Drones have been widely used in photography, logistics and other scenarios. Six years ago, when Shenzhen Chasing Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chasing Innovation"), where Zhou Changen works, chose to develop the underwater robot industry, it was inspired by an event.
After the "thousand-drone war" broke out in the civilian drone market in 2016, DJI took the lead; while the underwater robot industry, which started late, is a blue ocean—who will become the next "Underwater DJI"?
After finding that the consumer-grade aerial drone market was fiercely competitive and not a good entrepreneurial track, Chasing Innovation, based in Shenzhen, China's innovation hub, shifted to R&D, production and sales of underwater robots in 2016, with its products mainly targeting the consumer and light industrial markets.
Shenzhen, China, is a highland for the domestic drone industry. Benefiting from the industrial agglomeration effect, "Although the judges were not optimistic about our aerial drones, we incidentally mentioned the concept of underwater robots and received high praise from the venture capital judges. This made us think about adjusting our product plan."
With the development of China's marine economy, the market demand for underwater robots , an important tool for underwater operations, will rise significantly. It is reported that Chasing Innovation has currently produced 6 generations of products, completed 4 rounds of financing, with overseas business accounting for about 90%, and products sold to more than 100 countries and regions.
"Underwater robots or smart hardware is a trillion-yuan industry, but current products cannot meet market demand. With the breakthrough of some key technologies, the application demand for underwater robots will gradually open up in the future," Zhou Changen, Executive Vice President of Chasing Innovation, told reporters from Southern Finance All Media Group in an interview, expressing optimism about the development of the underwater robot industry.
Targeting the Blue Ocean of the Civilian Underwater Robot Market
Most of the domestic drone industry chain and supply chain are mainly distributed in Shenzhen and its surrounding 1-hour radius, which is related to Shenzhen being a manufacturing highland for China's new-generation information industry, artificial intelligence industry, electronic communications, etc.
Before entering the underwater robot track in 2016, Chasing Innovation was competing fiercely in the consumer-grade drone market.
As the upsurge in the aerial consumer drone industry faded and a highly concentrated market pattern led by DJI gradually formed, founders such as Zhou Changen targeted the blue ocean of the civilian underwater robot market. At that time, the civilian underwater robot market was quietly gathering momentum. Prior to this, underwater robot products were all for military and industrial markets, which were relatively closed and traditional.
Zhou Changen said there were several reasons for choosing the underwater robot market. First, an expert in underwater robots just joined the team; second, during a roadshow in Shenzhen, although the judges were not optimistic about aerial drones, the concept of underwater robots was highly praised by venture capital judges, so they had the idea of adjusting the product plan; third, after researching the underwater robot market, they found it was still a blank market, but the demand for related products was urgent.
Previous underwater robots were "large, expensive, clumsy and heavy", making it impossible for them to become consumer-grade products. After the transformation, Zhou Changen said Chasing Innovation broke the original relatively traditional and closed underwater robot industry chain model through independent R&D and design of underwater thrusters, connectors, control systems and underwater hardware structures, and gradually focused on the consumer and light industrial ends.
It is reported that currently, in Chasing Innovation's global business share, consumer products account for about 40% and industrial products account for about 60%. For example, the representative consumer product is the "Chasing DORY", a miniature underwater photography drone designed for travelers; while the product "Chasing M2 Pro" marks Chasing Innovation's official entry into the light industrial B-end market.
At present, there is no industry giant in the blue ocean of civilian underwater robots, and core advantages are needed to achieve market breakthrough. Before Chasing Innovation was founded, enterprises such as Tianjin Deepblue, Boya Gongdao, PowerVision Technology, Qiyuan Technology and Tianjin Haizhixing had already entered the market.
Chasing Innovation chooses to build core competitiveness from the aspects of core technology, supply chain and industrial chain. According to Zhou Changen, Chasing Innovation has currently completed technological layout in underwater image color restoration, ultra-short baseline underwater acoustic communication technology, underwater robot control algorithms, high-efficiency vector underwater propulsion systems, etc. In addition, Chasing Innovation, which has three self-built factories, IPD development process, ERP production management + automated production lines, and can produce core components of core technologies such as underwater motors, also has its own supply chain and industrial chain advantages.
