Dialogue with DEPTRUM's Zhu Li: Three Advantages of Chinese 3D Vision Companies Going Global
In recent years, 3D vision applications have become increasingly widespread, constantly bringing new revolutions to consumer electronics, smart vehicles and industrial manufacturing.
Founded in 2018, DEPTRUM is one of the representative companies in this field. It focuses on the R&D and application of intelligent vision perception technology, committed to driving innovative development in 3D vision. Its core technologies and products have been broadly commercialized in financial payment, intelligent robots, smart cockpits, smartphones, new retail and other fields, with customers covering leading domestic automakers, robotics companies and smartphone makers.
Recently, jrj.com (Finance.cn) held a dialogue with Zhu Li, founder and CEO of DEPTRUM, discussing the financing journey, business planning and overseas plans.
At its founding, DEPTRUM obtained two rounds of several million US dollars in succession, then won capital's “vote” at roughly one round per year; last December, DEPTRUM completed a RMB 200 million Series B. Its shareholders now include Shuanghu Capital, SoftBank China, CICC Capital, Yicun Songling and Chongqing Kexing.
On why investors favor DEPTRUM, Zhu Li said that unlike other companies in the industry, DEPTRUM was the first to combine lasers with AI to solve machine vision perception problems more effectively. In addition, the team has extensive industry experience in this direction, which has made the company's commercialization very smooth — reaching industry-leading positions in every field it serves.
On the changes in the primary-market financing environment over the past two years, Zhu Li said that when raising funds, one must first understand the nature and source of the capital. With the change in the funding structure of the primary market, 80-90% of funds now have state-owned backgrounds, with low risk appetite, tending to invest in leading enterprises or companies that are close to profitability or already profitable. This is more favorable for companies with technological advantages or market profitability, and also promotes a healthier industry environment — returning to the essence of business.
Currently, DEPTRUM has achieved broad commercialization in smart vehicles, consumer electronics, finance and other fields. In smart vehicles and consumer electronics, DEPTRUM solves a common problem: how to help machines achieve better human-machine interaction.
In smartphones, DEPTRUM built an under-display Face ID solution that hides the Face ID laser module behind the screen, freeing phone screens from the Dynamic Island or the notch — its ultimate goal is still to solve the problem of the phone recognizing and perceiving the user. In smart vehicles, DEPTRUM focuses on the smart cockpit, supplying automakers with a complete human-machine interaction solution, including optical 3D depth cameras and camera-based gesture-interaction algorithms — allowing all passengers, once aboard, to have seats, air conditioning and more automatically adjusted to their height.
On overall business goals and R&D priorities, Zhu Li introduced three main directions: first, active-perception-based biometrics such as face and palm recognition, opening more markets; second, To-C robotics fields such as robot vacuums, embodied intelligence and cleaning robots, where added value rises with intelligence; third, human-machine interaction — serving existing automotive customers well while expanding overseas markets.
DEPTRUM began its overseas layout last year. Zhu Li said Chinese companies have three advantages in going global: first, manufacturing efficiency is extremely high; second, product iteration is fast and the market is inclusive enough — willing to try immature products and keep giving feedback to polish them; third, in products combining hardware and AI, China has advantages in experience, quality and cost. Zhu Li noted that DEPTRUM has important customer engagements advancing in the US, Southeast Asia, Japan and the Middle East, and expects — at the fastest next year, at the latest the year after — overseas revenue to account for more than half of company revenue.
Article source: jrj.com (Finance.cn)
Author: Zhang Xiaoxuan
