoting the positive actions of various enterprises in R & D investment, equipment renewal, talent training, etc.; while the continuous progress and innovation breakthroughs are like a thriving sapling, bringing rich return expectations and broad market prospects to capital, attracting more capital to continue to flow in. This virtuous interactive cycle of capital and technology is driving the Mini/Micro LED field to develop at an alarming rate, constantly expanding its application boundaries, gradually extending from the traditional display field to emerging fields such as smart wear, automotive electronics, and virtual reality., bringing new visual experiences and technological changes to people's lives, work and entertainment. It is foreseeable that in the future development journey, the Mini/Micro LED field will continue to move forward bravely along the path of technological innovation with the help of capital. It is expected to become one of the most dazzling stars in the global technology industry and lead a new round. The wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial upgrading.