Jianyuan Technology raises over 2.3 bln yuan in Series B led by IDG Capital

September 16 — Jiemian News has exclusively learned that commercial rocket company Jianyuan Technology has recently completed its Series B funding round, raising over 2.3 billion yuan in total and joining the ranks of domestic commercial space unicorns.

Funding Details

The Series B round was jointly led by:

• IDG Capital
• Chaos Investment
• Hangzhou Capital

Follow-on investments came from Heda Investment, Linglan Capital, Huafu Capital, Yida Capital, and others. Existing shareholders including Jiuzhi Capital, Tianwen Era, and Jinsha Capital continued to increase their stakes.

Use of Funds

Proceeds from this round will primarily be used to:

• Support the maiden flight mission of the Yuanxingzhe-1 rocket
• Validate recovery and reuse capabilities
• Build commercial delivery capacity
• Continue advancing R&D and engineering validation for platform-capture recovery technology

Company Background

Founded in 2022, Jianyuan Technology is the first private enterprise in China to adopt a "stainless steel airframe + liquid oxygen/methane" approach to develop medium-to-large reusable launch vehicles.

Yuanxingzhe-1 Rocket Specifications

| Parameter | Value | |-----------|-------| | Configuration | Two-stage tandem, stainless steel reusable medium-to-large liquid launch vehicle | | Height | 66 meters | | Liftoff mass | 580 tons | | Stage diameter (both stages) | 4.2 meters | | Payload to 200 km orbit | 13.8 tons | | Payload to 1,100 km orbit | 9 tons | | Target launch price | No more than 20,000 yuan per kilogram | | Design reuse limit | Up to 20 reuses |

Even after first-stage recovery and reuse, the rocket retains the capability to serve satellite constellations via "one rocket, one orbit" launches.

Recovery Technology Milestones

Jianyuan Technology is the first Chinese commercial rocket company to complete a sea-based flight recovery test for a stainless steel rocket.

In May 2025, Yuanxingzhe-1 successfully completed its sea-based flight recovery test, validating key capabilities in real flight conditions, including:

• Secondary engine ignition
• Return guidance and control
• Low-altitude deceleration and hovering
• Sea landing

Recovery Methods

Rocket recovery methods are categorized by site into land-based and offshore platform recoveries. Offshore soft-landing recovery involves a rocket descending vertically and landing safely on the sea surface after completing its mission. This method offers enhanced safety and flexibility but imposes higher technical demands. Previously, most domestic rocket recovery tests were conducted on land.

By implementation method, current approaches fall into two main categories:

1. Vertical landing using landing legs
2. Fully external recovery without onboard landing devices, converting saved structural weight into payload capacity (includes net-system or "chopstick"-style capture facilities, as well as splashdown recovery at sea)

"Chopstick" Capture Technology

Yuanxingzhe-1 does not use traditional landing legs, instead targeting direct tower-capture recovery — known as "chopstick" technology. This involves installing giant robotic arms resembling chopsticks on the launch tower to catch returning rocket stages mid-air. The aim is to eliminate landing-leg weight and improve launch efficiency, though this places extremely high demands on hovering precision and the response speed of the tower's servo mechanisms.

Currently, globally only SpaceX has achieved this capability.

Phased Validation Approach

Jianyuan Technology adopts a phased approach to validating recovery methods:

• Maiden flight: Sea splashdown recovery to further validate core capabilities such as precise first-stage guidance, deceleration, and hovering
• Subsequent iterations: Rapid iteration toward capture recovery

Based on publicly available technical plans and engineering progress, among domestic commercial rocket companies pursuing the "chopstick" capture recovery route, Jianyuan Technology is the only one that has:

• Completed low-altitude deceleration and hovering validation under real flight conditions
• Entered critical preparations for its maiden flight

The company is poised to become the first Chinese commercial rocket company to achieve this recovery method.

Maiden Flight Timeline

Jiemian News learned that:

• Products Y1 and Y2 of Yuanxingzhe-1 have been progressively assembled and completed
• More than 30 key pre-flight ground tests have been finished, with all metrics meeting maiden flight requirements
• Yuanxingzhe-1 will be ready for its maiden flight by the end of 2026
• Launch permits will be applied for concurrently
• The first orbital launch will be conducted when conditions permit, alongside first-stage recovery validation

Following the maiden flight, Jianyuan Technology plans to continue advancing recovery and reuse validation before transitioning to batch deliveries, aiming to launch commercial launch services within 2027.

Executive Statement

Wei Yi, Founder and Chairman of Jianyuan Technology, stated:

"In the next phase, industry competition will hinge on who can consistently deliver payloads to space at low cost. Jianyuan aims to ultimately achieve routine, airline-like space transportation through reusability and scaled operations."

Production Base

In January this year, construction began in Hangzhou on Jianyuan Technology's base for final assembly, comprehensive testing, and recovery/reuse of medium-to-large liquid rockets. The company described this as:

• China's first production base for sea-recovered reusable rockets
• The country's first super-factory for stainless steel rockets

With a total investment of 5.2 billion yuan, the project includes centers for:

• Recovery and reuse
• Inspection and testing
• Manufacturing

Once completed, it will enable scaled production of 25 rockets annually and facilitate post-recovery inspection, maintenance, and reuse.

Broader Industry Context

So far this year, China has achieved successive breakthroughs in reusable rocket technology:

July 10

The Long March 10B launch vehicle lifted off from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site and successfully executed net-system recovery on an offshore platform. This marked China becoming the second country worldwide, after the United States, to master large-capacity reusable rocket technology, and the first globally to master net-system recovery for launch vehicles.

August 19

LandSpace's independently developed Zhuque-3 launch vehicle successfully completed first-stage vertical recovery — the first time in China that a reusable launch vehicle's first stage had been recovered using landing legs. Zhuque-3 thus became the second domestically validated reusable rocket after Long March 10B, and currently the only private rocket achieving this capability.

To date, China has mastered and validated two rocket recovery technologies: net-system recovery and landing-leg recovery.

Source: Jiemian News