Just two days after SpaceX made its landmark stock market debut, a Chinese space startup was already in front of roughly 50 venture capital investors pitching its very first fundraising round — and using America’s success as its selling point.
The company, Tectronic Maritime Space Systems, is a Shanghai-based firm specializing in launching rockets from the ocean. Its finance manager, Gu Mei, told potential investors the company’s goal is to become what she called “the Maersk of global commercial space flight.”
There’s just one catch: Tectronic was founded only three months ago. Yet according to its investor presentation, the company is seeking to raise 150 million yuan — roughly $22 million — at a valuation of 1.5 billion yuan. The plan also calls for three more rounds of fundraising totaling 3 billion yuan over five years, with a target stock market listing in 2032 at a valuation of approximately 50 billion yuan — more than 30 times its current level.
At the June 14 roadshow, Gu made the pitch bluntly: “Demand is inelastic, supply is limited and the clock is ticking. Investors participating in this round of financing are expected to get returns of 26.7 times.”
Tectronic’s aggressive approach is far from unique. It reflects a broader scramble happening across what Beijing calls China’s “strategic emerging and future industries” — a category that includes startups working on space technology, quantum computing, nuclear fusion, and brain-machine interfaces.
The rush is creating potential windfalls for venture capital firms in China that have spent years trying to recover from a prolonged slump. But it’s also sending startup valuations into the stratosphere and raising serious concerns about a bubble in the making.
According to data from ChinaVenture Investment Consulting, venture capital and private equity investments in China during the first five months of this year reached 620 billion yuan — about $91.6 billion — a jump of nearly 60% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, newly registered venture capital funds during that same period totaled 154 billion yuan, already surpassing the full-year total from 2025, according to China’s fund industry association.
Yan Kai, a veteran venture capitalist and partner at Ivy Capital in Shanghai, put it plainly: “The level of frenzy (in China) is something I have never seen in my entire career.”
Yan, whose firm focuses on technology investments, described a situation where a startup with zero revenue can secure billions in its first funding round — and before that deal is even finalized, investors are already lining up for round two while negotiations for round three have begun.
Much of this activity traces back to Beijing’s policy priorities. China’s latest five-year development plan, published in March, singled out “future industries” — including biomanufacturing and hydrogen energy — as areas requiring major investment. Robotics and aerospace were also identified as strategic sectors earmarked for priority development. This month, China also released new rules designed to make it easier for “future industry” startups — even those with no profits or revenue — to list on domestic stock exchanges.
Huang Yan, co-founder of Shanghai-based Lantern Capital, described his firm’s approach as following the government’s lead while using market judgment to pick specific investments. “Our strategy is to move with the trend — follow guidance of national strategy, while selecting investment targets using a market approach,” he said. Huang, who expects a return of nearly 100 times from his decade-long investment in LandSpace — described as China’s closest equivalent to SpaceX — added that “the key is to marry what the state wants with what the market needs.”
Raymond Feng, a partner at Atom Ventures, said the competition to get into deals involving nuclear fusion, quantum technology, and embodied AI is intense, with “everyone throwing money at future industries.”
Ni Zhengdong, chairman of Beijing-based venture capital consultancy Zero2IPO Holdings, said there is a powerful fear of missing out driving early-stage investors, with some funds “pulling the triggers more often.”
On the international side, five China-focused dollar-denominated funds had raised a combined $4 billion as of June 12, according to data from Preqin — already exceeding the full-year total for each of the past two years. Venture funds including ZhenFund, Qiming Ventures, and Capital Today are reportedly back in the market raising new funds, according to sources familiar with their plans who were not authorized to speak publicly. All three firms declined to respond to requests for comment.
Not everyone is comfortable with how fast things are moving. Yu Tiecheng, head of think tank Guanghui M&A, pointed to eye-popping valuation jumps as a warning sign. “A photonic chip project was worth 1 billion yuan last year, and is now worth 10 billion,” he said. “A rocket satellite project was valued at 5 billion at the start of the year and is now worth 20 billion.” If anticipated stock listings at even higher valuations fail to happen, he warned, “such investments would look extremely dicey.”
For now, companies like Tectronic are riding the wave of government enthusiasm for closing China’s technological gap with the United States in areas such as artificial intelligence and space exploration. Chief Financial Officer Wu Qunhui noted that the intense global competition for orbital space means “there’s strong government support for private capital to participate” in ventures like theirs.
