Author | Yi Silin
Photo courtesy of respondents
On November 14th, Sinian Zhijia, a port autopilot company, announced the completion of the A+ round of financing of over 100 million yuan. This round was led by Shui Mu Venture Capital and Rongyi Investment, followed by shareholders such as Chentao Capital, Guangfa Xinde, Zhihua Industry and Hubin Capital, with Zhongzhong Capital as the exclusive financial advisor. The official of Sinian Zhijia said that this round of financing funds will be used to continuously expand R&D investment and accelerate the business development and scene application of driverless driving in the port field.
Founded in April 2020, Sinian Zhijia is a provider of unmanned solutions and operational services focusing on the pan-port field. Its core business is to provide port unmanned services. At this stage, the company’s main products are unmanned truck (unmanned truck transporting containers in the port) and IMV (unmanned intelligent flat transport equipment).
Hong Kong is connected to the four seas and the land is connected to all directions. China has a sea area of nearly 3 million square kilometers and a coastline of 32,000 kilometers. Together with inland water transport such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, it forms a water transport system extending in all directions in China.
According to the statistics of Alphaliner, a French shipping consultancy, in the list of the top 30 global port container throughput in 2021, China occupies 10 places. In terms of throughput data, the total throughput of the top 30 container ports in the world exceeded 450 million TEUs last year, and the container throughput of the top 30 China ports accounted for almost half (47%).
Not only that, the container throughput of domestic ports is also rising. According to the data of the Ministry of Transport, in 2021, the national port cargo throughput reached 15.545 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%; Port container throughput reached 283 million TEUs, up 7.0% year-on-year.
He Bei, CEO of Sinian Zhijia, said that according to the transportation 20 yuan/container, the revenue of container transportation in the pure closed port market is about 6 billion, and the revenue of bulk cargo transportation can reach 24 billion. In addition, there is a short-distance transportation market (short barge) between different docks, parks and industrial parks under the port, with a scale of about 120 billion yuan.
Under the background of increasing port throughput, how to reduce costs and increase efficiency has become the main problem to be solved by major ports.
However, at present, only 1% of the ports in China have realized automation, and manned heavy trucks are still the mainstream. At present, manned driving occupies a high cost, low profit rate and limited room for improvement in the whole industry.
According to the water transport network of China, the cost of truck drivers for domestic port operations currently accounts for more than 50% of the whole port transportation cost. In the past five years, the salary of drivers in the logistics industry has nearly doubled, from the original 6,500 yuan/month to 12,000 yuan/month. At the same time, 24-hour operation in the port requires drivers to work in three shifts, which is easy to cause fatigue driving and other phenomena, resulting in safety hazards.
A series of employment problems have given opportunities and space for the development of port unmanned driving. At present, many enterprises provide autopilot solutions for ports, and conduct autopilot testing and operation services. Most of them are autopilot technology companies, such as Sinian Zhijia, Mainline Technology, Feibu Technology, Xijing Technology, etc. The remaining market share is occupied by traditional construction machinery and automotive electronics companies, such as SAIC, FAW Group and Sany Heavy Industry.
According to public information, as of last year, mainline technology has delivered more than 100 unmanned electric cards to domestic port customers; SAIC’s 5G+L4 smart heavy trucks have also completed the work of transferring about 61,000 containers. Sinian Zhijia started late. At present, 100 large-scale operating vehicles have been deployed in Ningbo Port, Tangshan Port, Zhuhai Port, Xiamen Port, Suzhou Port and Suqian Port.
According to Snian Zhijia, the company’s development models are mainly divided into two types: one is the generation operation mode, in which the port does not need to buy unmanned trucks and unmanned flatbeds or hire people to operate, and Snian provides equipment leasing and subsequent operation services. In this mode, Sinian is similar to a logistics service provider, charging freight according to the capacity, and the freight rate is lower than the current traditional truck freight price.
The other is the sales model, that is, the assembled equipment will be packaged and sold to the port at one time to provide technical services, and a part of the operating expenses will be charged later. In this mode, Snian has become an unmanned technology software supplier, charging technology subscription fees according to operating mileage.
The following is an interview with He Bei, CEO of Sinian Zhijia, interviewed by Future Auto Daily, which was edited and released:
Q: Some recent developments in the industry feel like winter. What do you think?
A: When the market concept is good, everyone pursues spiritual civilization. When the concept is bad, we still have to pursue material civilization. Whether we can support ourselves becomes the key. It may be a turning point for an autonomous driving enterprise that focuses on the vertical market, including ports, mines and sanitation. Because in the vertical fields such as mines and ports, driverless driving is just needed. Two years ago, we were educating customers. Since this year, the market and wind direction have changed, and customers have seen more that they really need driverless driving.
Q: Some people think that this time it is worse than the cold winter of 19 years, and the whole industry may be at a key node of reshuffle?
A: actually, it’s quite normal. The economy is not good,It is not the autonomous driving industry itself that is eliminated. The market is not the industry that sings the decline of driverless driving, but the company that sings the decline and cannot make money.