Underwater Robots Hide Extensive Industry Demand
On August 25, Chasing Innovation announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in Series B financing, led by Shenzhen Nanshan Strategic Emerging Industry Investment Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Nanshan Strategic Emerging Investment").
Nanshan Strategic Emerging Investment is a wholly state-owned enterprise established by the Nanshan District Government of Shenzhen. Cai Weibin, Chairman of Nanshan Strategic Emerging Investment, said, "Nanshan Strategic Emerging Investment is optimistic about Chasing Innovation's development potential in civilian high-end underwater robots."
Since its establishment in 2016, Chasing Innovation has produced 6 generations of products and completed 4 rounds of financing. Zhou Changen said the new round of financing will continue to be used to consolidate and improve competitiveness, such as continuous investment in technological R&D, strengthening the sinking of the industrial chain, and building the brand marketing end.
On the one hand, with the accelerated layout of Shenzhen's marine economy, the market demand for underwater robots will be greatly released. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Shenzhen's Marine Economy" also proposes that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Shenzhen's marine economy will take building a "global marine central city" as the overall goal and build a coordinated marine economic development pattern.
On the other hand, drones are a high-tech industry prioritized for development in Shenzhen. "You can build a complete drone without leaving Shenzhen." This statement by Yang Shuanchang, former Deputy Director of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and President of the China-Europe Association for Economic and Technical Cooperation, at the 5th World Drone Congress represents the industrial concentration of drones in Shenzhen. According to statistics, in 2020, there were more than 100 drone enterprises in Shenzhen with an annual output value of over 30 billion yuan. Among them, consumer-grade drones account for 90% of the country's total exports of consumer-grade drones.
As one percent of Shenzhen's drone enterprises, the industrial chain, talent resources and venture capital atmosphere are the three main reasons for Chasing Innovation to settle in Shenzhen adjacent to Hong Kong.
Zhou Changen said, "First, at the beginning of transforming to the underwater robot industry, Shenzhen, China's innovation capital, has a complete drone industry chain and supply chain that provided Chasing with many resources, such as technologies for imaging, communication, and power system drive components; second, drone talents are highly concentrated in Shenzhen; third, Shenzhen has a good venture capital atmosphere and resources. For example, after winning the Shenzhen 'Entrepreneurship Star' competition in 2017, we also received angel round investment."
In November 2018, the "Interim Measures for the Administration of UAV Flights in Shenzhen" was released. The measures classify and manage UAVs, delineate corresponding flight airspaces, and launch the country's first integrated military-civilian UAV comprehensive supervision platform. Four months later, the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Civilian Micro and Light UAVs in Shenzhen" was officially implemented, greatly simplifying the approval process for various UAVs.
In the field of underwater robots, as products expand from the military field to commercial and civilian fields, the demand potential is huge. For example, the extensive demand for underwater robots in the government and enterprise market has not yet been met, mainly including scenario applications such as aquaculture monitoring, hull and terminal inspection, reservoir dam inspection, municipal pipeline and bridge pier inspection. Taking aquaculture monitoring as an example, China's fishery scale is huge. Data shows that there are 32,000 aquaculture farms nationwide with an area of 10 million hectares, while the global area exceeds 60 million hectares. Underwater robots can replace divers to conduct real-time mobile monitoring of fish school cages, greatly reducing labor costs.
In addition, Zhou Changen said that at present, in the field of underwater robots, some key technologies have not been broken through, leading to restrictions on the practical application of Chinese underwater robots.
Faced with the above problems, Chasing Innovation has also made many attempts. For example, it previously co-hosted a forum with the Shenzhen UAV Industry Association and released the "Group Standard for Portable Water Area Intelligent Robots" and "Group Standard for Intelligent Pool Cleaning Robots", which also provided a direction for regulating the technological development of underwater artificial intelligence products in the industry.
Zhou Changen believes that "with the solution of these problems, the product applications of underwater robots will be more abundant, and the market demand will gradually open up."