Q: What do you think of the commercialization of the autonomous driving industry? When can we break even? Is there an estimate?
A: Generally, there is a classic algorithm for the company’s profit and loss. The number of companies is 50,000 per person per month. Take our company as an example. At present, there are about 150 employees in the company, and the company’s monthly expenditure is 5×150 = 7.5 million, and the annual expenditure is 80 million to 90 million. If the gross profit can reach 40%, that is to say, our income will basically break even when it reaches 200 million yuan.
Regarding the commercialization of the whole autonomous driving, I think this is normal, that is, the initial new energy, like lithium battery, the initial photovoltaic is the same.When an industry is in the stage of barbaric growth, it must pay a lot of tuition fees..
Q: What do you think of the impact of capital on the industry?
A: I think it’s a bit rational. Before, your valuation may be calculated more according to the time of the whole market. For example, if the whole market is trillions and the capital thinks that your company can account for 10% of the market, then your company is a company with hundreds of billions of dollars. But in the future, it may still return to a commercial essence, and it will be calculated according to PS coefficient or PE coefficient.
Q: Which algorithm is more suitable for Snian Zhijia?
A: For a company like ours, PS is more suitable.
Q: In the autonomous driving industry, it is difficult for some solution providers to survive, but autonomous driving chip companies are living better. What do you think?
A: The route taken by the chip company belongs to intelligent driving, and the related technology is L2 or L2+,which has been proved to be feasible. But unmanned driving, like L3 and L4, no one in the world, including the United States, can prove that this path is already accessible or accessible. Therefore, in comparison, autonomous driving companies will be more difficult because they have to prove whether this thing exists. But because of its uncertainty, its PS coefficient in the capital market will be higher.
Q: As a start-up, what do you think is the core reason for continuing to gain capital recognition?
A: Whether it’s primary market financing or listing in the secondary market financing, I think the core point is whether you can convince yourself. If you make up a story and can’t convince yourself and your colleagues, don’t try to convince others. The point that we can gain capital recognition is that, firstly, what we do is legal, reasonable and legal, and secondly, each milestone can be realized on time.Every time you brag, you can only manage one round. Can you give an explanation to the new investors? This is the most important thing. Secondly, don’t pursue overvaluation.How to have a stable income in the stormy waves is something that should be done in the future.
Q: There are many business models involved in Sinian, including operation and sales. Will the company face pressure in terms of talents?
A: not really. We are still hiring. It is expected that the team will be expanded to 170-180 people on the basis of the existing scale next year.
Q: Everyone is laying off staff. Why are you still hiring?
A: Many companies may lay off employees because of unclear strategy and poor business, or because of some factional struggles. Layoff is a very "hurt" thing. The company has to lose money and hurt people. Even if people inside the company stay, they may be flustered.
Q: Is there any financing experience to share?
A: It’s difficult to say financing, and it’s simple to say it..Sometimes you may know if the other person will vote for you after a chat. With the company’s expansion and increasing popularity, financing may be easier. In other respects, the business plan should be dry enough, and it is enough to explain clearly the industry, company choice and business model of the company. Also, the circle is very important. If you have a bad reputation in the whole industry or in the whole circle of friends, investors will not vote.
Q: What factors must an autonomous driving company have to survive the cold winter?
A: Whether you can survive this cold winter depends first on whether you have money, second on when you can start continuous hematopoiesis, and third on how much you spend. Now it is a challenge to the management and operation of the company.When everyone is not rich, you have no money downstream, so who will pay the first money is the key.
Q: What adjustments have the company made in the past two years?
A: In A：2020, we will be poor in the downtown area, and the problem we are facing is how to make a reputation among 20 people and how to convince customers of your business model, technical ability and product ability, which is the most critical. In 2021, what is needed is how to do a good job in operation, how to dig deep into the details, and how to grasp these business experiences. The difficulty this year lies in the formation of income. For example, if we want to go public or face the next round of financing in the future, we may think about what kind of income is of high quality, and then how to operate and manage the company, which is what we will consider next.
Q: What will be the focus of next year?
A: "Purification" means the improvement of gross profit margin. Because there is no driving, there is also income, and the next step is purification. We have basically reached the stage of growth now, and next year we may think of how to improve our gross profit margin and how to increase more orders.
Q: Does the current development of the company realize the original intention of starting a business at that time?
A: It’s the same for everyone. The KPI we set a year ago will be funny when we go back to see it now. It is not because we are strong that we can realize what we thought at first, but because our strategic goals are more operable and achievable, and at the same time our goals are relatively simple. Because the goal is clear and people are reliable, the final realization path has not taken many detours.
Q: Do you have any regrets about the past two years?
A: There will be regrets, but it’s okay, because everyone is looking forward, so I don’t regret what I did before. Then the whole company actually has no choice, and it is pushing forward step by step. Like, that is, what many people think and face life and death choices, we don’t seem to have it yet.
Source: Future Auto Daily
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